The Future of NCL and the Pivot to Python

November 11, 2020

GeoCAT Team's open letter to the community about NCAR's commitment to NCL, developments in the GeoCAT team, Project Pythia, as well as PyNGL and The GeoCAT Examples Gallery can be found here.

August 5, 2020

The GeoCAT Team, with help from two SIParCS interns, has begun the implementation of the Pivot to Python plan. The GeoCAT Team is actively updating the GeoCAT-examples gallery as new projections are created. The examples gallery aims to highlight the capabilities of Python through recreating NCL projections while guiding users in how to use the Python coding language. This goal is also accomplished through the creation and use of GeoCAT-viz utility funtions. The GeoCAT-viz library of functions is publicly accessible on GitHub and the GeoCAT-examples conda environment is able to access and use these functions. As the GeoCAT team continues this effort, we are welcoming community input and support. For the most up-to-date information pertaining to this project, please visit the official GeoCAT blog.

February 6, 2019

NCAR has made the decision to adopt Python as the scripting language platform of choice for future development of analysis and visualization tools. These documents provide an FAQ, a detailed report, roadmap, and supporting material on this decision and what it means for the future of NCL.

The NCL team welcomes your input on this decision. Please use this GitHub issue to submit your questions or comments so we can keep the discussion public.

• Pivot to Python - September 2019 update

• Open letter to users regarding the future of NCL

• Frequently Asked Questions

• NCL and the Pivot to Python: Discussion and Roadmap (February 2019) - A detailed report on the decision to place NCL in maintenance mode and transition to Python as the scripting language platform for further analysis and visualization software development.

• NCL and Python Tools Roadmap and Software Diagram (February 2019) - A copy of the roadmap and software diagram that appears in the "NCL and the Pivot to Python: Discussion and Roadmap" document. It was put in a separate document for easier access.

• NCL Advisory Panel Report (August 2018) - - A report of findings from the NCL Advisory Panel that convened for a 1.5-day meeting at the NCAR Mesa Lab, August 2-3, 2018.

• NCL, Python, and Related Software User Survey: Analysis and Summary of Results (November 2018) - A detailed report on the results of the NCL and Python user survey conducted by the NCL team in May-June 2018.