• Avoid premature optimization
• Determine by measurement whether using netCDF takes too much time or space.
• Improving performance often involves techniques for trade offs between time and space
  • less access time by using more storage space, for example storing sparse structures by ignoring their sparseness
  • less storage space by using more access time, for example packing values with scale factor and offset
• Sometimes using less space can also mean using less time, especially if low bandwidth is the bottleneck
• Understanding the netCDF format can make clear why some netCDF operations are more expensive than others

2007 Unidata NetCDF Workshop for Developers and Data Providers > Performance