What openXPS is and is not

openXPS is a set of libraries that allows spectroscopists to do their computer-related work without programming as well as to develop their own home-made applications with minimum efforts, through editing some text files and mostly even without it. The libraries are based on the Open Scientist project that provides a cross-platform GUI for making (primarily high-energy particle physics related) applications dealing with problems like statistical evaluation of wxperimental data, simulating processes and designing experimental devices. Several ready-to run executable binaries are provided for different platforms. The privided C++ source code allows applications to compile and run on several different types of computer, with minimal source code changes.

The graphical and computational functionality is well separated: the graphical interface is built up using XML-coded text files and the real functionality is put into dynamically linked libraries (plugins). This organization allows for user-editable applications, without programming (in the sense that only editing some text files is needed to build a new application, the usual edit, compile, link, debug cycle is not always needed).

The data structures and procedures elaborated for high-energy physics are also usable in the field of X-ray and electron spectroscopies, although some extensions and minor modifications surely needed. The community behind Open Scientist uses this software for solving tasks much more complicated than those in the electron an X-ray spectroscopy, so these base routines are surely applicable for those simpler tasks, too

openXPS is not a new program language; it is not a single ready made end-user application. It comes with some generic applications that are ready to use, it provides some well-defined basic structures you can build on and also it is equipped with XPS-specific extensions and features. You need to learn a new API.

• openXPS FAQs
• openXPS features