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<html>
<head>
<title>Using FlexIO</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#F0F0F0">
<img src="Images/info.gif">
<hr>
<h1>Introduction</h1>
FlexIO borrows its terminology and storage-style from
HDF and NetCDF. The file stores a sequence of multidimesional
arrays which are referred to generically as <b>datasets</b>.
The <b>rank</b> of the dataset is the number of dimensions the
data array has. The <b>dimensions</b> themselves are stored as
an array of integers. The dataset has a
<a href="DataTypes.html"><b>datatype</b></a> which
identifies the type of data stored in the array {32-bit float,
64-bit float, 32-bit integer, 64-bit integer, character}. The
datasets are stored sequentially in the file and can be accessed
by their index which ranges from 0 to (<number of datasets> -
1).<p>
It is important to note that the data is always stored in
Fortan order. That is, the first element of the
<b>dimensions</b> array always refers to the number of
elements that are most closely packed in the array
(eg. stride = 1). The next dimension has a stride equal to
the product of the lower dimensions. This is opposite of
default C/C++ array indexing order but can be accomodated
easily in those languages.<p>
In addition to raw dataset storage, you can attach
additional descriptions to the data using <b>annotations</b>
and <b>attributes</b>.<p>
An <b>annotation</b> is a text-string description of a
dataset which can be attached to dataset. You can use it to
add comments or other such information to the file.<p>
An <b>attribute</b> is a named vector of data (of any type)
attached to a dataset. This can function like an
<b>annotation</b> but it is primarily intended to add more
information to a dataset that can be interpreted by
visualization system or other such programs that would read
the datafile. The type of data attached in an attribute can
be the <i>origin</i> in 3D space of the dataset or a list of
floating point coordinates.
<i>coordinates</i> or a <i>componentname</i> etc... The name
identifies the semantic meaning of the array's contents and
readers can be configured to look for particular names to
add descriptive information to the dataset.<p>.
<hr>
<h1>Documentation</h1>
<UL>
<LI><a href="UsingC++.html">Using the C++ interface</a>
<LI><a href="UsingC.html">Using the C interface</a>
<LI><a href="UsingF77.html">Using the F77 interface</a>
<LI><a href="UsingIDL.html">Using the IDL interface</a>
<LI><a href="UsingJava.html">Using the Java interface</a>
</UL>
<hr>
<address><a href="mailto:jshalf@ncsa.uiuc.edu">John Shalf</a></address>
<!-- Created: Mon Apr 7 12:52:52 MDT 1997 -->
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Last modified: Thu Feb 4 21:38:53 CST 1999
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