R help - Sep 2005 - Importing IDL Structures

I am trying to get started with R, but before I do, I need to find a
way to import my existing datasets, which are currently stored as
arrays of IDL structures (RSI's IDL, not the other one).

The problem I has is this: the IDL structures contain scalar items, as
well as n-dimensional arrays. I can export the data in a number of
ways, including as separate files for scalars and for each of the
arrays.

Has anyone tackled this problem? If not, can you advise me on the best
data structure(s) to hold such data in R? Data frames seemed to be the
most obvious choice, but I prefer the syntax used for lists (it is
more similar to IDL), if that is possible. And of course (as I said in
a previous message) there is the question of how to import the data
into the structure (it looks like I will need to export each array
separately , import them into R and then assemble the final
structure).

Any assistance will be appreciated. 

M

-- 
Michael Lefsky
College of Natural Resources
Colorado State University
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Out of the crooked timber of humanity, 
no straight thing was ever made- Immanuel Kant

Michael Lefsky <lefsky at gmail.com> writes:
> I am trying to get started with R, but before I do, I need to find a
> way to import my existing datasets, which are currently stored as
> arrays of IDL structures (RSI's IDL, not the other one).
> 
> The problem I has is this: the IDL structures contain scalar items, as
> well as n-dimensional arrays. I can export the data in a number of
> ways, including as separate files for scalars and for each of the
> arrays.
> 
> Has anyone tackled this problem? If not, can you advise me on the best
> data structure(s) to hold such data in R? Data frames seemed to be the
> most obvious choice, but I prefer the syntax used for lists (it is
> more similar to IDL), if that is possible. And of course (as I said in
> a previous message) there is the question of how to import the data
> into the structure (it looks like I will need to export each array
> separately , import them into R and then assemble the final
> structure).
I don't know IDL, but it seems to do HDF. Would the hdf5 package help,
I wonder?

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