Next subroutine.....

I've almost forgotten what 'subroutines' do!

However, managed to load onto GITHUB the first routine called by the ROBFIT background fitting code BKGFIT detailed in previous posts.

The code BKLINK is now available for viewing. Though think I should have put more comments into the code!

Anyway - this is another of the routines used in the background fitting process - it is essentially an input routine that reads user defined values from a file called BKGFIT.MNU - which I still need to find!

Why bother fitting the background when the idea is to be looking for small peaks?

The code has been mainly developed around fitting of gamma-ray spectra but can be used on any data set which required the identification of peaks in among significant background 'noise'. Once you have identified what the background looks like and have represented it mathematically the search for small variations from this representation is made easier. Exactly like the identification of the signal for the Higgs Boson reported upon this week. Blimey I am topical - it wasn't planned!

Essentially the operation of the ROBFIT code follows a sequence;

1. Read in data required to be analysed
2. Fit the background (this can be a separate file or the code can be run 'all-up' with it fitting background and peaks)
3. Search for 'channels' above a cutoff level
4. Search for peak regions
5. Identify peaks in these regions
6. Refit all peaks in the regions
7. Update the peak list

which seems a fairly straightforward sequence.

Except it gets a bit more complicated......more on that later!

Tracking the good stuff..

Bit of a diversion from programming but worth it.

Thanks to a bizarre combination of watching a programme on Caledonian Road (N9 London) on the BBC (excellent viewings for me), Tweeting that I had lived there for a few years then Eleonora http://eleonoraschinella.wordpress.com  replying with a Tweet about a way of tracking and storing them as a story - I discovered an excellent new online tool for corralling all this fleeting internet information.


Its called Storify http://storify.com/ absolutely worth checking out! So I'm using it to pull together the threads of 'knowledge' that I pick up from various sources such as Twitter, Google reader etc. So far I have gone mad and have 4 'stories running - 2 can be found on http://storify.com/grandwizz - one is an Alan Turing tribute and the other relates to collation of Innovation ideas! The other 2 stories are in draft and are just 'knowledge' dumps - probably post them anyway this week sometime.

So the online tools are shaping up like this for me;

1. Twitter - full of junk until you can filter what you want through a trusted network then excellent access to current thinking!
2. LinkedIn - interfacing with Twitter to share knowledge and for deeper discussions - negative is its a bit glacial in response time - positive is that the feedback you get from a network is fantastic, a living encyclopaedia.
3. Github - repo for all coding - best bar none for this type of thing!
4. Blogger - this - effectively my diary.
5. Storify - repository for pulling things together and building themes.
6. My website (yes I am calling it that much to the disdain of my lads)  https://sites.google.com/site/oldbam/  for keeping track of where all this is located!

Now just need a good Fortran compiler - the one I have (must be free you see) is a bit too retro even for me;)

The next challenge......

OK - I have the next revival project sorted!

I'ts a bit of back to the future related to the ROBFIT code myself and Bob Coldwell of the University of Florida physics department developed towards the back end of the 1980's.

So that's the 'back' bit!

After 20 years I have managed to resurrect the Fortran files - from 3 1/2" floppies - just finding a drive to read these was an exercise in itself. Thanks to mumbam for digging out an old work computer - though she did then go on about how the version of Excel loaded on the machine was far better than the modern one which was slightly worrying.

Anyway I have now extracted the files - cold sweat as I remember the work put into writing these. All seem fine - I now have a list of files that makefiles,

BKGFIT
FSPDIS
FSPFIT
RAWDD
STDIS
STGEN
VRMAIN
XCALIBER

now need to figure out what they do, maybe I should read the book :O. However, I have contacted Bob and have decided to load this version of the code onto a proper 'open' repository.

That's the 'future' bit.

I have been reliably informed by Bambofy (many thanks again) that 'github' is the place for this so my very next task is to figure out how to do that.

The journey goes back in time.....