1. Tad Scheiblich RSI December 2, 2005
IDL Support of HDF
Tad Scheiblich
RSI
December 2, 2005

2. Interactive Data Language
What is IDL?
Interactive Data Language
Extensive Cross-Platform Libraries:
Interactive Visualization
Data Processing
Scientific File Formats
GUI Development

3. History & Background 28 year history with NCAR & NASA
Extensively used at NOAA
Based in Boulder, CO
Offices Worldwide
Currently on version 6.2

4. History with HDF HDF Support Introduced in IDL 4.0
HDF5 Support Added in IDL 5.6

5. The HDF Libraries Thin-Wrappers to Native C Libraries HDF5 1.6.3
; create HDF5 file
file = 'hdf5_out.h5'
fid = H5F_CREATE(file)
; create some data
data = hanning(100,200)
; create a datatype
datatype_id = H5T_IDL_CREATE(data)
; create a dataspace, allow the dataspace to be extendable
dataspace_id = $
H5S_CREATE_SIMPLE([100,100],max_dimensions=[200,200])
; create the dataset
dataset_id = $
H5D_CREATE(fid,'Hanning',datatype_id,dataspace_id, $
chunk_dimensions=[20,20])
; extend the size of the dataset to fit the data
H5D_EXTEND,dataset_id,size(data,/dimensions)
; write the data to the dataset
H5D_WRITE,dataset_id,data
Thin-Wrappers to Native C Libraries
HDF
HDF 4.1r5

6. Why IDL? Interpreted language – easier to use Interactive
Still very performant
Incredible visualization capabilities
Vast data processing library

7. HDF5 Enhancements in IDL 6.3
Opaque Data Support
Variable Length Data Support
Enumerated Data Support
Compound Data Support

8. Other Features of Interest
Virtual Machine
iTools Interactive Data Analysis
netCDF Support
Cluster Computing API
MPI
Task-Farming
Connectivity Bridges
C/C++, Fortran (Dynamically Linked Modules)
Java
COM/ActiveX

9. http://www.RSInc.com/IDL (303) 786-9900
For More Information
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Thank You!
-Tad Scheiblich