                        FITSIO - Version 3.21
                           8 July 1992

This is to announce that Version 3.21 of the FITSIO package is now available.
FITSIO is a powerful yet simple to use Fortran subroutine interface for reading
and writing files in FITS format.

This 3.21 version of FITSIO is 100% upwardly compatible with the previous 3.20
version and contains the following new features:

  NEW SUBROUTINES:
        - support for Lehey Fortran on IBM PCs
        - new more robust family of subroutines to read and write the required
          header keywords
        - 3 additional subroutines to make it easier to read or modify header
          keywords

  ENHANCEMENTS:
        - improved documentation file
        - changed the way FITSIO handles arrays of ASCII strings to be
          compatible with the proposed binary table format
        - rewrote several of the previously machine-specific subroutines
          in portable Fortran-77, to make it easier to port FITSIO to new
          machines.
        - improved the functionality of several other subroutines

  BUG FIXES:
        - fixed 9 (relatively small) bugs in various FITSIO subroutines

For further details on these new features, see the 'release.doc' file
in the FITSIO distribution directory.

The FITSIO software, documentation, and example programs are available via
anonymous ftp from:

       ftp tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov   (128.183.8.77)

Then type the following:

        ftp>  user anonymous
        Password:               type your username as a password~
        ftp>  cd pub/fitsio3    to move to the version 3 subdirectory~
        ftp>  ls                to see a list of the available files~
        ftp>  get read.me       contains latest information about FITSIO~
        ftp>  get fitsio.doc    complete user documentation~
        ftp>  get ...           get any additional desired files~
        ftp>  quit

Alternatively, the FITSIO files may be copied from following SPAN/DECnet node:

   NDADSA::HEASARC:EXOSAT.XANADU.FITS.FITSIO~

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. William Pence                 (Internet)  pence@tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov
HEASARC                           (SPAN)      LHEAVX::PENCE
Code 668                          Telephone:  (301)286-4599
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771


    FITS RELATED ACTIVITIES AT THE HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS SCIENCE ARCHIVE
        RESEARCH CENTER (HEASARC) AT GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER


I.  FITSIO STATUS UPDATE

- FITSIO is a Fortran subroutine interface for reading or writing FITS files.

        - Supports all common types of FITS files: primary arrays, IMAGE
                extensions, ASCII and Binary table extensions (including
                variable length arrays)

        - Currently supported on: VAX/VMS, SUNs, DECstations, IBM mainframes,
                IBM PCs, Amigas, NeXTs, Silcon Graphics IRIS, Convex

- Latest release: V3.20 was released in April 1992

        - No new major enhancements are planned, however minor releases
          will be made periodically to fix bugs and add a few enhancements

        - Available via anonymous ftp from tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov in directory
          pub/fitsio3/

        - Next release (V3.21) will be available in the last week of June 1992.

- Subroutine bindings for C and possibly for SPP are being developed for FITSIO

        - These consist of thin layers of C or SPP subroutines which sit on
          top of the Fortran FITSIO subroutines

        - These binding will allow C or SPP programmers to simply call the
          FITSIO library without having to worry about the machine specific
          details of calling Fortran subroutine from another language, or
          the conversion of data types (e.g., converting SPP strings into
          Fortran strings).

        - The C bindings use the CFORTRAN library (available from
          zebra.desy.de 131.169.2.244~) which provides a machine independent
          interface for calling Fortran from C.

        - In the SPP version the low level file I/O routines will also be
          replaced with calls to the IRAF VOS for complete IRAF compatibility.

        - the C binding should be available in July and the SSP binding
          later in July or August.

II.  FTOOLS - FITS TOOLS PACKAGE DESCRIPTION

- FTOOLS is a set of utility programs for manipulating FITS files using FITSIO.

        - modeled after the STSDAS TTOOLS package

- Specifically developed to support the Astro-D mission but most tasks are
  very general.

- FTOOLS will form the core HEASARC software for processing data from any
  past or future high-energy astronomy mission.

- FTOOLS directly processes FITS files without first having to convert them
  into a local data format. (FITS is not just a transport format).

        - the software and the data are both machine independent

        - can simply ftp FITS data files between users on different machines

- All input and output files to the FTOOLS tasks are in FITS format
  (with the occasionally ASCII file as well) .

- Each FTOOLS task performs one simple operation, e.g., sort, print,
  plot, select, or copy information in a FITS file.

- Most of the tasks operate on tables (ASCII or Binary) however they also
  operate on images wherever it make sense to do so.

III.  FTOOLS DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

- The FTOOLS code is designed with portability as a prime requirement.

        - written in ANSI-standard Fortran or C

        - all data I/O and user I/O is isolated through standard
          interface subroutines

                - data I/O:  FITSIO used to access FITS files

                - user I/O:  uses IRAF F77 parameter interface calling sequences

- FTOOLS is currently implemented in 2 different environments:

        - as an IRAF package - uses .par files just like any other IRAF task

        - as stand-alone tasks using the SAO-developed Parameter Interface
          which mimics the way IRAF reads parameters from a .par file, but
          has no dependency on the IRAF software or libraries.

- It should be relatively easy to port the code to any other environment.

- First public release of FTOOLS is planned for July 1992. Should run on
  SUNS, and DECstations, and probably VAX/VMS.
  watch this space for further announcements when the package is available~

- 2.5 programmers and 2 (part time) astronomers are currently working on
  the FTOOLS project.   Work on developing more FTOOLS tasks will continue
  into 1993.

IV. List of Selected FTOOLS Tasks

The following is a list of just some of the tasks that are planned for
the FTOOLS package.

FDUMP - format the header and/or data of a FITS table into an ASCII file
FCREATE - create a new FITS table extension from an input ASCII template file
FMODHEAD - modify the header keywords in a FITS file
FLCOL - list the names and datatypes of all columns in a table
FPROJECT - create a new table from columns extracted from an existing table
FSELECT - extract selected rows from a table and write to a new table
FAPPEND - combine 2 or more separate extensions into one FITS file
FEXTRACT - extract an entire FITS extension from one file to a new file
FHIST - bin the data in a table column into a histogram
F2DHIST - bin the data in 2 table columns into a rectangular FITS image
FSTAT - calculate statistics (mean, variance, etc) on a column of numbers
FSORT - sort a table based on the entries in a given column
FCALC - perform arithmetic operations on a table of numbers
PLOTFITS - plot one or more columns in a table extension
