[Numpy-discussion] fast numpy i/o

[Robert Kern]

On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 13:35, Christopher Barker <Chris.Barker at noaa.gov> wrote:
> Robert Kern wrote:
>> https://raw.github.com/numpy/numpy/master/doc/neps/npy-format.txt
>
> Just a note. From that doc:
>
> """
>     HDF5 is a complicated format that more or less implements
>     a hierarchical filesystem-in-a-file.  This fact makes satisfying
>     some of the Requirements difficult.  To the author's knowledge, as
>     of this writing, there is no application or library that reads or
>     writes even a subset of HDF5 files that does not use the canonical
>     libhdf5 implementation.
> """
>
> I'm pretty sure that the NetcdfJava libs, developed by Unidata, use
> their own home-grown code. netcdf4 is built on HDF5, so that qualifies
> as "a library that reads or writes a subset of HDF5 files". Perhaps
> there are lessons to be learned there. (too bad it's Java)

Good to know! The NEP predates the release of NetcdfJava 4.0, the
first to include the HDF5 support, by about 6 months, so that's why it
says what it does. :-)

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless
enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as
though it had an underlying truth."
  -- Umberto Eco