generalizing Session.load_image() and Session.append_image() to allow loading multiple images in one call

[kswang1029]

Currently Session.load_image() and Session.append_image() accept a path arg to load one image. Although users can create a list of path and use a loop to call Session.append_image() to load multiple images, it would be handy if we can generalize the path as a str or a list of str so users can load images in one function call.

[Jordatious]

Agreed. One helpful use case for this is when running the scripting interface for a CARTA controller remotely (e.g. from a laptop), where *.fits cannot be expanded remotely.

[confluence]

This function wouldn't allow the user to expand a wildcard either; the user would still have to provide all the individual file paths.

I'm not convinced that this function is necessary, and I don't think that it can cater for every possible way to open a single image (complex, LEL expression, using a different HDU...) without the addition of a lot of overhead and complicated parameter handling which would remove the advantage of having a single function.

But maybe it makes sense to have an open_images shortcut for the simplest case -- i.e. opening a lot of individual files with all the default settings. Then this could just take a list of strings as a parameter. For more complicated cases the user can use a loop or write out individual commands.

[kswang1029]

This function wouldn't allow the user to expand a wildcard either; the user would still have to provide all the individual file paths.

I'm not convinced that this function is necessary, and I don't think that it can cater for every possible way to open a single image (complex, LEL expression, using a different HDU...) without the addition of a lot of overhead and complicated parameter handling which would remove the advantage of having a single function.

But maybe it makes sense to have an open_images shortcut for the simplest case -- i.e. opening a lot of individual files with all the default settings. Then this could just take a list of strings as a parameter. For more complicated cases the user can use a loop or write out individual commands.

then I would suggest we have a open_images function to accept a list of path to support the simplest use case without detailed configuration for each image in the list.

[I-Chenn]

I suggest we do this after the merge of PR#108, since there are major configurations for the functions of opening images.

[confluence]

This will be resolved in #106.