[Fwd: HDF5 prototype]
Nick Maliszewskyj
nickm at rrdjazz.nist.gov
Mon Nov 3 16:35:14 GMT 1997
--
|_ |_ |_ |_________________ Nicholas C. Maliszewskyj
|__ |_ |_ |_ |_ NIST Center for Neutron Research
|_\_ |_ |_ |_ |_ National Institute of
|_ \_ |_ |_ |______ |_ Standards & Technology
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Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 08:31:47 -0600
To: Nick Maliszewskyj <nickm>
From: Mike Folk <mfolk at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: HDF5 prototype
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At 05:16 PM 10/27/97 -0500, Nick Maliszewskyj wrote:
>To whom it may concern,
>
> Is the HDF5 prototype discussed in your documentation available for
(limited)
>use?
Yes, Nick, a limited version was released a couple of weeks ago. I have
attached the newsletter announcement describing it.
>
> A related question: Will it be possible to read HDF4.2 and lower data files
>using the HDF5 API?
We plan to do this, but we are now debating just how to do it. We would
like to provide a relatively lightweight library, and that conflicts with
our desire to support all older formats. So the exact approach we will
take is still under discussion. I would be interested in knowing what your
requirements are, so that we can including them in our discussions.
Mike
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
Mike Folk, Scientific Data Technologies Group 217-244-0647 voice
Information Technologies Division, NCSA 217-244-1987 fax
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Newsletter #27
October 23, 1997
CONTENTS
HDF5 Prototype Release
HDF 4.1r1 for T3E *******************************
HDF Tutorial * Visit the HDF home page *
* for up-to-date information *
* on HDF: *
* http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ *
*******************************
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
HDF5 Prototype Release
======================
The HDF5 Prototype release is now available, and can be downloaded
from the HDF ftp server (hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu):
/pub/outgoing/koziol/hdf5.tar.gz
The documentation is included with the release, and is also accessible
from the URL:
http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/nra/BigHDF/
This release is intended primarily as a proof of concept and as a method
of familiarizing users with the intended functionality.
When complete, HDF5 will include the following features:
- A new file format designed to address some of the deficiencies
of the current version of HDF, particularly the need to store
larger files and more objects per file.
- A simpler, more comprehensive data model that includes only two
basic structures: a multi-dimensional array of record structures,
and a grouping structure.
- A simpler, better-engineered library, with improved support for
parallel I/O, threads, and other requirements imposed by
modern systems and applications.
- A new API.
Limitations of the current prototype are:
- Multiple datasets may be created/read/written in an HDF5 file, but
access must be as an entire dataset, i.e. no slab/slice/subset code is
implemented yet. The datasets must also be homogeneous, orthogonal
datasets, similar to the datasets which can be created in the
HDF4 "SD" interface. Reducing these restrictions will be a major
effort of further development on the library.
- Datasets can be located in a hierarchy of groups in the file, however
user-level features for transitioning through the groups are not
implemented in this release. Each dataset must be accessed through
its full "pathname" in the file, ie. "/foo/bar/dataset1",
"/foo/bar/dataset2", "/foo/data"
HDF5 has been tested on the following Unix platforms:
Linux, FreeBSD, IRIX, Solaris and Digital Unix
Machines which do not have IEEE floating-point representation or non
big- or little-endian memory representations are not supported in
this release. Most other machines should work correctly.
HDF 4.1r1 for T3E
=================
We have made changes to the HDF 4.1r1 release to support the T3E
platform. This software did not go through a full QA cycle and
is considered to be beta quality.
The netCDF (ncxxx) interfaces and ncdump, ncgen, and hdp do not
work properly in this T3E release.
The source code and pre-compiled HDF 4.1r1 software for the T3E can
be found on the NCSA ftp server (ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu) in the directory:
/HDF/HDF_Current/bin/t3e/
If you encounter any problems, please contact the HDF Helpdesk
(hdfhelp at ncsa.uiuc.edu).
HDF Tutorial
============
We have made a first cut of an HDF Tutorial. It includes the
SD, Vdata, Vgroup, multi-file annotations (AN), and GR interfaces.
You can access it from the HDF home page under:
"Information about HDF -> Tutorials, Lectures, Examples ..."
(http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/tutslects.html)
If you have ideas for making it better, feel free to contact
the HDF Helpdesk (hdfhelp at ncsa.uiuc.edu).
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