1. ETCCDI approaches to development of the software
ETCCDI approaches to development of the software
Xuebin Zhang

2. Outline Users and their needs Software Maintenance and updates
Lessons learnt
3/28/2017

3. 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
3/28/2017

4. 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
3/28/2017

5. 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
3/28/2017

6. The RClimDex Developed in Linux at EC but used in Windows
User guide in English and Spanish
Workshops and other users
Technical support by
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7. 3/28/2017

8. RHtest Two-phase regression based (Wang 2003) GUI and command line
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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9. 3/28/2017

10. 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
3/28/2017

11. 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 registered users since 2010
3/28/2017