[ncl-install] getting started finally

[Joseph Cain]

So far I have failed to comprehend how to get any program going much less how to use NCL, so I thought I would ask a simple question having installed it on my IMac.

I have tried using your examples like "ncargex cpex08"
but after flailing around some it says
The compile and link failed.

At this time I have for example in my own directory

[Joe-Mac-1008:~] josephcain% more .cshrc
setenv NCARG_ROOT /applications/ncl_ncarg-5.2.1.MacOS_10.6_i386_64bit_nodap_gcc421
setenv PATH /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/texbin:/usr/X11/bin:/applications/ncl_ncarg-5.2.1.MacOS_10.6_i386_64bit_nodap_gcc421/bin

I recall invoking the test code after the install, which I don't seem to be able to locate again, but it did produce a plot.

 I have the nice test program which Mary Haley wrote for me not long ago which I thought I would use as a test to get started and try to understand some of the constructs.

It is below, and an extract of the file "old_out" follows.  My questions to help me understand how to get it going include:

1. Should the three load lines below be modified in some way ? If so or not, how are they supposed to be used?
2. afterwards, how does one compile and execute the code between the begin and end below?  It is not obvious in any of the material I have read.



load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_csm.ncl"
load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/contributed.ncl"

begin
;---Read 7 columns of data, and ignore first line.
  data = readAsciiTable("old_out", 7, "float", 1)  

  year = data(:,0)
  dlat = data(:,1)
  dlon = data(:,2)
  alt  = data(:,3)
  X    = data(:,4)
  Y    = data(:,5)
  Z    = data(:,6)

;---Start the graphics.
  wks   = gsn_open_wks ("ps", "old_out_xy")

;---Set some plot options
  res                              = True
  res at gsnMaximize                  = True   ; Maximize plot in frame
  res at gsnDraw                      = False  ; Don't draw plot
  res at gsnFrame                     = False  ; Don't advance page

  res at vpWidthF                     = 0.8    ; Change aspect ratio
  res at vpHeightF                    = 0.2    ; of plot

  plotx   = gsn_csm_xy(wks, dlat, X, res)
  ploty   = gsn_csm_xy(wks, dlat, Y, res)
  plotz   = gsn_csm_xy(wks, dlat, Z, res)
  plotalt = gsn_csm_xy(wks, dlat, alt, res)

;---Panel all three plots on one page as 4 rows, 1 column
  pres             = True
  pres at gsnMaximize = True
  pres at txString    = "Comparison between X, Y, Z, alt"
  gsn_panel(wks,(/plotx,ploty,plotz,plotalt/),(/4,1/),pres)

end
--------------

[Joe-Mac-1008:projects/mars/plots] josephcain% ls
old_out			old_out_xy.ncl		old_out_xy.ncl copy
[Joe-Mac-1008:projects/mars/plots] josephcain% head old_out
   yr        dlat      dlon      alt         X         Y         Z
 1999.0396  -77.4576  236.5607  196.1897   37.5075  -70.3262   -8.0432
 1999.0396  -76.7379  235.7316  191.3689   38.1892  -82.7721    1.8762
 1999.0396  -76.0140  234.9799  186.6699   37.1596  -92.6662   13.3272
 1999.0396  -75.2865  234.2944  182.0940   41.3300 -101.3463   25.5609
 1999.0396  -74.5554  233.6664  177.6428   49.4288 -104.8782   45.9377
 1999.0396  -73.8211  233.0883  173.3159   60.1135  -99.3531   83.4698
 1999.0396  -73.0837  232.5538  169.1160   59.3724  -75.3881  143.5756
 1999.0396  -72.3436  232.0578  165.0432   37.8042  -25.8652  213.3564
 1999.0396  -71.6007  231.5958  161.0989    7.6971   58.0769  251.1240
[Joe-Mac-1008:projects/mars/plots] josephcain% tail old_out
 1999.0396  -26.1934  221.1180  177.4133   72.2601 -154.9218 -123.6529
 1999.0396  -25.8164  221.0692  179.6584   91.7922 -150.4562 -108.3534
 1999.0396  -25.4399  221.0206  181.9377  103.3611 -140.1341  -90.3866
 1999.0396  -25.0639  220.9722  184.2483  125.7770 -131.1891  -57.8323
 1999.0396  -24.6883  220.9239  186.5920  127.5109 -118.4844  -48.5433
 1999.0396  -24.3131  220.8758  188.9685  123.6467 -104.1106  -40.9750
 1999.0396  -23.9385  220.8279  191.3767  126.3278  -94.2096  -36.4291
 1999.0396  -23.5643  220.7801  193.8179  128.2590  -86.2677  -32.3723
 1999.0396  -23.1906  220.7325  196.2905  120.9526  -74.2833  -28.5982
 1999.0396  -22.8174  220.6851  198.7957  115.4841  -67.6852  -22.9296
[Joe-Mac-1008:projects/mars/plots] josephcain%