From 54b4c8863d5476d99932a6b4e0917662e532ad5e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Gergely Polonkai Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 10:18:22 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Made text of README.md a bit more straight; minor typo fixes, too --- README.md | 8 ++++---- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index b9f75ed..d8f8d29 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,8 +1,8 @@ # SWE-GLib -SWE-GLib is a GLib style wrapper library around the [Swiss Ephemeris library](http://www.astro.com/swisseph/), created by Astrodienst. +SWE-GLib is a GLib style wrapper library around Astrodienst's [Swiss Ephemeris library](http://www.astro.com/swisseph/). -The source tree contains Astrodienst's (the writers/publishers of the Swiss Ephemeris library) ephemeride files, as requested by Alois Treindl of Astrodienst in a mail written to me on 24 July, 2013. +The source tree contains Astrodienst's ephemeride files, as requested by Alois Treindl of Astrodienst in a mail written to me on 24 July, 2013. ## GTK-Doc @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Still, the documentation generates well, and at least gives a clue about object ## Usage -Many functions return non-opaque C structs; their documentation can be found inline, and in the generated GTK-Doc. Unless otherwise stated, the returned values should never be freed! +Many functions return non-opaque C structs; their documentation can be found inline, and in the generated GTK-Doc. Unless otherwise stated, the returned values should never be freed. ### Initialization @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Then you need to create a `GsweTimestamp` object: GsweTimestamp *timestamp = gswe_timestamp_new_from_gregorian_full(1983, 3, 7, 11, 54, 45, 0, 1.0); ``` -The `GsweTimetamp` object is used to convert dates between the Gregorian calendar dates and Julian Day values (not to be confused with Julian calendar dates!). +The `GsweTimetamp` object is used to convert dates between the Gregorian calendar dates and Julian Day values (not to be confused with Julian calendar dates). Next, you have to create a `GsweMoment` object: From da56fa5469c8540f6ed4c8ae2cff9a38eedefb23 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Gergely Polonkai Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 10:20:52 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Added some known limitations to README.md --- README.md | 19 ++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index d8f8d29..0e4924d 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -86,9 +86,26 @@ The Swiss Ephemeris library requires the altitude value to be specified for seve > the altitude above sea must be in meters. Neglecting the altitude can result in an error of about 2 arc seconds with the moon and at an altitude 3000m. -2 arc seconds is about 0.000555 degrees of error, which is, well, kind of small. Of course, if you need very precise horoscopes, precise horoscopes; otherwise, it is safe to pass any value (well, that seems logical. The average level of all dry lands is about 840 meters; the average level of the whole planet Earth (including oceans and seas) is around 280 meters). +2 arc seconds is about 0.000555 degrees of error, which is, well, kind of small. Of course, if you need very precise horoscopes or need planetary positions for a totally different thing, you should really provide a (close to) exact value; otherwise, it is safe to pass any value (well, which seems logical: the average level of all dry lands is about 840 meters; the average level of the whole planet Earth (including oceans and seas) is around 280 meters. Providing a value of ~400 should be OK most of the time). ## API stability The project is currently marked as 1.0. This means that API and ABI changes are very unlikely to happen. +## Limitations + +### Topocentric calculations only + +Although the original Swiss Ephemeris library supports it, SWE-GLib can't do Heliocentric, nor Geocentric (as seen from the center of Earth) calculations, only Topocentric (as seen from a given point on Earth"s surface) calculations yet. + +### Database size + +The size of all data files provided by Astrodienst is around 40MB. Although it should not be a problem with today's home hardware, it can be a hard requirement on embedded systems. For basic calculations, keeping the following files under $(datadir)/swe-glib is usually enough: + +* seas_18.se1 +* semo_18.se1 +* sepl_18.se1 + +### Fixed stars are not known yet + +Although Swiss Ephemeris has the functionality to calculate the position of fixed stars, SWE-GLib doesn't provide such functionality. This, however, is a planned feature for the close future.