[netcdfgroup] what is status of netCDF3 vs netCDF4?

• To: "netcdfgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx List" <netcdfgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: [netcdfgroup] what is status of netCDF3 vs netCDF4?
• From: ezaron <ezaron@xxxxxxx>
• Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2014 09:08:38 -0800

Since this is a rather wide-ranging discussion of opinion, here are my thoughts 
on netcdf3 vs netcdf4 and the role of Unidata:

(1) netcdf3 vs netcdf4:
 - I appreciate and have used the on-the-fly compression in netcdf4. I don’t 
have much experience with the other unique features of netcdf4.
 - Nonetheless, when building applications on a new system, I always link 
against a stable netcdf3 library, rather than netcdf4. Sometimes I have had 
compatibility problems between cdo, nco, nccopy, and the netcdf files created 
on another machine or application.
 - I had to work around a problem earlier this year due to the underlying 
reliance on the hdf library in netcdf4. Apparently some of the hdf attributes 
were hidden to the netcdf interface, and there were problems with conversion of 
netcdf3 to compressed netcdf4 format.

(2) Unidata support:
I have always found Unidata/UCAR staff knowledgeable and responsive to problems 
I have encountered in netcdf releases. I am not entirely sure what language 
bindings are officially supported at present; a previous post seemed to imply 
that Python was supported. I think the C and Fortran libraries should be top 
priority, but if there are resources to support any of the interpreted 
languages, I vote for support for the Julia language. An interface to the C 
library already exists, but it is immature and could use some dedicated effort.

-Ed


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward D. Zaron
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Portland State University
Portland, OR 97207-0751
Phone: (503)-725-2435
FAX: (503)-725-5950
ezaron@xxxxxxx
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