[netcdfgroup] New FAQ section on netCDF Formats, Data Models, and Software Releases

• To: netcdf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: [netcdfgroup] New FAQ section on netCDF Formats, Data Models, and Software Releases
• From: Russ Rew <russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:58:40 -0600

Hi,

At Unidata, we've drafted a new FAQ section on "Formats, Data Models, and
Software Releases":

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/faq.html#formats-and-versions

It includes brief answers to the following questions:

  * How many netCDF formats are there, and what are the differences
    among them? 
  * How many netCDF data models are there?
  * How many releases of the C-based netCDF software are supported?
  * Should I get netCDF-3 or netCDF-4?
  * What is the "enhanced data model" of netCDF-4, and how does it
    differ from the netCDF-3 classic data model? 
  * Why doesn't the new netCDF-4 installation I built seem to support
    any of the new features? 
  * Will Unidata continue to support netCDF-3?
  * To read compressed data, what changes do I need to make to my
    netCDF-3 program? 
  * To write compressed data, what changes do I need to make to my
    netCDF-3 program? 
  * If I create netCDF-4 classic model files, can they be read by
    MATLAB, IDL, or ArcGIS? 
  * What applications are able to deal with arbitrary netCDF-4 files? 
  * How can I convert netCDF-3 files into netCDF-4 files?
  * Why might someone want to convert netCDF-4 files into netCDF-3
    files? 
  * How can I convert netCDF-4 files into netCDF-3 files?
  * How can I convert HDF5 files into netCDF-4 files?
  * How can I convert netCDF-4 files into HDF5 files?
  * Why aren't different extensions used for the different formats,
    e.g. .nc3 and .nc4? 
  * Why is the default of netCDF-4 to continue to create classic files,
    rather than netCDF-4 files? 
  * Can netCDF-4 read arbitrary HDF5 files?
  * I installed netCDF-3 with --enable-shared, but it looks like the
    libraries it installed were netCDF-4, with names like
    libnetcdf.4.dylib. What's going on? 
  * NetCDF-3.6.3 permits UTF-8 encoded Unicode names. Won't this break
    backward compatibility with previous software releases that didn't
    allow such names? 
  * How difficult is it to convert my application to handle arbitrary
    netCDF-4 files?

If the answers to any of these questions are unclear or if you spot
errors, please let us know with email to

  support-netcdf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks!

--Russ