[MacPerl] Re: MacPerl uses [long]

[bradley@aux1.marc.usda.gov (Randy Bradley)]

>I am just curious as to what everyone uses MacPerl for?

Dakota,

  Transform data.

  Randy's Rule:  All computer programs, no matter how complex,
                 transform data.

  As a newbee, I'm currently working on a program that I will try
to describe for you.

  Background:  A scientist here has a very old IBM PC, 8088,
that he uses for image analysis.  They take a picture through a
microscope and lay it down on a drawing pad.  They trace around the
cell components they are interested in and the data is saved in
a file, one measurement per line...  yeeuch!  They will end up
with over a hundred files each one with over 200 lines of data.\
(each measurement has about ten lines of data, ie area, standard
deviation, etc)  They are only interested in about 30 lines of data
and they want those aranged as fields in a record.  So, each file
will be reduced to one record.  They want to analyze this resulting
file with MacSAS.

  Method:  I decided to read in one file and let the user mark which
lines of data they wanted to analyze.  I want to flag the lines to
be used and save this file as a template.  (they will want to use
this template many times)  My first thought was to have them use
BBedit or something to put an * or something in the fields they
wanted.  Then I thought of MacPerl'Pick() but I can't be sure each
field is unique, so I need an index returned to find the item (line)
selected.  Also, if I could pre-select items, I could let them edit
their templates.  And it would look kewl!

  Well, I'm rambling, but I wanted you all to know that there was
method to my madness.  =:-D

Randy




******************************************************************************
Randy Bradley | Systems Analyst | US Meat Animal Research Center | Clay Center
Computer Spec.| 402-762-4156    | bradley@aux.marc.usda.gov      | Nebraska
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"Around it!  Around it!  Confoundit.  Nobody gave me the specifications.  I
have to do everything myself around here."  Gopher-The Great Honeypot Robbery
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