Computer equipment
The computer I use is a `Dec-alpha' which are well-known for being good
`number-crunchers', i.e., they're particularly suited to doing large mathematical
calculations. The processor speed is 300 MHz and I have about 8
gigabytes of disk space. I need all this disk space because the data
that I analyse from the SOHO satellite takes up a lot of room: a
single observation is usually around 3 to 10 megabytes in size.
As I need to view lots of images of the Sun on my computer, I also have a
large 19 inch screen for displaying them.
For analysing my data I use the IDL (Interactive Data Language)
mathematics package which is widely used in astronomy. At the start of
my PhD I spent some time using FORTRAN, but I find that IDL does everything
that FORTRAN does and a lot more, so I rarely go back to FORTRAN.
Before doing my PhD, I had little experience in programming computers:
only a little BASIC on my old Commodore 64 computer at home, and some
PASCAL.
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