[GRASS5] New GRASS intro

[Michael Barton]

David

Scripting flexibility is one of the great benefits of GRASS. However, in
scripts one isn't doing interactive display management. This has always been
the case and remains so. We are just working to make the interactive part
much less primitive than it was before. So we are trying to add new
capabilities, not remove existing ones. On the other hand, all the
interactive display features in the new GIS Manager are carried out with
existing GRASS commands. Hence, they can be replicated in multiple display
architectures--and scripted.

As I understand the direction of the display architecture, it should be
easier that it is now to script the complex composition and output of
multiple GIS layers to a graphics file that can be viewed in multiple ways
rather than only on an x-windows display monitor.

Beyond this, the greatest power of scripting is in the ability to carry out
complex management and analysis tasks that are unique to a given project or
create functionality that is not otherwise available.

Michael
__________________________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity
Arizona State University

phone: 480-965-6213
fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton


> From: David Finlayson <david.p.finlayson at gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 14:29:00 -0700
> To: Michael Barton <michael.barton at asu.edu>
> Cc: Jachym Cepicky <jachym.cepicky at centrum.cz>, grass developers list
> <grass5 at grass.itc.it>, Multiple recipients of list <GRASSLIST at baylor.edu>
> Subject: Re: [GRASS5] New GRASS intro
> 
> On 4/25/06, Michael Barton <michael.barton at asu.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Everyone wants the command line interface to be maintained. However, there
>> are features that can be implemented in an integrated GUI in ways that are
>> not possible with a CLI.
> 
> I am always torn on this issue. On the one hand, if GRASS had a
> friendly user interface, maybe it wouldn't be in the GIS ghetto it is
> now (in USA anyway). On the other hand, the reason I use GRASS is
> because it integrates with my Unix toolbox (sed, grep, cut, etc).
> 
> If there comes a day when a Bash script isn't a first-class interface
> to GRASS. Well, that's the day I stop using GRASS.
> 
> David