ParselTongue
ParselTongue is a Python interface to classic AIPS, Obit and possibly other task-based data reduction packages. It will serve as the software infrastructure to for some of the ALBUS implementations. It allows you to run AIPS tasks and access AIPS headers and AIPS extension tables from Python. There is also support to run Obit tasks and access data in FITS files. Full access to the visibilities in AIPS UV data is almost complete.
ParselTongue will allow you to script AIPS with a modern programming langue, making complex automated data reduction possible. The excellent support for today's web standards in Python will make the development of pipelines that interact with the outside world possible.
Download
The current version of ParselTongue is available here: parseltongue-1.0.6.tar.gz.
Note that in order to use ParselTongue, you need a workstation with a classic AIPS installation, Python 2.2 or later and Obit. AIPS and Python will be available on most astronomer's desktops, but Obit probably isn't. A version of Obit that is known to work with ParselTongue is available here: Obit-20070702.tar.gz.
Documentation
Documentation for ParselTongue can be found on the JIVE Wiki: http://www.jive.nl/dokuwiki/doku.php/parseltongue:parseltongue. The resources there include the Codex ParselTongue, which contains installation instructions and information on how to use ParselTongue to execute AIPS tasks and manipulate AIPS UV data and images. It is largely based on the old cookbook and the tutorial written for the ParselTongueWorkshop held at JIVE.
At the FirstSoftwareForumMeeting, MarkKettenis gave a presentation about ParselTongue. The slides of this presentation can be found in the ProceedingsFirstSoftwareForumMeeting.
In October 2005, a ParselTongueWorkshop was held at JIVE. Apart from the tutorial mentioned above, this workshop included several talks on ParselTongue and its applications. The slides of these presentations can be found on the ParselTongueWorkshop page.
Examples
ParselTongue is already actively being used for VLBI data reduction. Examples can be found on the JIVE Wiki: http://www.jive.nl/dokuwiki/doku.php/parseltongue:grimoire. And you can share your own examples with the ParselTongue community bu adding them here.
Problems
If you encounter any problems, please drop MarkKettenis mailto:kettenis@jive.nl a mail, such that he can improve ParselTongue. Please also notify him of any problems encountered with installing ParselTongue such that he can improve the installation instructions. He's also very interested in any interesting ParselTongue applications. If things don't work as expected or if you encounter any cryptic error messages, please yell. You can also politely ask for improvements ;-).