nx5d 3.1.3

NX5 Duct Tape

Nx5d - Data Analysis Done Right

nx5d is a scientific data analysis framework aiming at a high degree of automation. It is centered around the Spice Concept, a management mechanism for defaults and customization of analysis settings.

Although originates from the KMC3-XPP beamline of BESSY-II and was built around pump-probe X-ray diffraction requirements, it's actually intended as an application-agnostic framework suitable for any scan-oriented data anlysis workflows. If you come from a different background and wish to dip your toes in Nx5d, the authors will love to hear about it.

Why Yet Another Analysis Framework?...

In short: because people should be free to do "people things".

The main motivation behind Nx5d is to use computers at what they're good for -- doing menial, stupid, repeptitive work. Instead of being wasted on managing boilerplate code for data transformation, a scientist's cognitive potential should be used for the things that a computer can't do: understanding things and creating insight.

Can I use it right away?

Probably not today.

As of now, september 2025, it's still very much work-in-progress where it's really just the basic concepts that have barely settled. It has lots of sharp edges, and to add insult to injury, it severly lacks in the documentation department.

Having said that, it's in a kind-of-usable state, being used on a daily basis at the author's home beamline. The current main focus is indeed documenting and cleaning up the basic tools and APIs, and they're getting better suited for a broader audience by the day.

If you consider yourself the adventurous, slightly impatient type, and still insist on dipping your does in right now, by all means... go ahead! You are strongly encouraged to get in contact with the authors for a closer collaboration and support.

Caveats & Bugs

Not enough code to call them "bugs" yet. We call them "gaping, deep, dark holes." :-p

Also, most of Nx5d is being developed and tested primarily on Linux. But we'd love to see it perform more robustly on Windows, if we receive help by testing and quality patches.