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transition document. Remoted plain text release_notes moving forward. Created a markdown version of the README file as an experiment to see what we think. GitHub will render markdown natively, as does Doxygen and our new build system.
71 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
71 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
# Unidata NetCDF
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The Unidata network Common Data Form (netCDF) is an interface for
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scientific data access and a freely-distributed software library that
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provides an implementation of the interface. The netCDF library also
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defines a machine-independent format for representing scientific data.
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Together, the interface, library, and format support the creation,
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access, and sharing of scientific data. The current netCDF software
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provides C interfaces for applications and data. Separate software
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distributions available from Unidata provide Java, Fortran, and C++
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interfaces. They have been tested on various common platforms.
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NetCDF files are self-describing, network-transparent, directly
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accessible, and extendible. `Self-describing` means that a netCDF file
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includes information about the data it contains. `Network-transparent`
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means that a netCDF file is represented in a form that can be accessed
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by computers with different ways of storing integers, characters, and
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floating-point numbers. `Direct-access` means that a small subset of a
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large dataset may be accessed efficiently, without first reading through
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all the preceding data. `Extendible` means that data can be appended to
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a netCDF dataset without copying it or redefining its structure.
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NetCDF is useful for supporting access to diverse kinds of scientific
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data in heterogeneous networking environments and for writing
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application software that does not depend on application-specific
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formats. For information about a variety of analysis and display
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packages that have been developed to analyze and display data in
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netCDF form, see
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/software.html
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For more information about netCDF, see the netCDF Web page at
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/
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You can obtain a copy of the latest released version of netCDF software
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from
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/downloads/netcdf
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Copyright and licensing information can be found here, as well as in
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the COPYRIGHT file accompanying the software
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/copyright.html
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To install this package, please see the file INSTALL in the
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distribution, or the (possibly more up-to-date) document:
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/building.html
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The netCDF-3 C and FORTRAN-77 interfaces are documented in man(1)
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pages at
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/netcdf-man-3.html
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/netcdf-man-3f.html
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User's Guides are also available in several forms from the same
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location.
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A mailing list, netcdfgroup@unidata.ucar.edu, exists for discussion of
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the netCDF interface and announcements about netCDF bugs, fixes, and
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enhancements. For information about how to subscribe, see the URL
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* http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/mailing-lists.html
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We appreciate feedback from users of this package. Please send
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comments, suggestions, and bug reports to
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<support-netcdf@unidata.ucar.edu>. Please identify the version of the
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package (file VERSION).
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