IGOR Pro

It was first released as "Igor" in 1989, and became "Igor Pro" circa 1994.

Features

Igor Pro has several features that distinguish it from other graphing programs. The most significant ones are:

• It is completely programmable with a compiled, C-like programming language.
• Igor features a hybrid interface that allows to control the program either with a command line or with clicking menu entries with the mouse.
• It stores data in up to four-dimensional, sophisticated arrays (called "waves").

The concept of Igor's "waves"

Waves are up to four-dimensional arrays that can carry not only numbers, but also characters (text), or date-and-time entries. Waves carry additional meta-information, for example, the physical units of each dimension, which eliminates the need for a series array to provide uniformly-spaced X values in X vs Y graphs (halving the memory needed for the data). Igor offers a wide choice of methods to work with these waves. It is possible to do image-processing with images that have been saved as two- or three-dimensional waves. In addition, two-dimensional waves can be used for matrix calculations.

Capabilities of Igor's programming language

Without the optional add-on packages (XOP, NIDAQ Tools), Igor's programming language supports, amongst others, the following concepts:

• Generating compiled code (although no independent .exe file is created)
• Handling of variables, strings, structures, and waves
• Formatted output
• Regular expressions
• Making graphical user interfaces
• FTP and HTTP communication
• Reading/writing operations on the hard drive
• Integration with Python (can call Python and exchange data)