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How To :: Generic Mapping Tools Hints and Tips

If you are unaware of what GMT is then stop reading and visit the GMT homepage. In short GMT is what I always wanted when I was making maps as a graduate student. Although slightly esoteric (it is a map making tool after all, and cartography is a complex science, ask a cartographer or school teacher about Mercator projections!) it is probably the most useful coding I have ever learnt (excluding Vi and Vim of course!).

Bascially the most efficient way of coding in GMT is to write a series of GMT commands in a shell script. I use the tcsh shell, but bash and sh are just fine. Shell scripting is waaaaaayyyy beyond the scope of these tips, so please don't ask for help in writing shell scripts.

What follows are just some general tips (primarily to remind me!) in how to write efficient GMT scripts. I owe much of my initial GMT learning to my co-workers at UCSD, especially Jen Bowen and Debi Kilb. My acolyte period has been helped by Kris Walker and Kent Lindquist.

Define as many variables as you can