01-Nov-2012

This directory contains procedures that have been removed from the IDL Astro
Library, as their use has diminished or their functionality has been replaced.

/sdas_table - The procedures for processing STSDAS tables are now in obsolete

12-Oct-2010  LEGEND - Now use AL_LEGEND in IDLAstro library (since LEGEND() was 
               introduced in IDL 8.0)

17-Jul-2009: NUMLINES- FILE_LINES introduced in V5.6 does he same thing

16-Jul-2009: N_STRUCT - removed since it is just N_TAGS + N_ELEMENTS

02-Jul-2009: IDL_VALIDNAME - intrinsic since V6.0

27-Mar-2008: Added size_struct.pro which is superceded by the DATA_LENGTH and
             /LENGTH keywords to the intrinsic N_Tags() function
	     
2-Dec-2007:  QUERYUSNO (to query USNO-A2 catalog) has been removed since the 
	     newer USNO-B1 catalog can be queried with QUERYIVIZIER, e.g.  
             IDL> info = queryvizier('usno-b1','m13',5)
	       
25-Nov-2007: PRODUCT() - Intrinsic  since  V5.6	     

20-Nov-2007: ABSCAL() - Added because BSCALE,BZERO little used

26-Sep-2006: Added the following procedures
             afhread - Used for mostly obsolete WFPC1 data 
             astrmfix = Used for mostly obsolete FOC data
             conv_stsdas - Mainly for converting between VAX and unix
             conv_vax_unix() - Vaxes rarely used
             conv_unix_vax - Vaxes rarely used
             datatype() - JHUAPL routine
             def_dirlist -- Mainly for VMS
             extgrp - mainly for old WFPC1/FOC data
             getfiles -- Use dialog_pickfile instead 
	     getlog.pro -- mainly for VMS
             imgread      -- for mostly obsolete WFPC1/FOC data
             mid_*.pro  -- Midas I/O routines, no evidence that they are used
             osfcnvrt.pro -- mainly for VMS
             strd - only worked for small set of (mostly obsolete) GEIS files
              stsub, stsubim - only worked for small set of (mostly obsolete) 
	            GEIS files
            spline_smooth  -- Never worked properly
            redshift -- 1970's cosmology, from JHUAPL library
            sxhedit -- just use a regular editor
            table_conv.pro - mainly for vax/unix conversion
            wfpcread -- WFPC1 data rarely used


11-Sep-2006: Added dbcompress.pro since DBDELETE now uses TRUNCATE_LUN to
             automatically compress a database after deleting entries

24-Apr-2006: Added a_b.pro since Galactic extinction is better determined using
             dust maps ( http://astro.berkeley.edu/davis/dust/index.html )

14-Apr-2006: Added fstring.pro since the 1024 character limit is no longer 
            needed since V5.4

25-Feb-2004: Add value_locate.pro which was a substitute for the intrinsic
VALUE_LOCATE function introduced in IDL V5.3

28-May-2002: STREBCASC() and it associated data file (ebcasc.dat) have been
removed from the library.  (Is anyone still using EBCDIC data?)

15-May-2002:  TRIM.PRO removed from the main library.   This procedure caused
conflict with a procedure of the same name in the IUE library.   It is still
available at  http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/solarsoft/gen/idl/string/

8-Nov-2001:  Tape I/O procedures removed from main library.   See
readme.tape_io for more information on these procedures.    These procedures
are also still available at
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/solarsoft/gen/idl/system/ for the general tape
utilities and at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/solarsoft/gen/idl/fits/ for the
FITS tape I/O procedures.