Re: netCDF and java

Hi again Tim,

> A re-introduction, I'm with the support group for the R/V WECOMA.  You
> probably met with my boss Marc Willis at a recent (kind of) RVTECH
> meeting where shipboard data logging formats were discussed.
> 
> So, to the subject... are you aware of any java ports of netcdf?

No, but I'm interested in developing a Java package for netCDF data, once I
get done with the more mundane job of finishing the netCDF 2.4 release and
making it available.

> I have been tossing around the idea of a java based netCDF file
> content viewer.  In some ways a really nifty "platform" to aim for
> as once written it can run on a PC/MAC/UNIX box right off the bat,
> assuming you've got a javable browser.  I just re-subscribed
> to the netcdf mail list, so I'm sure I'll feel really dumb and find
> out that it's been a common thread for the last few weeks or
> what not.

Yes, there would be lots of benefits of a Java netCDF interface, but doing
the whole thing in Java, without making use of a platform-specific C netCDF
library, would be fairly ambitious.  But that would be one way to achieve
real platform-independence for netCDF.  I think there's already a Java/XDR
interface, available as part of Q-Java

    <URL:http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~arcadia/Software/Qjava.html>

which presumably could be reused.

There has been very little traffic on the netcdfgroup mailing list recently,
and no mention of Java.

A related effort is Bill Noon's development of a netCDF interface for
python, a similar interpreted OO language.

If you get there first and decide to try implementing a Java-based netCDF
browser, I'd be very interested in hearing about it or even collaborating in
the development.

--Russ