netcdf-c/docs/dispatch.dox

/*! \file
Documentation for the dispatch system

\internal

\defgroup dispatch The Dispatch Layer

The dispatch layer is a way to add read/write modules to the netCDF
library.

Dispatch modules, plugged into the netCDF library, will allow netCDF
programs to read and write other, perhaps quite local, formats.

This should be of particular interest to anyone contemplating the
conversion of large data collections to netCDF in order to gain access
to those data in netCDF-oriented tools and software systems. Instead
of converting the data, a read module could be written which would
read the data as if it were in netCDF. This would give netCDF tools
read-only access to data in this format, transparently to the tool.

This mechanism is already used within the netCDF library to handle the
netCDF-4/HDF5 files, and the remote data access features. 

Conceptually, the dispatch layer provides the same capabilities as the
IOSP in the netCDF-Java library. However, unlike Java, C does not
provide the advanced features to make this seamless.
*/