NRAO Applications Users Group Meeting - PRELIMINARY AGENDA

Date: 2007-05-30 (Wednesday) 
Time: 1300 MDT (1500 EDT)
Video Hub: SOC-conf
Rooms: SOC317/CV-ER311

Phone-in: (505) 835-7940

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Agenda:

Send items for inclusion to smyers

1. NAUG News

   o Users Committee report (Joe)

2. CASA Status Report

   o Status of Mac distribution?

3. ALMA

   o CDR5 report (Joe)

4. EVLA

   o SAGE meeting report (Michael/Bryan)

5. Main Event - Presentations and Discussion Items

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   https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/2007-May-30

   - Alpha patch status

     How is progress towards Patch 1.0 in June?
     What is in or out?

     See beta planning page:
     https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/BetaPlanning

   - Joe and Kumar Charlottesville Travelogue

     (and general progress by the stay-at-homes)

     o integrated profiles (box, polygon)
     o polygon statistics
     o interactive clean
     o image analysis tasks
       * imhead 

     See wiki page.

   - Data selection 

     Preliminary proposal sent to Joe (Ed/Steve) for "selectdata" params.
     Key ones are "spw" and "chanrange" which take selection strings 
     for ranges etc.  See NAUG Note at:

     http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/notes/2007-05-30-myers-selectdata.txt

   - Task/Parameter List (Ed):

     Tasks names --- preliminary proposal sent to Joe (Ed/Steve), 5 changes:
         
        clrstat ==> clearstat
        contsub ==> uvcontsub
        correct ==> applycal
        listobs ==> listsummary
        smooth  ==> smoothcal

        Comments?

     Parameter names --- preliminary proposal by Ed discussed in sub-group

   - Globals or Not?

     Too much has been said already.  As I (Steve) see it, there are 3 levels
     that we are interested in:

        global - all params are global, and are remembered however they are set
                 (THIS IS THE CURRENT SITUATION - "global means global")

        inter  - only parameters set interactively (in casapy using the 
                 <param>=<value> Python mechanism) are remembered.  Params
                 set explicitly in a function/method call are not remembered
                 (but are saved in the <task>.last file). (This option possible
                 soon if desired.)

        local  - only "environment" variable params are global, all others are
                 task specific (NOT YET AVAILABLE.  Is a requirement for ALMA.)

        The "global" option is what we have, and would be the DEFAULT
        in casapy.  We have a mechanism for the "inter" option
        courtesy Kumar.  Down the road, we may implement the "local"
        option.

        Proposal: have Kumar implement his "casaglobal" parameter to allow
        the global/inter options.  Since this is like an environment variable,
        it would of course be "global" in all options!

        Counter Proposal: make this an environment variable.  We should have
        a dictionary of casaenv variables (like those in SD/ASAP) that can
        be set outside of casapy or inside.  And "casaglobal" should be one
        of them.

   - Logging

     Should log output go to screen in casapy --nolog mode?
     Currently it goes to casapy.log file (which you can monitor
     manually if desired).

   - Task Interface Update (Kumar/Joe):

     New available features?

   - Documentation (Steve,Ed):

     The latest version of the cookbook is available on the CASA and
     NAUG pages, or directly at:

     http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/doc/cookbook/casa_cookbook.pdf

     Last update was May 14 (only minor fixes).  Next version is due
     May 30 (some Synth Cal improvements).

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   Future Topics

   o Final selection scheme (George,Sanjay)

   o suggestions welcome

6. CASA Development Targets and Schedule

     - See project office page:
       http://projectoffice.aips2.nrao.edu
       and the CASA Wiki
       https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/CASA

7. Upcoming meetings and deadlines:
   o 2007 June 15?    CASA Alpha patch 1.  NAUG testing starts.
   o 2007 June 18-21  NRAO 50th Anniversary Symposium (CV)
   o 2007 June 22-24  Meeting "Transformational Science with ALMA: 
                      Through Disks to Stars and Planets" (CV)
   o 2007 July 9???   Debra and Joes Excellent Garching Adventure
   o 2007 Aug  15?    CASA Alpha patch 2
   o 2007 Sep  30     CASA Beta Release!
   o 2007 Oct  1      Blancmanges from Skyron invade Earth

   The agendas for past NAUG meetings are archived at:
   http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/agenda/

   The minutes for past NAUG meetings are archived at:
   http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/minutes/