Much documentation can be displayed on your terminal by typing HELP word C R, where word is the name of
an verb, task or adverb. The information given will supplement that given in the INPUTS for a verb or task.
It is the only source of information on the adverbs. Type XHELP word C R to display the help file in your WWW
browser with links to adverbs from task help files.
To print the HELP information on your line printer, set DOCRT = -1 and enter EXPLAIN word C R instead. (Using DOCRT = 1 with EXPLAIN will send the output to your terminal screen.) For the more important verbs and tasks, EXPLAIN will print extra information, not shown by HELP about the use of the program, with detailed explanations, hints, cautions and examples.
HELP may also be used to list the names of all 
symbols known to AIPS by category, an operation helpful
when you can’t remember the name of something. Type:
> HELP ADVERBS C R | to get a list of all adverbs in the symbol table |
> HELP ARRAYS C R | to get a list of all array adverbs in the symbol table |
> HELP REALS C R | to get a list of all real adverbs in the symbol table |
> HELP STRINGS C R | to get a list of all character string adverbs in the symbol table |
> HELP VERBS C R | to get a list of all verbs, pseudoverbs, and procedures in the symbol table |
> HELP PSEUDOS C R | to get a list of all pseudo verbs in the symbol table |
> HELP PROCS C R | to get a list of all procedures in the symbol table |
In the past, contained a range of general HELP files which purported to list all verbs and tasks in various
categories. Since these were maintained by hand, they were essentially never current and complete.
That entire system has been replaced by the verbs ABOUT and APROPOS to be discussed below. A few
general help files do remain, and they may even be relatively current. A list of these may be found by
typing:
A few general help files remain. They are POPSYM (symbols used in interpretive language ), WHATSNEW (major
changes in since the last update — not usually maintained unfortunately), NEWTASK (writing and
incorporating a new task into ), and PANIC (solutions to common problems).
The HELP verb is very useful, but only if you know that the function you want exists in and know its name.
Two functions have appeared in AIPS to assist you in this search. The first of these, APROPOS, searches all of the
one-line summaries and keywords of all help files for matches to one or more user-specified words. For
example, type
> APROPOS CLEAN C R | to display all keyword and 1-line summaries of help files containing words beginning with “clean” (in upper and/or lower case), and |
to display all keyword and 1-line summaries of help files containing both words beginning with “uv” and words beginning with “plot.” |
The text files used by APROPOS are maintained by the source code maintenance (check-out) system itself. As
a result, they should always be current. Of course, the quality of the results depends on the quality of the
programmer-typed one-line and keyword descriptions in the help files. These were not regarded as important
previously and hence are of variable quality.
The second new method for finding things in is the verb ABOUT. Type
> ABOUT keyword C R | to see a list of all |
You need only type as many letters of keyword as are needed for a unique match. The source-code maintenance
system is used to force all help files to use only a limited list of primary and secondary keywords. Software tools to
update the list files have also been written, and are used at least once with every release. The list of
categories recognized is as follows (where only the upper-case letters shown in the name are actually
used):
ADVERB POPS symbol holding real or character data
ANALYSIS Image processing, analysis, combination AP Tasks using the "array processor" ASTROMETry Accurate position and baseline measurements BATCH Running AIPS tasks in AIPS batch queues CALIBRATion Calibration of interferometer uv data CATALOG Dealing with the AIPS catalog file COORDINAtes Handling image coordinates, conversions EDITING Editing tables, uv and image data. EXT-APPL Access to extension files (tables) FITS FITS format for data interchange GENERAL General AIPS utilities HARDCOPY Creating listings and displays on paper IMAGE-UTil Utilities for handling images IMAGE Transforming of images IMAGING Creation of images: FFT, Clean, ... INFORMATion General lists and user help functions INTERACTive Functions requiring user interaction MODELING Model fitting to uv or image data OBSOLETE Functions slated for removal ONED Functions for one-dimensional image slices OOP Tasks coded with object oriented principles OPTICAL Functions of interest for optical astronomy data PARAFORM Skeleton tasks for use in building new tasks PLOT Displays of image and uv data POLARIZAtion Calibration, analysis, display of polarization POPS Aspects of the AIPS’ user language POPS PROCEDURe Creation of and available procedures PSEUDOVErb Pseudoverbs in the POPS language and AIPS RUN Creation of and available RUN files SINGLEDIsh Functions of interest for single-disk radio data SPECTRAL Functions for spectra-line and other 3D data TABLE AIPS table extension files TAPE Use of magnetic tapes TASK AIPS tasks - available asynchronous functions TV-APPL Tasks using the TV display TV Basic functions on the TV display UTILITY Basic functions on tables, uv and image data UV Functions dealing with interferometer uv data VERB Synchronous functions inside the AIPS program VLA Functions of particular interest for the VLA VLBI Functions of particular interest for very long baseline data. |
A variety of synonyms are also recognized. Besides those that are merely spelling variants, the currently accepted synonyms are
FILES -> CATALOG POSITION -> COORDINATES
FLAGGING -> EDITING EXTENSION -> EXT-APPL PRINTING -> HARDCOPY PRINTER -> HARDCOPY MAP -> IMAGE MAP-UTIL -> IMAGE-UTIL MAPPING -> IMAGING LANGUAGE -> POPS CUBE -> SPECTRAL LINE -> SPECTRAL VISIBILITY -> UV VLBA -> VLBI PARAMETERS -> ADVERB HELPS -> INFORMATION SLICE -> ONED |
Even veteran users should use HELP WHATSNEW C R when a new release of is installed
on their computer. When it is current, this file provides brief descriptions of recent developments in
. Reading it may bring pleasant surprises and avoid unpleasant ones! More detailed descriptions of
new developments in can be found in the 
etter published by the NRAO with each
software release. It is available from the web site http://www.aips.nrao.edu/ and is included with
distributions. An Memo series is published by the NRAO with details of various aspects
of the implementation of, and planning for, . Advanced users may also wish to receive, and
contribute to, the electronic mail forum — BANANAS. There is also an electronic news group called
alt.sci.astro.aips devoted to matters. This 
ook
ook, many of the Memos, and
various other publications of the group are available via anonymous ftp (at ftp.aoc.nrao.edu)
and via the Internet and the “World-Wide Web” starting with “URL” (Universal Resource Location)
http://www.aips.nrao.edu/).
Your local Manager probably receives the etter, Memos, and BANANAS and can make
information from them available at your site. He/she should also be aware of the electronic means of information
retrieval, and be able to help you use them. If this is not the case, write to the Group (at NRAO, P. O. Box
O, Socorro, NM 87801-0387) or send electronic mail to daip@nrao.edu for further information about these
services.