Downloads
 
Example programs from the book
Example programs for Unix and Mac OS X systems
 
This file (bowman.tar.gz)contains all of the example programs for my book packaged for Unix and Mac OS X users. On Mac OS X systems, just drag the file to the desired folder (usually the idl directory within your home directory) and double click it. On Unix systems, move the downloaded file to the desired location. Then cd to that directory and type
 
    >gunzip bowman.tar.gz
    >tar -xf bowman.tar
            
at the system prompt.
Example programs for Windows systems
 
This file (bowman.zip) contains all of the example pgrograms from my book packaged for IDL Windows users. To uncompress the downloaded file, move it to the desired directory and use a utility such as StuffIT Expander.
 
 
If you prefer not to download all of the examples and data files, you can download only the example startup.pro file by right-clicking or control-clicking on the link below and choosing "Save File As ...". Save the file to the desired location, usually the idl directory within your home directory.
 
Download startup.pro file only
 
The example startup.pro file is a small text file that can be used to set user preferences when IDL is started.
 
Solutions to selected exercises
This file (solutions.zip)contains solutions to many of the end-of-chapter exercises.
 
Software Library
My software library (bowman_lib.zip, 13.6 MB) contains a variety of programs that may be of general use.  To keep the distribution simple, I have placed everything in a single zip file, which uncompresses to a single directory tree.  I have tried to make routine names as consistent as possible.  Most end with the suffix “_KPB”.  Some have been in use for too long for me to change them, however, particularly the date and time routines.
 
I have tried to make these routines as portable as possible, but I am not able to test them extensively, so please contact me (k-bowman@tamu.edu) if you encounter any problems or bugs.  This software is free and comes with no warranty whatsoever.
 
To use this software do the following:
 
  1. 1.Download bowman_lib.zip to a location in your IDL search path.
  2. 2.Unzip the file.
  3. 3.Open the file add_to_startup.pro and edit the first DEFSYSV statement to point to the location of bowman_lib on your system.
  4. 4.Copy the contents of add_to_startup.pro to your startup.pro file.
  5. 5.Restart IDL.
 
The library contains the following categories of software:
 
24-bit color images and graphics (color_24)
  1. •COLOR_24_KPB - create 24-bit colors directly from RGB values or by name
  2. •COLOR_BAR_24_KPB - draw a 24-bit color bar
  3. •COLOR_LOOKUP_24_KPB - scale arbitrary data into a 24-bit color scale
  4. •COMPONENT_24_KPB - extract one RGB component from a 24-bit image
  5. •IMAGE_24_KPB - convert a 24-bit (LONG) image into and RGB image
  6. •LOAD-BASIC_COLORS_KPB - load a set of colors into the 8-bit PS device
  7. •MAP_IMAGE_KPB - wrapper for MAP_IMAGE to handle missing data (NaNs)
  8. •PLOT_IMAGE_KPB - plot a 24-bit image with axes, titles, etc.
 
Color tables (color_tables)
  1. •TOPOGRAPHY_BATHYMETRY_KPB - quasi-realistic color table for plotting topography
 
iTools (itools)
  1. •ISURFACE_EXAMPLE_KPB - demonstrate use of iSurface to plot topographic data
  2. •ISURFACE_OPEN_KPB - open an iTools Save File (.isv) programmatically
  3. •ITOOL_ROTATE_VIEW_KPB - rotate an iTools view around a specified axis by a specified amount
  4. •ITOOL_SAVE_ISV_KPB - save the current iTool as an ISV file
  5. •ITOOL_SPIN_MOVIE_KPB - spin an iTool view around an axis and save the images to make a movie
  6. •ITOOL_WRITE_GRAPHIC_KPB - capture the current iTool graphic in any one of the standard file formats (BMP, EPS, JPEG, JPEG2000, GIF, PICT, PNG, and TIFF)
  7. •RUN_ISURFACE_EXAMPLE_KPB - run ISURFACE_EXAMPLE_KPB and save selected graphics files
 
Land-Ocean Masks (land_ocean)
  1. •LAND_OCEAN_EXAMPLE_KPB - demonstrate use of the land-ocean data
  2. •LAND_OCEAN_READ_KPB - read a land-ocean data set and return a structure
  3. •data - This directory contains the ISLSCP2 global land-water masks in several forms and resolutions.  The data sets include land-ocean masks (ocean only), land-water masks (including inland water masses), and inland water masks (inland water masses only).  The data are global grids with resolutions of 1°, 0.5°, and 0.25°.  Variables include binary masks (0’s and 1’s) and percentage land or water coverage for each grid cell.  There is a README file explaining how to use the data and software.  The original descriptions of the data files from the data provider are also included.
 
Miscellaneous (misc)
  1. •LAND_OCEAN_EXAMPLE_KPB - demonstrate use of the land-ocean data
  2. •LAND_OCEAN_READ_KPB - read a land-ocean data set and return a structure
  3. •data - directory containing land-ocean data files
 
NetCDF (netcdf)
  1. •examples - the UNIDATA netCDF example programs implemented in IDL
  2. •IS_NETCDF_KPB - tests whether a file is a netCDF file
  3. •NCDF_READ_VAR_KPB - read a variable and its attributes from a netCDF file, return a data structure
  4. •NCDF_VAR_EXISTS_KPB - check whether a variable exists in a netCDF file
 
Date and time programs (time)
  1. •This directory contains multiple procedures and functions to do date and time calculations that are precise to the second.  See the README file for information on how to use these routines.
 
Topography (topo)
  1. •TOPO_EXAMPLE_KPB - demonstrate use of the topographic data
  2. •TOPO_READ_5_MINUTE_KPB - read the 5-minute global topographic data
  3. •TOPO_READ_10_MINUTE_KPB - read the 10-minute global topographic data
  4. •data - This directory contains two global topographic databases.  The first is a global database of topography (no ocean bathymetry) at 10’ resolution (2160 x 1080).  The second contains both topography and bathymetry at 5’ resolution (4320 x 2160).  There is a README file explaining how to use the data and software.  The original descriptions of the data files from the data provider are also included.