Contents

• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• 1 Primer
  • 1.1 Introduction
  • 1.2 Why Use CDF?
  • 1.3 Conceptual Organization
  • 1.4 Features of the CDF Library
    • 1.4.1 File Format Options
    • 1.4.2 Data Encoding Options
    • 1.4.3 Variable Data Access Options
  • 1.5 Organizing Your Data in a CDF
    • 1.5.1 Variables
      • rVariables
      • zVariables
  • 1.6 Attributes
  • 1.7 CDF Toolkit
  • 1.8 Library Interface Routines
    • 1.8.1 Standard Interface
    • 1.8.2 Internal Interface
  • 1.9 Examples
    • 1.9.1 Creating a CDF, the Hard Way (But Not That Hard)
    • 1.9.2 Creating a CDF, an Easier Way
• 2 Concepts
  • 2.1 CDF Library
    • 2.1.1 Interfaces
      • Standard Interface
      • Internal Interface
      • CDF's IDL Interface
    • 2.1.2 CDF Modes
      • Read-Only Mode
      • zMode
      • -0.0 to 0.0 Mode
    • 2.1.3 Limits
      • Open CDFs
    • 2.1.4 Caching Scheme
  • 2.2 CDFs
    • 2.2.1 Accessing
    • 2.2.2 Creating
    • 2.2.3 Opening
    • 2.2.4 Closing
    • 2.2.5 Deleting
    • 2.2.6 Naming
    • 2.2.7 Format
      • Multi-File CDFs
      • Single-File CDFs
        • Indexing Scheme.
      • Performance
    • 2.2.8 Encoding
      • Host Encodings
      • Network Encoding
      • Equivalent Encodings
        • Character/1-Byte Integer Data Types.
        • Multiple-Byte Integer Data Types.
        • Single-Precision Floating-Point Data Types.
        • Double-Precision Floating-Point Data Types.
      • Performance
    • 2.2.9 Decoding
      • Performance
    • 2.2.10 Data Types
      • Integer Data Types
      • Floating Point Data Types
      • Character Data Types
      • EPOCH Data Type
      • Equivalent Data Types
    • 2.2.11 Limits
  • 2.3 Variables
    • 2.3.1 Accessing
    • 2.3.2 Opening
    • 2.3.3 Closing
    • 2.3.4 Naming
    • 2.3.5 Numbering
    • 2.3.6 Deleting
    • 2.3.7 Dimensionality
    • 2.3.8 Records
      • Numbering
      • Allocated Records
      • Initial Records
      • Extend Records
    • 2.3.9 Data Specification
      • Data Type
      • Number of Elements
    • 2.3.10 Record Variance
    • 2.3.11 Dimension Variance
    • 2.3.12 Majority
    • 2.3.13 Single Value Access
    • 2.3.14 Hyper Access
      • Example (Fortran application)
    • 2.3.15 Sequential Access
      • Example (Fortran application)
    • 2.3.16 Multiple Variable Access
    • 2.3.17 Variable Pad Values
  • 2.4 Attributes
    • 2.4.1 Naming
    • 2.4.2 Numbering
    • 2.4.3 Attribute Scopes
      • Assumed Scopes
    • 2.4.4 Deleting
    • 2.4.5 Attribute Entries
      • Accessing
      • Numbering
      • Data Specification
      • Deleting
  • 2.5 NSSDC Standard
    • 2.5.1 Standard Attributes
    • 2.5.2 Standard Variables
• 3 Toolkit Reference
  • 3.1 Introduction
    • 3.1.1 VMS, UNIX, & MS-DOS
    • 3.1.2 Macintosh
  • 3.2 CDFdir
    • 3.2.1 Introduction
    • 3.2.2 Executing the CDFdir Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.2.3 Output from the CDFdir Program
  • 3.3 CDFcompare
    • 3.3.1 Introduction
    • 3.3.2 Executing the CDFcompare Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.3.3 Output from the CDFcompare Program
  • 3.4 CDFconvert
    • 3.4.1 Introduction
    • 3.4.2 Executing the CDFconvert Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.4.3 Output from the CDFconvert Program
  • 3.5 CDFstats
    • 3.5.1 Introduction
    • 3.5.2 Executing the CDFstats Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.5.3 Output from the CDFstats Program
  • 3.6 CDFinquire
    • 3.6.1 Introduction
    • 3.6.2 Executing the CDFinquire Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.6.3 Output from the CDFinquire Program
  • 3.7 SkeletonTable
    • 3.7.1 Introduction
    • 3.7.2 Executing the SkeletonTable Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.7.3 Output from the SkeletonTable Program
  • 3.8 SkeletonCDF
    • 3.8.1 Introduction
    • 3.8.2 Executing the SkeletonCDF Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.8.3 Creating the Skeleton Table
  • 3.9 CDFbrowse
  • 3.10 CDFlist
    • 3.10.1 Introduction
    • 3.10.2 Executing the CDFlist Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.10.3 Interaction with CDFlist
  • 3.11 CDFwalk
    • 3.11.1 Introduction
    • 3.11.2 Executing the CDFwalk Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.11.3 Interaction with CDFwalk
  • 3.12 CDFedit
    • 3.12.1 Introduction
    • 3.12.2 Executing the CDFedit Program
      • Usage:
      • Parameter(s):
      • Qualifier(s):
      • Example(s):
    • 3.12.3 Interaction with CDFedit
• A Skeleton Table Format
  • A.1 Introduction
  • A.2 Header Section
  • A.3 gAttributes Section
  • A.4 vAttributes Section
  • A.5 rVariables Section
  • A.6 zVariables Section
  • A.7 End Section
  • A.8 Example Skeleton Table
• B IDL Support
  • B.1 Introduction
  • B.2 Using CDF's IDL Interface
  • B.3 CDF ``Include'' Files
  • B.4 On-Line Help
  • B.5 Available Functions
  • B.6 Example IDL Session
  • B.7 Example IDL Function
• C Status Codes
  • C.1 Introduction
  • C.2 Status Codes and Messages
• D Release Notes
  • D.1 Introduction
  • D.2 Supported Systems
  • D.3 Changes for CDF V2.5
• E Glossary
• About this document ...