Introduction to HDF

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1.3 Why Was HDF Created?

Scientists commonly generate and process data files on several different machines, use various software packages to process files and share data files with others who use different machines and software. Also, they may include different kinds of information within one particular file, or within a group of files, and the mixture of these different kinds of information may vary from one file to another. Files may be conceptually related but physically separated. For example, some data may be dispersed among different files and some in program code. It is also possible that data may be related only in the scientist's conception of the data; no physical relationship may exist.

HDF addresses these problems by providing a general-purpose file structure that:

Provides the mechanism for programs to obtain information about the data in a file from within the file, rather than from another source.
Lets the user store mixtures of data from different sources into a single file as well as store the data and its related information in separate files, even when the files are processed by the same application program.
Standardizes the formats and descriptions of many types of commonly-used data sets, such as raster images and multidimensional arrays.
Encourages the use of a common data format by all machines and programs that produce files containing specific data.
Can be adapted to accommodate virtually any kind of data.

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hdfhelp@ncsa.uiuc.edu

HDF User's Guide - 05/19/99, NCSA HDF Development Group.