>Can i automate the execution of a idl program? Example, execute the program every sunday External from IDL, you can do this with the AT command found in both Linux and MSDOS. Within IDL, you can do this by building a Widget Timer or build an internal clock with SYSTIME() to execute the desired commands on Sunday. >Can i compile a idl program ( .pro ) or export to other format?, for example to matlab. Because i need a .exe program  Sorry, IDL does not export source code to other source code formats. However, you can us the IDL 7.0 MAKE_RT to build a stand alone application. Kelly Dean Fort Collins, CO  

If you're on a Unix-like system, I'd recommend looking into cron instead of at for setting up your program to run on a schedule.