8.2. Why does it exist?

Scaler data, as produced by NSCLDAQ Readout programs, are passed around essentially as a list of 32-bit integers; each uniquely indexed by a channel number. In a world without the ScalerDisplay, an experimenter would probably use the dumper program to inspect the values of each of these scalers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this method of inspection, in fact, doing so is typically the recommended means for initially debugging the proper readout of scaler modules with a Readout program. However, the dumper provides no ability to label each scaler channel with a meaningful name and the scaler data will continually stream to the terminal while trying to read it. This makes its use for monitoring scaler data both inconvenient and arduous. The ScalerDisplay remedies this situation by making scaler data trivial to inspect.