Scientists use software to analyze, visualize, or simulate processes or data. While they may also use much of the same software applications that everyone else uses, software designed for science is the focus of topics in this category.
Software applications intended to be used in teaching or learning science will be listed in the Education & Training category, or one of its subcategories, however.
It is generally recognized that there are four main branches of science. These are the applied sciences, formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences, each of which includes several sub-branches, and perhaps even further divisions. Overlapping is common, as well.
Scientific software has a large computational component and is usually used to model physical phenomena and to provide data to support observational findings. This might include software designed to calculate loads on bridges, provide weather predictions, image the structures of bones for surgical procedures, process images from ground-based telescopes, or model subsystems at nuclear-generating stations.
A recent study conducted by the Statistical Consulting Service at the University of Toronto found, to no surprise, that different fields of science use and develop software in different ways. On a whole, however, scientists spent far more time developing and using scientific software than they had anticipated when they entered the field.
Most scientific software is either used by very large numbers of people (more than 5,000) or by a very small number of people (1-2). On an average, scientists spent about 30% of their time developing software to be used in their work, and about 40% of their time using scientific software.
Nearly 50% of scientists use scientific software exclusively on desktop or laptop computers, and more than 80% spend 60% or more of their time using a desktop computer. Despite the emphasis on supercomputers in science, nearly 80% of scientists have never used scientific software on a supercomputer, and fewer than 2% spend 50% of their time or more using supercomputers.
Scientific software developers most often work in small teams and do not have degrees in computer science. Scientific software often starts small and grows from there, with developers following a code and fix development model. They do a lot of R&D in their scientific programming, although most of their projects are either delivered late or have no fixed delivery date. More than 40% do not use object-oriented methods of modeling their software.
Since a large percentage of scientific software is developed by scientists rather than programmers, they frequently use programming languages that are not optimal for the task at hand, largely because they claim not to have the time to learn yet another programming language. Formal software engineering training is limited, and documentation is often described as inadequate for anyone who wasn't involved in the programming.
Of course, if half of the scientific software is developed by non-programmer scientists, that would mean that the other half was developed by programmers, or by programmers, in consultation with scientists.
Any currently operable software designed for use in any of the fields of science is appropriate for this category, or one of its subcategories.
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Recommended Resources
Tested on FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris, the time-frequency browser is a signal analysis tool designed in 2000 for scientific visualization, and used for real-time spectral monitoring, analysis of collected signals, generating test signals, distortion measurements, and playing back audio files. Its features and applications are listed, along with screenshots, a user manual, FAQ, and a monthly “mystery signal” challenge. It is proprietary, but may be downloaded free.
http://www.baudline.com/
Campbell Scientific produces data acquisition software used for a number of purposes, including the support of data logger programming, enabling communication between data loggers and computers or mobile devices, the management of data files, and displaying data in graphical formats. Custom capabilities may be added, and interfaces with the company's software development kits are also options for advanced users. Its products and trial downloads are available.
https://www.campbellsci.com/software
Cell Electrophysiology Simulation Environment
Supported in the Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows environments, CESE is an integrated environment for performing computational simulations using a variety of electrophysiological models. Developed by Simulogic Inc., CESE is an open-source project, and its code is intended to be reused by others. Its features are listed, along with screenshots, changelogs, development notes, and an FAQ. Also included is an introduction to models, and tips on creating models.
http://cese.sourceforge.net/
Based in Germany, Contemplas specializes in professional motion analysis software, distributed worldwide. Its products include its TEMPLO Analysis Software for various activities, its VICON MOTUS 2D and 3D software, its TEMPLO Server and TEMPLO Fusion networking software, and its EMG motion analysis hardware, as well as various human performance lab services, each of which are highlighted here, along with software applications for retail, sport, medicine, and industry.
https://www.contemplas.com/
FreeMat is a free application for rapid engineering, scientific prototyping, and data processing. Similar to the commercial programs, MATLAB from MathWorks and IDL from Research Systems, FreeMat is open-source, available under the terms of the General Public License. Tested to work in Linux, Mac, and Windows environments, documentation is available as a PDF document, and links to community support venues are posted, along with screenshots and development notes.
http://freemat.sourceforge.net/
Developed by the GNU Project, GNU TeXmacs is a scientific processor and typesetting component inspired by TeX and GNU Emacs, although it shares no code with these applications. TeXmacs is a scientific editing platform designed to create technical documents, which can be saved in TeXmacs, XML, or Scheme format, and printed as PDF or PostScript files. The program may be downloaded free under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
http://www.texmacs.org/
The Ikaros project is designed to develop an open infrastructure for system-level modeling of the brain, including databases of experimental data, computational models, and functional brain data. The application makes use of Internet-based information through a web-based interface and makes such information accessible. The application may also be used as a control architecture for robots, possibly leading to the development of a brain-inspired robot architecture.
http://www.ikaros-project.org/
Designed to allow for the viewing of phenomena that are difficult or impossible to observe in the real world, largely related to the distortions that an object appears to undergo when moving at very high speeds, caused by inherent properties of space and time. These include the Lorentz contraction, the Doppler red/blue shift, the headlight effect, and optical aberration. Its features are defined, along with screenshots, and it may be downloaded from the site.
http://lightspeed.sourceforge.net/
Developed by UCAR Community Programs, NetCDF is a set of software libraries and machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data, as well as a community standard for sharing scientific data. NetCDF format data is self-describing, portable, scalable, spendable, sharable, and archivable. Documentation, development notes, and support options are posted.
https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/
From the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University, the NSCL Data Acquisition System is a general-purpose nuclear physics data acquisition system available under the terms of the GNU General Public License, used for handling the data flow produced by nuclear physics experiments. Other programs include SpecTcl, a framework for writing custom analysis software, and the Digital Data Acquisition System (DDAS), using for reading out a range of detectors.
http://docs.nscl.msu.edu/daq/
Built primarily for Unix variants and RISC OS, only the Oww Client and Oww Log are available for Windows. wOw is a software project to communicate with the Dallas 1-wire weather station and other 1-wire sensors, presenting live weather readings, logging data to file, uploading it to weather web sites, and sending data to other programs through a commercial line interface. Development notes are presented, development notes are provided, and future development is discussed.
http://oww.sourceforge.net/
The US-based software company develops large-scale modeling applications and toolkits, focused primarily on drug discovery and design, and areas of application such as conformation generation, docking, shape comparison, charge/electrostatics, cheminformatics, and visualization, designed for scientific disciplines, speed, scalability, and platform independence. Its software solutions, industries served, and support information is presented.
https://www.eyesopen.com/
Created and maintained by a group of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, the OpenScience Project is dedicated to the development and distribution of free and open-source scientific software. Its current projects are highlighted and, where available, download links and other details are presented. Complete projects can be found through a topical directory, which includes links to specific project pages. Other resources include a blog.
http://openscience.org/
Porzio Life Sciences offers software for the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology organizations. Its AggregateSpendID product serves as a web-based, end-to-end solution for spend tracking and management for the life science industry, featuring an integrated 22M-record MedProID HCP license database, open aggregation architecture, and access to the Porzio Compliance Digest, offering detailed summaries and documentation meeting federal, state, and local requirements.
https://www.aggregatespend.com/
Established in 1984, the Scientific Software Group specializes in producing software for environmental science, including applications for groundwater research, surface water, hydrogeology, hydraulics, geotechnical, geology, and air pollution. Existing and available products are listed in alphabetical order, and may also be found by keyword search. A downloadable catalog is also available. Custom orders, training, and demos are possibilities.
http://www.scientificsoftwaregroup.com/
Scientific Software International
SSI publishes and distributes specialized statistical software products used for a variety of scientific fields, such as statistics, behavioral and social sciences, medical research, education, business research, environmental science, and other research areas. Its products include LISREL 10, HLM 8, IRTPRO 4.20, BILOG-MG 3, PARSCALE 4, and SuperMix 2, each of which is highlighted and made for purchase here, along with documentation.
http://www.ssicentral.com/
