=head1 NAME
PDL::Tutorials - A guide to PDL's tutorial documentation.
=head1 MIGRATION
These are our migration guides for users familiar with other types
of numerical analysis software.
=over 5
=item L<PDL::MATLAB|PDL::MATLAB>
Migration guide for MATLAB users. This page explains the key differences
between MATLAB and PDL from the point of view of a MATLAB user.
=item L<PDL::Scilab|PDL::Scilab>
Migration guide for Scilab users. This page explains the key differences
between Scilab and PDL from the point of view of a Scilab user.
=back
=head1 FOUNDATION
=over 5
=item L<PDL::Philosophy|PDL::Philosophy>
Why did we write PDL? This document explains some of the history and
motivation behind the Perl Data Language. It is an attempt to answer
the question "Why PDL?".
=item L<PDL::QuickStart|PDL::QuickStart>
Quick introduction to PDL features. A hands-on guide suitable for
complete beginners. This page assumes no previous knowledge of Perl
or PDL.
=item L<PDL::Indexing|PDL::Indexing>
After you have read the QuickStart guide, you should follow up with
this document. This guide goes more deeply into the concepts of
"indexing" and "slicing" and how they form the core of numerical
analysis with PDL.
=back
=head1 INTERMEDIATE
=over 5
=item L<PDL::Threading|PDL::Threading>
B<Threading> is one of PDL's most powerful features. If you know MATLAB,
you've heard of "vectorizing". Well, B<threading> is like "vectorizing on
steroids". It lets you make very fast and compact code by avoiding
nested loops. All vector-based languages do this, but PDL generalizes
the technique to all sorts of applications.
This tutorial introduces PDL's threading feature, and it shows an example
implementing Conway's Game of Life in 10 lines and 80 times faster than
a classical implementation.
=item L<PDL::BadValues|PDL::BadValues>
Sometimes it is useful to specify that a certain value is "bad" or
"missing". Scientific instruments some times include portions of
invalid data. For example, a CCD camera might produce an image with
over-exposed pixels. PDL's "bad values" feature gives you an easy way
to deal with this sort of imperfect data.
=item L<PDL::Tips|PDL::Tips>
Tips and suggestions for using PDL. This page is an assorted collection
of programming tidbits that some PDL users have found useful. Some of
these tips might be of help when you write your programs.
=back
=head1 ADVANCED
=over 5
=item L<PDL::PP|PDL::PP>
PDL's Pre-Processor is one of PDL's most powerful features. You
write a function definition in special markup and the preprocessor
generates real C code which can be compiled. With PDL:PP you get the
full speed of native C code without having to deal with the full
complexity of the C language.
=item L<PDL::API|PDL::API>
A simple cookbook explaining how to create piddle manually, either
from Perl or from C/XS code. This page covers the PDL core routines
that comprise the PDL API. If you need to access piddles from C/XS,
this is the document for you.
=item L<PDL::Internals|PDL::Internals>
Description of the inner workings of the PDL module. Very few people
need to see this. This page is mainly for PDL developers, or people
interested in debugging PDL or changing the internals of PDL. If you
can read this document and understand all of it, and you additionally
understand L<PDL::PP|PDL::PP>, you will be awarded the title of
"PDL Guru".
=back
=head1 COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2010 Daniel Carrera (dcarrera@gmail.com). You can distribute
and/or modify this document under the same terms as the current Perl
license.
See: http://dev.perl.org/licenses/