ETCCDI approaches to development of the software

Xuebin Zhang

www.ec.gc.ca

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Outline

• Users and their needs• Software • Maintenance and updates• Lessons learnt

Users and their needs

• ET Workshop attendees and less sophisticated users– Black-box type, doing the work – Simple GUI, portable to different OS, better to

be free• Other users

– Wide range, some require the capability of processing many data points

– Automated procedures• Transparent

– Everyone can check under the hood 04/10/23 Page 3

Software available from ETCCDI website• R and FORTRAN

– R as a free and powerful statistical computation environment, portable across different OS, generally slower

– FORTRAN• Rclimdex

– Based on an Excel version, with significant improvement– Not updated frequently

• Rhtest/Fhtest– Frequently updated

• Documents and worked examples– Detailed step-by-step instruction in different languages– Worked examples with data and computed indices

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The RClimDex

• Simple GUI• Retain all ClimDex functions, in additon• Different formats (text of Excel) of input• Computes 27 ET indices• Text or Excel formats output• Indices and trends plots in PDF • Run most recent version from within R

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The RClimDex

• Developed in Linux at EC but used in Windows

• User guide in English and Spanish• Workshops and other users• Technical support by email

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RHtest

• Two-phase regression based (Wang 2003)– With or without reference series

• GUI and command line– Easy to use with GUI– Call R function directly from command line

• New methods being implemented– Initial version significantly improved.

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Mass calculation

• RClimdex and RHtest– R functions available for R users

• FORTRAN codes (FClimDex and FHtest)– HP, SGI, IBP, Absoft compilers– Cross checked with R codes

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Lessons learned

• RClimDex lacks careful design and is difficult to maintain and update– Lack of clear understanding of user needs at

development stage – Tailored for workshops in a short notice,

constrained by time and resources• Routine update requires significant resources• RHtest and FHtest: updated regularly

– In-line with developers current research• Need to track who the users

– C.a. 1200 registered users since 2010