Web interface for plasma analysis codes

There are many analysis codes that analyze various aspects of plasma physics. However, most of them are FORTRAN programs that are written to be run in supercomputers. On the other hand, many scientists use GUI (graphical user interface)-based operating systems. For those who are not familiar with supercomputers, it is a difficult task to run analysis codes in supercomputers, and they often hesitate to use these programs to substantiate their ideas. Furthermore, these analysis codes are written for personal use, and the programmers do not expect these programs to be run by other users. In order to make these programs to be widely used by many users, the authors developed user-friendly interfaces using a Web interface. Since the Web browser is one of the most common applications, it is useful for both the users and developers. In order to realize interactive Web interface, AJAX technique is widely used, and the authors also adopted AJAX. To build such an AJAX based Web system, Ruby on Rails plays an important role in this system. Since this application framework, which is written in Ruby, abstracts the Web interfaces necessary to implement AJAX and database functions, it enables the programmers to efficiently develop the Web-based application. In this paper, the authors will introduce the system and demonstrate the usefulness of this approach.