hdf5/doxygen/dox/ReferenceManual.dox

/** \page RM HDF5 Reference Manual

The functions provided by the HDF5 C-API are grouped into the following
\Emph{modules}:

<table>
<tr><th>Modules</th></tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td>

<table>
<tr><td style="border: none;">
\li \ref H5A "Attributes (H5A)"
\li \ref H5D "Datasets (H5D)"
\li \ref H5S "Dataspaces (H5S)"
\li \ref H5T "Datatypes (H5T)"
\li \ref H5E "Error Handling (H5E)"
\li \ref H5ES "Event Sets (H5ES)"
\li \ref H5F "Files (H5F)"
\li \ref H5Z "Filters (H5Z)"
\li \ref H5G "Groups (H5G)"
</td><td style="border: none;">
\li \ref H5I "Identifiers (H5I)"
\li \ref H5 "Library General (H5)"
\li \ref H5L "Links (H5L)"
\li \ref H5M "Maps (H5M)"
\li \ref H5O "Objects (H5O)"
\li \ref H5P "Property Lists (H5P)"
\li \ref H5PL "Dynamically-loaded Plugins (H5PL)"
\li \ref H5R "References (H5R)"
\li \ref H5VL "Virtual Object Layer (H5VL)"
</td><td style="border: none;vertical-align: top;">
\li Functions with \ref ASYNC "asynchronous variants"
\li \ref api-compat-macros
\li <a href="./deprecated.html">Deprecated functions</a>
\li High-level Extensions
    <ul>
    <li><a href="https://portal.hdfgroup.org/display/HDF5/Lite">\Bold{HDF5 Lite} (H5LT)</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://portal.hdfgroup.org/display/HDF5/Images">\Bold{HDF5 Image} (H5IM)</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://portal.hdfgroup.org/display/HDF5/Tables">\Bold{HDF5 Table} (H5TB)</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://portal.hdfgroup.org/display/HDF5/Packet+Tables">\Bold{HDF5 Packet Table} (H5TB)</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://portal.hdfgroup.org/display/HDF5/Dimension+Scales">\Bold{HDF5 Dimension Scale} (H5DS)</a></li>
    </ul>
</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="3" style="border: none;">
\ref H5 \ref H5A \ref H5D \ref H5E \ref H5ES \ref H5F \ref H5G \ref H5I \ref H5L
\ref H5M \ref H5O \ref H5P \ref H5PL \ref H5R \ref H5S \ref H5T \ref H5VL \ref H5Z
</td></tr>
</table>

</td></tr>
<tr><th>Mind the gap</th></tr>
<tr><td>
Follow these simple rules and stay out of trouble:

\li \Bold{Handle discipline:} The HDF5 C-API is rife with handles or
    identifiers, which you typically obtain by creating new HDF5 items, copying
    items, or retrieving facets of items. \Emph{You acquire a handle, you own it!}
    (Colin Powell) In other words, you are responsible for releasing the underlying
    resources via the matching \Code{H5*close()} call, or deal with the consequences
    of resource leakage.
\li \Bold{Closed means closed:} Do not pass identifiers that were previously
    \Code{H5*close()}-d to other API functions! It will generate an error.
\li \Bold{Dynamic memory allocation:} The API contains a few functions in which the
    HDF5 library dynamically allocates memory on the caller's behalf. The caller owns
    this memory and eventually must free it by calling H5free_memory(). (\Bold{Not}
    the `free` function \Emph{du jour}!)
\li \Bold{Be careful with that saw:} Do not modify the underlying collection when an
    iteration is in progress!
\li \Bold{Use of locations:} Certain API functions, typically called \Code{H5***_by_name}
    use a combination of identifiers and path names to refer to HDF5 objects.
    If the identifier fully specifies the object in question, pass \Code{'.'} (a dot)
    for the name!

Break a leg!
</td>
</tr>
</table>

\cpp_c_api_note

\par Don't like what you see? - You can help to improve this Reference Manual
     Complete the survey linked near the top of this page!\n
     We treat documentation like code: Fork the
     <a href="https://github.com/HDFGroup/hdf5">HDF5 repo</a>, make changes, and create a
     <a href="https://github.com/HDFGroup/hdf5/pulls">pull request</a> !\n
     See the \ref RMT for general guidance.

*/