Algorithm Engines

Each instrument requires its own implementation of an ORAC::Inst module. This module is responsible for implementing the commands for starting the messaging layer (if required) and launching external tasks ready for use by the pipeline. It may be possible for future releases to launch external tasks on demand the first time an obeyw is issued but this depends on the implementation of the messaging class and still requires that an object for each class is instantiated in the ORAC::Inst module at startup.

Currently, this module is not object-oriented. This may change in the future.

Another factor related to the algorithm engines is the implementation of the messaging interface. The current interface is to the ADAM messaging system used by Starlink. An additional interface is provided to run ADAM tasks via the Unix shell as a proof of concept. Interfaces to Glish and IRAF will be needed to talk to AIPS++ and IRAF tasks. A Perl-to-DRAMA interface exists and it should be fairly simple to write an ORAC-DR interface for DRAMA tasks. A shell interface should be used as a last resort and only if valid exit status can be returned to the pipeline.