Flow data display analysis: A new approach

• Published in: Cytometry (Baltimore); (United States) Vol. 6
• Main Authors: Habersett, R.C., Jett, J.H.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.01.1993
• Subjects: 990301 > Information Handling > Data Handling > (1992-); ANIMAL CELLS; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; COMPUTER GRAPHICS; CYTOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES; DATA ANALYSIS; DATA BASE MANAGEMENT; GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE; IMAGE PROCESSING; MANAGEMENT; MATHEMATICS; PROCESSING 550300 > Cytology; PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES; SORTING; STATISTICS
• ISSN: 0196-4763; 1097-0320

IDL (Interactive Data Language), a commercial data analysis and visualization software package (Research Systems, Inc., Boulder, CO) was used to develop a comprehensive program providing interactive display and analysis of flow data. Unlike compiled languages, IDL yields fast efficient applications with access to large data sets via a concise powerful syntax. IDL is an interpreted system with advantages over compiled languages at no loss of speed: it is a high-level structured language providing complete graphics control through keywords and system variables; commands can be entered at the keyboard and executed immediately or combined in procedure files to create programs limited in size only by disk space; all variables and data arrays are accessible, e.g., it is possible to derive new parameters from the list-mode data, display these in any conceivable manner, then resume normal program operation. IDL is highly optimized for array operations and provides many tools to display and manipulate array based data, including: images processing, 3D graphics (volume rendering), math functions, and statistical libraries. Platforms supported include: SUN, HP, DEC, IBM, SGI, and the PC (Windows 3.1). Flow karyotypes, cytochemistry data, and display formats to demonstrate reagent mixing efficiency in kinetic experiments are presented.