| |
 |
| Paper: |
Astronomical Software—A Review |
| Monograph: |
6, Twenty Years of ADASS |
| Page: |
711 |
| Authors: |
|
| Abstract: |
It is now impossible to imagine ‘doing astronomy’ without using software. Sometimes it is hard to remember that it has not always been like this. Over a timescale now measured in decades, the art (or science) of astronomical programming has evolved. Once it involved the squeezing of hand-crafted assembler routines into insufficient memory. Now it includes the design of ambitiously large frameworks for data acquisition and reduction. The organisation required for the production of such software has had to grow to match these new ambitions. This review looks back on the path taken by this fascinating evolutionary process, in the hope that it can provide a background that may let us imagine where the next years will lead. |
|
|
|
|
|
