>
> Hi all,
>
> After following much of this discussion on attribute conventions I am
> left wondering about something.... Many of these conventions would
> be a great idea if standardized. However, what good will they be if noone
> uses them?
>
> In my experience with netCDF data sets, I have NEVER seen a netCDF
> file created by a scientist type with Fortran code that has ANY
> attributes defined not even "UNITS" (computer scientist types working
> on netCDF packages excluded). There's just too many extra subroutine
> calls to do this to be bothered with by most users. (I'm not faulting
> netCDF here, its just that many people usually don't bother with
> attributes.)
>
> The only why I can see all these extra attributes being used is if the
> netCDF files are created by higher level packages that automatically
> add the extra metadata.
And I think one of the best ways to do this is to use "cdl" files and
ncgen to create the file framework (i.e. variables, attributes,
dimensions) and then use netCDF calls to fill in the variable values.
This is exactly how netCDF files are used to store NMC numerical model
results in the Unidata LDM software. It saves you having to make a
lot of netCDF calls, and actually makes it easier to change the netCDF
file definitions without large changes to the program.
--
Harry Edmon INTERNET: harry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(206) 543-0547 UUCP: uw-beaver!atmos.washington.edu!harry
Dept of Atmospheric Sciences, AK-40
University of Washington
