Python

Python is a powerful and flexible programming language. It is increasingly used in scientific software packages, because it has a large number of libraries that are extremely useful in numerical and scientific computing. For instance:

• numpy: Also known as numerical python, this package allows for efficient handling of vectors, arrays, matrices, and associated computations.
• matplotlib: Plotting library that can generate graphs of datasets, including area images. Publication-quality images are possible with some effort.
• scipy: A large collection of computational tools relevant to scientific data.
• Python Image Library (PIL): A library that allows opening, converting, and editing image files including the TIFF files frequently output by x-ray area detectors in scattering instruments.

See Also

Hints about Python usage

• Python:Various
• Python:Super
• Python:Indexing
• Python:FFT
• Python:Speed

Official Site

• www.python.org
  • Downloads

Packages for Scattering

• FabIO: Import 2D area detector data into Python.
  • Citation: E. B. Knudsen, H. O. Sørensen, J. P. Wright, G. Goret and J. Kieffer FabIO: easy access to two-dimensional X-ray detector images in Python J. Appl. Cryst. 2013, 46, 537-539. doi: 10.1107/S0021889813000150
  • Source code.
• pyHST: Tomographic reconstruction.
• pyFAI: Fast azimuthal integration of 2D area images.
  • Citation: G. Ashiotis, A. Deschildre, Z. Nawaz, J. P. Wright, D. Karkoulis, F. E. Picca and J. Kieffer The fast azimuthal integration Python library: pyFAI J. Appl. Cryst. 2015, 48, 510-519. doi: 10.1107/S1600576715004306
  • Official site.
  • Source code.