A N A

[what?] [manual] [authors] [ANA 3] [ANA 1] [ANA to IDL] [browser]

What is ANA?

ANA is a free, extensive, interactive data and image processing software package and language for 32-bit computers. The authors use ANA for data processing associated with their scientific research. ANA stands for "A Non-Acronym".

On 3 February 1999, ANA version 3 was first released. ANA 3 is a merged version of Shine's ANA 1 and Strous's ANA 2, which is backwardly compatible with both earlier versions of ANA (with some minor exceptions).

The ANA Manual

Several versions of the ANA manual (of ANA version 3) are available; In addition, there is an as yet rudimentary and incomplete description of the internals of ANA, which may be of interest to those who want to modify or add to ANA.

The Authors

ANA was written and is maintained by Richard A. Shine (ANA 1) and Louis Strous (ANA 2 & 3) of the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab in Palo Alto, California.

Installing ANA

You can try to install ANA on your computer if you have a C compiler.

ANA 3

Install ANA as follows:
  1. Download the public distribution (see below).
  2. Decompress: gunzip ana.tar.gz
  3. Unpack: tar xf ana.tar
  4. Go to the source directory: cd ana
  5. Configure: ./configure
  6. Compile: make
  7. Install: make install.
For more information, see chapter Installing ANA in the ANA manual. The public distribution is: There is a list of recent changes. These files are updated regularly, because ANA is still being actively developed. If you happen to try to download one of these files just when it is being updated, then you'll not succeed. In that case you may get an error message, or the file you get may be incomplete. Please check the size of the file you downloaded against the size mentioned for it in this web page: if your file has a different size, then something went wrong. If you run into trouble, then please try again a few minutes later. If the problems persist, then send us an email (see below).

The current version of ANA has compiled successfully on machines running the following operating systems:

Even if you run any of these operating systems, there is no guarantee that ANA will compile flawlessly for you: That depends also on such things as what C compiler, include files, and libraries you are using. On the other hand, if you run an operating system that is not listed above, then ANA may still compile for you. Starting with ANA version 3.1.1, we use autoconf to generate a configure file. The new configure file tests your operating system for the presence or allowability of various software features, rather than going by the operating system identification alone. This should enhance the probability of successful compilation.

If you run into trouble when trying to compile ANA, then read the Q & A page. If your problem is not mentioned there, then check that the problem is really associated with ANA and does not show up when you try to compile other programs. If you are sure the problem is associated with ANA, then feel free to ask us for help by email (see below).

Shine's ANA - ANA 1

You can still get Shine's ANA: anatar.gz. Installation is through the usual steps: decompress with gunzip, unpack with tar, compile with make.

ANA in IDL

Some ANA routines have been ported to IDL-compatible sharable object files. See the ANA to IDL page.

Browser

The Browser is an extensive program using Motif widgets, written in ANA for display and manipulation of images, especially images from the TRACE and MDI instruments. A rudimentary HTML manual is available, as are instructions for local use of the browser with ANA 3 at LMSAL (for LMSAL only).
Send comments and messages to ana@ana.lmsal.com