TUTORIALS(1p)						User Contributed Perl Documentation					     TUTORIALS(1p)

NAME

       PDL::Tutorials - A guide to PDL's tutorial documentation.

MIGRATION

       These are our migration guides for users familiar with other types of numerical analysis software.

       PDL::MATLAB
	    Migration guide for MATLAB users. This page explains the key differences between MATLAB and PDL from the point of view of a MATLAB
	    user.

       PDL::Scilab
	    Migration guide for Scilab users. This page explains the key differences between Scilab and PDL from the point of view of a Scilab
	    user.

FOUNDATION

       PDL::Philosophy
	    Why did we write PDL? This document explains some of the history and motivation behind the Perl Data Language. It is an attempt to
	    answer the question "Why PDL?".

       PDL::QuickStart
	    Quick introduction to PDL features. A hands-on guide suitable for complete beginners. This page assumes no previous knowledge of Perl
	    or PDL.

       PDL::Indexing
	    After you have read the QuickStart guide, you should follow up with this document. This guide goes more deeply into the concepts of
	    "indexing" and "slicing" and how they form the core of numerical analysis with PDL.

INTERMEDIATE

       PDL::Threading
	    Threading is one of PDL's most powerful features. If you know MATLAB, you've heard of "vectorizing". Well, threading is like
	    "vectorizing on steroids". It lets you make very fast and compact code by avoiding nested loops. All vector-based languages do this,
	    but PDL generalizes the technique to all sorts of applications.

	    This tutorial introduces PDL's threading feature, and it shows an example implementing Conway's Game of Life in 10 lines and 80 times
	    faster than a classical implementation.

       PDL::BadValues
	    Sometimes it is useful to specify that a certain value is "bad" or "missing". Scientific instruments some times include portions of
	    invalid data. For example, a CCD camera might produce an image with over-exposed pixels. PDL's "bad values" feature gives you an easy
	    way to deal with this sort of imperfect data.

       PDL::Tips
	    Tips and suggestions for using PDL. This page is an assorted collection of programming tidbits that some PDL users have found useful.
	    Some of these tips might be of help when you write your programs.

ADVANCED

       PDL::PP
	    PDL's Pre-Processor is one of PDL's most powerful features. You write a function definition in special markup and the preprocessor
	    generates real C code which can be compiled. With PDL:PP you get the full speed of native C code without having to deal with the full
	    complexity of the C language.

       PDL::API
	    A simple cookbook explaining how to create piddle manually, either from Perl or from C/XS code. This page covers the PDL core routines
	    that comprise the PDL API. If you need to access piddles from C/XS, this is the document for you.

       PDL::Internals
	    Description of the inner workings of the PDL module. Very few people need to see this. This page is mainly for PDL developers, or
	    people interested in debugging PDL or changing the internals of PDL. If you can read this document and understand all of it, and you
	    additionally understand PDL::PP, you will be awarded the title of "PDL Guru".

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2010 Daniel Carrera (dcarrera@gmail.com). You can distribute and/or modify this document under the same terms as the current Perl
       license.

       See: http://dev.perl.org/licenses/

perl v5.14.2							    2012-01-02							     TUTORIALS(1p)