Software life cycles in astronomy: 40 years of computing at CFHT

Sidik Isani; Tom A. Vermeulen; Conrad Holmberg; Christopher Usher

doi:10.1117/12.3020841

25 July 2024 Software life cycles in astronomy: 40 years of computing at CFHT

Sidik Isani, Tom A. Vermeulen, Conrad Holmberg, Christopher Usher

Proceedings Volume 13101, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy VIII; 1310102 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020841
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

The Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope, operational since 1979, currently has five scientific instruments ranging from a few years old to decades old, making it highly productive today. At this world-class facility, computing systems were built and software was developed to support some of the first and largest mosaic CCD cameras, control the telescope, transition from classical observing to queue scheduled observing, and to allow it to be remotely controlled. This involved many choices of computing platforms, programming languages, and significant open-source software development. Software tools and computing infrastructure have been continually adapted, purchased, made in house, and maintained. These “life cycles” are not easy to predict at their start. A retrospective analysis of how these have played out for over 40 years can inform future projects at CFHT and in astronomy in general. We detail the major decision points and speculate how outcomes would have been different had we taken alternative paths. We discuss a rationale for making software choices in future projects.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Sidik Isani, Tom A. Vermeulen, Conrad Holmberg, and Christopher Usher "Software life cycles in astronomy: 40 years of computing at CFHT", Proc. SPIE 13101, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy VIII, 1310102 (25 July 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020841

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