CIAO Users Survey

Of those who replied, most are long time (5 years) CIAO users. The sample covers a good range of grad students, postdocs and faculty.

1) S-lang and python for scripting

A majority (over 60 percent) never use scripting - if they use sherpa/chips, they don't take advantage of the scripting language capabilities.

Of those who do, there's a fairly even split between current s-lang and python users, but a significantly larger number of users plan to learn python (70% vs 47%)

For the minority that care about scripting, 30% feel that python support is 'very' important; 20% feel that way about S-lang.

70% of users feel that a CIAO 3.4-style CLI interface is somewhat or very important, versus 65% for python and 50% for S-lang. (The numbers are 40/30/10 if you restrict it to 'very' important).

Most users type sherpa at the command line (rather than 'python'; a few type chips for plotting). Users are not making used of the ability to import sherpa and chips into an existing python session. 18 percent have imported other CIAO modules (e.g. caldb?) into a session.

Since only 10 percent of users think that the S-lang interface support is 'very important', we should consider ending S-lang sherpa/chips support and focus on python (possibly with an option for a limited CLI back compatibility layer).

2) Multiwavelength support

The users are almost all self-identified as X-ray astronomers. However, 31 percent of them use CIAO at least sometimes for looking at data from other wavelengths.

3) Use of CIAO parts

As expected, everyone uses the tools, including a_p_e and the dm tools. 60% use Sherpa/chips. 35% sometimes use prism; use of peg is rare.

For comparison, 20% of users reported use of ISIS; a larger number reported that they sometimes or often use XSPEC and IDL.

4) Sherpa CIAO 3.4 vs CIAO 4

52% of users sometimes use CIAO3.4. 11% have not yet installed CIAO4.x at all. Sherpa users are currently about 50/50 between use of CIAO 3.4 and CIAO 4.x.

Comments on changes to the Sherpa interface were largely negative - many users preferred the old style CLI, and feel that the documentation for Sherpa 4 is still insufficient. Although more users are now transitioning to Sherpa 4, we do plan to address these concerns. A minority (17%) have a large number of old CIAO 3.4 scripts.

Users reported that they don't have the motivation (3.4 is good enough) or the time to learn a new interface; they would switch if there were a back compatible CLI and/or they realized that the system was more robust; performance and doc improvements would also help.

On the other hand, there were some generally positive comments on python support.

5) Plotting.

Chips is used almost exclusively via sherpa; users use IDL, pgplot, and sm for general plotting tasks (not much use of matplotlib yet, but some reference to matplotlib in other comments).

6) Documentation

For the most part (with the exception of Sherpa4) people were happy with the documentation, although navigation to find what you needed was an issue. All of the doc/help methods are useful to some significant group of users, no one thing (ahelp/threads/etc) stood out above the others. Abbreviated threads for expert users were suggested by one user.

7) Platforms

There are now very few Solaris users, and the remaining ones are mostly planning to transition to Mac or Linux in the next couple of years. We should consider reducing Solaris support for CIAO users, even if DS releases still need it.

There are also a small number of remaining users on the Mac PPC; however, some report that their machines are high end desktops and that they do not have funds to buy replacements. We should consider whether we can provide a reduced form of continuing support for these users.

64 bit linux is now slightly more common than 32 bit.

Most users are not planning to switch OS in the near future, but those who do are all switching to Mac OS Leopard.

A range of Linux distros are in use (Sci Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS) but Fedora remains the dominant one. Of those who provided uname information, 45 out of 74 linux machines were running Fedora or RHEL.

Differences between the CXC_only and non-CXC groups do not seem significant.

NOTE: All individual comments and responses are visible by clicking on the "View" icon

1. Your name (optional)
	answered question	59
	skipped question	101
		Response Count
view		59

2. Your experience:
	answered question		152
	skipped question		8
		Response Percent	Response Count
Undergraduate student		3.9%	6
Research assistant		3.3%	5
Graduate student		17.8%	27
Postdoc		23.0%	35
Faculty or equivalent		41.4%	63
Software developer		5.3%	8
view Other (please specify)		5.3%	8

3. What is your connection with the Chandra X-Ray Center (CXC), (if any)?
	answered question		151
	skipped question		9
		Response Percent	Response Count
Not connected with the CXC		66.9%	101
CXC-SAO		28.5%	43
CXC-MIT		4.6%	7

4. Do you consider yourself primarily an X-ray astronomer?
	answered question		151
	skipped question		9
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes (I primarily analyse X-ray data, but also use other wavelengths)		86.8%	131
No (My primary data analysis is done in a wavelength other than X-ray)		13.2%	20
view Comment			8

5. CIAO currently supports two scripting languages, S-Lang and Python. Do you write scripts in any of these languages? (even if you do not currently use them in CIAO)
	answered question			151
	skipped question			9
	Never	Sometimes	Always	Response Count
S-Lang	68.8% (99)	17.4% (25)	13.9% (20)	144
Python	62.9% (90)	25.9% (37)	11.2% (16)	143
view Comment				21

6. Do you plan to learn any of these languages in the next year?
	answered question			150
	skipped question			10
	No	Maybe	Yes	Response Count
S-Lang	51.6% (66)	32.8% (42)	15.6% (20)	128
Python	26.1% (37)	42.3% (60)	31.7% (45)	142
view Comment				16

7. How long have you been using CIAO?
	answered question		141
	skipped question		19
		Response Percent	Response Count
Never used it		5.0%	7
Less than 1 year		6.4%	9
1 to 5 years		28.4%	40
More than 5 years		60.3%	85
view Comment			8

8. Which of the following kinds of data analysis you perform with CIAO?
	answered question			137
	skipped question			23
	Never	Sometimes	Often	Response Count
X-ray low resolution imaging (CCD) spectroscopy	8.4% (11)	35.9% (47)	55.7% (73)	131
X-ray high resolution grating spectroscopy	52.8% (66)	31.2% (39)	16.0% (20)	125
X-ray imaging and spatial analysis	7.8% (10)	33.3% (43)	58.9% (76)	129
X-ray detection, photometry and hardness ratios	18.4% (23)	35.2% (44)	46.4% (58)	125
X-ray timing analysis	42.9% (54)	45.2% (57)	11.9% (15)	126
X-ray bright sources	20.5% (26)	52.0% (66)	27.6% (35)	127
X-ray faint sources	9.5% (12)	38.1% (48)	52.4% (66)	126
X-ray point sources	6.2% (8)	39.5% (51)	54.3% (70)	129
X-ray extended sources	16.4% (21)	41.4% (53)	42.2% (54)	128
Other wavelength imaging/photometry/colors with CIAO	68.9% (82)	22.7% (27)	8.4% (10)	119
Other wavelength spectroscopy with CIAO	89.9% (107)	8.4% (10)	1.7% (2)	119
Other wavelength timing with CIAO	90.7% (107)	9.3% (11)	0.0% (0)	118
view Comment				10

9. When you use CIAO, how often do you use the following components for your analysis?
	answered question			139
	skipped question			21
	Never	Sometimes	Always	Response Count
Chandra specific tools (e.g. acis_process_events, hrc_process_events, mkacisrmf, mkarf)	5.9% (8)	16.2% (22)	77.9% (106)	136
General analysis tools (e.g. dmcopy, wavdetect, csmooth)	4.5% (6)	25.4% (34)	70.1% (94)	134
Sherpa	38.3% (51)	40.6% (54)	21.1% (28)	133
ChIPS	39.7% (52)	45.8% (60)	14.5% (19)	131
Prism	63.8% (83)	30.8% (40)	5.4% (7)	130
PEG	89.0% (113)	10.2% (13)	0.8% (1)	127
CIAO tools menu in ds9	42.7% (56)	42.7% (56)	14.5% (19)	131
view Comment				15

10. What is the latest version of CIAO which is installed in your primary working platform? The version number of CIAO is echoed to the screen when you type "ciao -v".
	answered question		139
	skipped question		21
		Response Percent	Response Count
CIAO 3.4		11.5%	16
CIAO 4.0		4.3%	6
CIAO 4.1.1		15.8%	22
CIAO 4.1.2		66.2%	92
view Other (please specify)		2.2%	3

11. Are there specific parts of CIAO you think work well?
	answered question	48
	skipped question	112
		Response Count
view		48

12. Are there specific parts of CIAO you think should be improved or expanded?
	answered question	58
	skipped question	102
		Response Count
view		58

13. What is your favorite feature in CIAO 4.x?
	answered question	33
	skipped question	127
		Response Count
view		33

14. Do you use Sherpa for modeling and fitting of data reduced with CIAO or other software?
	answered question				136
	skipped question				24
	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Always	Response Count
Sherpa in CIAO 4.x ("SHERPA4")	55.2% (74)	17.2% (23)	18.7% (25)	9.0% (12)	134
Sherpa in CIAO 3.4 ("SHERPA3")	56.2% (73)	14.6% (19)	23.1% (30)	6.2% (8)	130
view Comment					16

15. What other modeling and fitting packages do you use?
	answered question				135
	skipped question				25
	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Always	Response Count
XSpec11	32.8% (40)	17.2% (21)	29.5% (36)	20.5% (25)	122
XSpec12	21.1% (27)	14.1% (18)	30.5% (39)	34.4% (44)	128
isis	69.4% (84)	10.7% (13)	5.0% (6)	14.9% (18)	121
IDL	37.7% (46)	19.7% (24)	24.6% (30)	18.0% (22)	122
PintofAle	93.3% (112)	0.8% (1)	2.5% (3)	3.3% (4)	120
SPEX	90.8% (108)	5.9% (7)	2.5% (3)	0.8% (1)	119
Other (specify in comment box)	76.0% (57)	2.7% (2)	9.3% (7)	12.0% (9)	75
view Comment					26

16. Do you use ChIPS for plotting your data?
	answered question				133
	skipped question				27
	Never	Only when plotting from PRISM	Only when plotting in Sherpa	For all my plotting needs	Response Count
ChIPS in CIAO 4.x ("CHIPS4")	58.9% (76)	6.2% (8)	34.9% (45)	4.7% (6)	129
ChIPS in CIAO 3.4 ("CHIPS3")	60.7% (74)	4.1% (5)	32.0% (39)	5.7% (7)	122
view Comment					12

17. What other graph-plotting packages do you use?
	answered question				136
	skipped question				24
	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Always	Response Count
IDL	29.7% (38)	18.0% (23)	26.6% (34)	25.8% (33)	128
PGPLOT	25.8% (33)	12.5% (16)	39.8% (51)	21.9% (28)	128
sm	55.6% (69)	12.9% (16)	14.5% (18)	16.9% (21)	124
Matplotlib	79.7% (94)	6.8% (8)	8.5% (10)	5.1% (6)	118
Grace	70.8% (85)	15.8% (19)	10.0% (12)	3.3% (4)	120
Other (specify in comment)	63.6% (49)	6.5% (5)	13.0% (10)	16.9% (13)	77
view Comment					34

18. Are there specific aspects of SHERPA4 and/or CHIPS4 you think work well?
	answered question	18
	skipped question	142
		Response Count
view		18

19. Are there specific aspects of SHERPA4 and/or CHIPS4 you think should be improved or expanded?
	answered question	27
	skipped question	133
		Response Count
view		27

20. In general, how important is it to your work that CIAO support these languages?
	answered question				130
	skipped question				30
	Not important	Somewhat important	Very important	Not sure	Response Count
S-Lang	46.1% (59)	19.5% (25)	18.8% (24)	15.6% (20)	128
Python	31.5% (41)	20.8% (27)	30.8% (40)	16.9% (22)	130
view Comment					15

21. Do you ever use intrinsic features or functions of the scripting languages in your Sherpa or ChIPS sessions (e.g. scripting, variable arithmetic, accessing internal variables)?
	answered question				123
	skipped question				37
	Never	Sometimes	Always	Not Sure	Response Count
S-Lang	65.8% (79)	16.7% (20)	9.2% (11)	8.3% (10)	120
Python	62.3% (76)	20.5% (25)	8.2% (10)	9.0% (11)	122
view Other (please specify)					17

22. How important are the following interfaces in Sherpa and ChIPS?
	answered question			106
	skipped question			54
	Not important	Somewhat important	Very important	Response Count
Interactive 'classic' command-line language (as in CIAO3.4)	30.4% (31)	30.4% (31)	39.2% (40)	102
S-Lang command line interface (as in CIAO 4.x)	51.5% (51)	38.4% (38)	10.1% (10)	99
Python command line interface (as in CIAO 4.x)	35.1% (34)	36.1% (35)	28.9% (28)	97
view Comment				10

23. SHERPA4 and CHIPS4 can be used by typing 'sherpa' and 'chips' on the unix command line or they can be imported as a modules into slsh, python or ipython. If you use Sherpa and/or ChIPS, how often do you use the various methods of starting the programs?
	answered question				94
	skipped question				66
	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Always	Response Count
Type 'sherpa' at the Unix command line	25.0% (23)	6.5% (6)	17.4% (16)	51.1% (47)	92
Type 'chips' at the Unix command line	38.2% (34)	15.7% (14)	13.5% (12)	32.6% (29)	89
Import sherpa and/or chips to an slsh session	76.7% (66)	10.5% (9)	10.5% (9)	2.3% (2)	86
Import sherpa and/or chips to a python or ipython session.	70.0% (63)	11.1% (10)	14.4% (13)	4.4% (4)	90
view Comment					10

24. Have you ever used any of the other S-Lang or Python modules (pixlib, paramio, group, crates, region, stackio, transform, caldb4) distributed with CIAO
	answered question		125
	skipped question		35
	Yes	No	Response Count
S-Lang Modules	18.5% (23)	81.5% (101)	124
Python Modules	18.7% (23)	81.3% (100)	123
view Comment			9

25. Do you still use CIAO 3.4 for your data analysis?
	answered question		125
	skipped question		35
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes		24.0%	30
No		48.0%	60
Sometimes		28.0%	35

26. Roughly how many SHERPA3 or CHIPS3 scripts do you currently have (e.g. output of "save all" in Sherpa, "save state" in Chips, your own scripts)
	answered question			83
	skipped question			77
	a few (less than 10)	many (10 to 50)	a lot (more than 50)	Response Count
SHERPA3	82.5% (66)	12.5% (10)	5.0% (4)	80
CHIPS3	90.5% (67)	6.8% (5)	2.7% (2)	74
view Comment				15

27. Why have you decided to stay with CIAO3.4?
	answered question		54
	skipped question		106
		Response Percent	Response Count
CIAO3.4 with SHERPA3 and CHIPS3 is good enough for what I need		40.7%	22
I did not find the time to learn the different syntax of SHERPA4 and CHIPS4		51.9%	28
I do not want to learn a different syntax		29.6%	16
I prefer a "classic" command line interface for Sherpa or ChIPS		33.3%	18
I prefer to stay with a software system that I know and trust		29.6%	16
I have too many Sherpa and/or ChIPS scripts to translate		25.9%	14
I did not realize that CIAO4 had additional capabilities		13.0%	7
There is not enough documentation for me to switch		22.2%	12
view Comment			25

28. What would make you upgrade to a future CIAO4 release, with SHERPA4 and CHIPS4?
	answered question			69
	skipped question			91
	Not important	Somewhat important	Very important	Response Count
Additional functionality	20.3% (12)	52.5% (31)	27.1% (16)	59
Higher performance	15.8% (9)	47.4% (27)	36.8% (21)	57
More reliability	11.7% (7)	38.3% (23)	51.7% (31)	60
A back compatible command line interface for Sherpa and Chips	20.0% (11)	25.5% (14)	54.5% (30)	55
A new plotting GUI for ChIPS and/or Sherpa	60.0% (33)	27.3% (15)	12.7% (7)	55
A new GUI for Sherpa	64.9% (37)	24.6% (14)	10.5% (6)	57
Better documentation explaining the transition	19.0% (11)	44.8% (26)	37.9% (22)	58
Other (specify in comment box)	52.9% (9)	23.5% (4)	23.5% (4)	17
view Comment				18

29. When you need help about your data analysis with CIAO, which of the following do you turn to?
	answered question					130
	skipped question					30
	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Always	Response Count
ahelp	1.6% (2)	6.3% (8)	19.8% (25)	45.2% (57)	27.0% (34)	126
analysis threads	0.8% (1)	3.2% (4)	12.8% (16)	47.2% (59)	36.0% (45)	125
analysis guides	4.9% (6)	9.0% (11)	32.0% (39)	32.8% (40)	21.3% (26)	122
why topics	17.9% (20)	29.5% (33)	32.1% (36)	14.3% (16)	6.3% (7)	112
send a ticket to helpdesk	19.3% (23)	48.7% (58)	23.5% (28)	5.9% (7)	2.5% (3)	119
ask a colleague	2.4% (3)	22.0% (27)	29.3% (36)	36.6% (45)	9.8% (12)	123
search with Google	18.7% (23)	28.5% (35)	24.4% (30)	22.8% (28)	5.7% (7)	123
use the search box on CIAO web page	19.5% (24)	27.6% (34)	25.2% (31)	21.1% (26)	6.5% (8)	123
contact someone directly at the CXC	30.3% (37)	34.4% (42)	21.3% (26)	9.0% (11)	4.9% (6)	122
view Comment						12

30. Is there any specific aspect of the CIAO documentation that you would like to see improved?
	answered question	23
	skipped question	137
		Response Count
view		23

31. Which types of computer platform do you use for data analysis? (including e.g. work, home, laptop machines)
	answered question				127
	skipped question				33
	Never	Sometimes	Mostly	Always	Response Count
Solaris 10:	79.8% (67)	14.3% (12)	6.0% (5)	0.0% (0)	84
Solaris (pre 10):	77.5% (62)	17.5% (14)	3.8% (3)	1.3% (1)	80
MacOSX 10.5 (Leopard) Intel	39.1% (36)	16.3% (15)	20.7% (19)	23.9% (22)	92
MacOSX 10.5 (Leopard) PPC	90.7% (68)	6.7% (5)	1.3% (1)	1.3% (1)	75
MacOSX 10.4 (Tiger) Intel	78.8% (63)	6.3% (5)	10.0% (8)	5.0% (4)	80
MacOSX 10.4 (Tiger) PPC	72.9% (62)	17.6% (15)	4.7% (4)	4.7% (4)	85
32-bit Linux (specify distribution in comment box: e.g. Fedora Core 10, Debian 5.0, etc)	27.5% (28)	20.6% (21)	25.5% (26)	26.5% (27)	102
64-bit Linux (specify distribution in comment box)	34.7% (34)	10.2% (10)	22.4% (22)	32.7% (32)	98
Other (specify in comment box)	95.9% (47)	2.0% (1)	2.0% (1)	0.0% (0)	49
view Comment					66

32. Can you please include the output of 'uname -a' on your primary data analysis machine?
	answered question	106
	skipped question	54
		Response Count
view		106

33. Do you have any plans to switch hardware or operating system (e.g.solaris to linux, linux to mac, mac powerpc to intel, Tiger to Leopard etc.) in the next year?
	answered question		124
	skipped question		36
		Response Percent	Response Count
No		62.9%	78
Not sure		20.2%	25
view Yes: from where to where?		16.9%	21

34. When or why do you generally upgrade operating system?
	answered question		117
	skipped question		43
		Response Percent	Response Count
I upgrade the day it comes out		14.5%	17
The IT department takes care of it, I don't control		51.3%	60
Whenever one of the software packages I use requires it		22.2%	26
view Other (please specify)		23.1%	27

35. Do you use a CIAO distribution installed by a system adminstrator (rather than by yourself)?
	answered question		125
	skipped question		35
		Response Percent	Response Count
Yes		42.4%	53
No		30.4%	38
Both		27.2%	34