NCAR README
The data visualization software NCAR Graphics has been upgraded to
version 4.1.1 on all of ITC's Unix machines (RS/6000, Sun, SGI, and Linux)
and is available for mounting to departmental machines from the ITC
Unix server jeeves.itc.virginia.edu.
The NCAR 4.1.1 library provides such functions as 2-D line and color-shaded
contours with labeling, 2-D vector fields and streamlines, 3-D mesh surfaces,
3-D contoured iso-surfaces with hidden lines removed, 3-D axes systems, 3-D
curves, world-coastline, U.S. state, and world political map database, and
ten cartographic projections. Contours, vector fields, streamlines, and
grids can undergo map projections and can optionally be masked by continents,
state, and world political boundaries (e.g., contours can be drawn over land
masses only).
This latest version now provides three user interfaces for data processing and
visualization as described below.
Interactive programming power:
NCAR Command Language Interface
The NCAR Command Language is a powerful interpreted
language for reading, writing, and manipulating scientific
data. It uses an internal netCDF data model, but handles
input data in a variety of formats. The command language
provides many functions for manipulating data (including
sorting) as well as arithmetic and trigonometric
functions. As part of an integrated package, the NCAR
Command Language can create any visualization supported by
the High-Level Utility interface, including XY plots and
contour plots with maps, legends, labelbars, and other
annotations. You can use the command language's looping
constructs to create animations; you can also subscript
arrays directly with latitude and longitude values. You
can execute the NCAR Command Language interactively from
the command line or as a batch script.
Toolkit convenience:
High-Level Utility Interface
The NCAR Graphics package includes a High-Level Utility
library, which provides routines to create and manipulate
graphical objects. This interface makes it easier to
produce complex visualizations. The interface includes
both Fortran and C bindings.
Legacy code compatibility:
Low-Level Utilities Interface
NCAR Graphics software continues to provide about
500 low-level plotting routines. Both Fortran and C
bindings will continue to support your NCAR
Graphics code in an upwardly compatible manner.
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LOCAL INSTRUCTIONS:
======================================================
Before using NCAR Graphics, add /ncar4.1.1/bin your PATH environment
variable and set the environment variable NCARG_ROOT to /ncar4.1.1
The system requirements for running NCAR Graphics on departmental Unix
machines are the following. The operating system (O.S.) version is the oldest
one compatible with NCAR Graphics 4.1.1 and the last column indicates the
directory system to be mounted from the Unix server jeeves.itc.
Platform O.S version jeeves.itc
-------- ----------- ----------
IBM RS/6000 AIX 4.3 /rs6000/ncar4.1.1
SGI IRIX 6.5 /sgi/ncar4.1.1
Sun4 Solaris 2.5/2.6/2.7 /solaris/ncar4.1.1
NOTE: The IBM RS/6000 cluster blue.unix currently runs AIX 4.2 and therefore
does not support NCAR version 4.1.1. If the operating system will not support
NCAR version 4.1.1, then use version 4.0.1, which can be accessed using the
above instructions and substituting 4.0.1 for 4.1.1.
DOCUMENTATION:
Documentation and examples for NCAR Graphics is available through the Web at
the URL,
http://ngwww.ucar.edu/ngdoc/ng/ngdochome.html
and is divided up into the following sections:
The Quick Start Guide explains all NG4 examples and provides their
source code.
The User Guide introduces NG4 software functionality and key concepts.
The Reference Manual describes how the NG4 software operates.
Links to the NCAR Graphics documentation are also provided from the Research
Computing Support Group webpage at,
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/ncar/
COMPILING NCAR GRAPHICS PROGRAMS:
To compile an NCAR Graphics C or FORTRAN program that only uses the low-level
utilities, you can use the scripts ncargcc or ncargf77 in the same manner that
you would use cc and f77. These scripts take care of loading the proper NCAR
Graphics libraries for you.
To compile an NCAR Graphics C or FORTRAN program that uses the high-level
utilities, you can use the scripts nhlcc or nhlf77 in the same manner that you
would use cc and f77. You cannot use ncargf77 or ncargcc for compiling high-
level utility programs, because you will be missing some additional libraries
that are needed.
If you do not want to use the above scripts to compile your NCAR Graphics
programs, but instead want to use your own Makefile, then you can just type
the above commands without any arguments to see what libraries you need and
what order they need to be linked in.
