What is ICL?

The Interactive Command Language (ICL) is a language designed to provide a programmable user interface to an astronomical data reduction or data acquisition system. It is the primary user interface for the ADAM software environment and its use with ADAM is described in Part II.

ICL is in some ways similar to a high level programming language such as Fortran or Pascal, but it has some important differences.

• It is a command language. One of its main uses is to enable the typing of commands with few restrictions on the possible command format For example ICL can be used to run the FIGARO data reduction system and it is possible to type FIGARO commands in exactly the same format as was previously used from DCL.
• It is an interactive language. ICL provides a complete environment for entering, editing and debugging programs, rather than relying on external editors, linkers etc.
• ICL can be used as a programming language, but it is intended for writing relatively simple and straightforward programs. It's requirements are different from those of most modern programming languages, which are designed for the needs of big software projects such as writing operating systems or controlling missiles. ICL is designed to make simple programs easy to write.