The Physics Analysis Workstation (PAW) is an interactive, scriptable computer software tool for data analysis and graphical presentation in high energy physics (HEP). Developed at CERN since 1986, it is optimized for processing very large amounts of data. It is based on and intended for interoperation with components of CERNLIB, an extensive collection of Fortran libraries.

PAW has been a standard tool in the HEP field for decades, yet has essentially grown beyond maintainability. Despite continuing popularity, it has recently been losing ground to the C++-based ROOT package.

Sample script

PAW uses its own scripting language. Here's a sample code (with its actual output), which can be used to plot data gathered in files.

---------------------
 input data
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vector/read X,Y input_file.dat

--------------------------------
 eps plot
--------------------------------

fort/file 55 gg_ggg_dsig_dphid_179181.eps
meta 55 -113
opt linx   | linear scale
opt logy   | logarithmic scale

 draw empy XY pane
graph/hplot/null 179.0 181.0 1e3 1e7

------------------------------------
 here goes plot
------------------------------------

set plci 1       | line color
set lwid 2       | line width
set dmod 1       | line type (solid, dotted, etc.)
graph 32 X Y l   | 32 stands for input data lines in input file

-----------------
 plot title
----------------- 

set txci 1
atitle '[f] (deg)' 'd[s]/d[f]! (mb)'

------------------
 plot comments
------------------

set txci 1
text 180.0 2e1 '[f]=179...181 deg' 0.12
close 55
return

External links

• PAW (at CERN)
• The PAW History Seen by the CERN Computer News Letters
• CERNLIB (at CERN)
• ROOT (at CERN)