Re: Update of netcdf-2.3.2pl2 applications

> Subject: Update of netcdf-2.3.2pl2 applications
> Dear Glenn,
>
> Richard Stallman forwarded your mail to me because I wrote the
> netcdf-2.3.2pl2 application.
>
> You said:
> > You might be interested in knowing that in our next release of netcdf,
> > we have stopped using (Sun) ONC XDR and replaced those interfaces with
> > one more suitable to our application. The netcdf file format and external
> > representations remain the same. We ran into several problems with
> > the vendor-provided ONC XDR implementations and the interface has some
> > disadvantages in our applications.
>
> What does that mean in practice?
> Have the interface specifications, i.e. the function calls, been changed ?
> Do I have to update MY code or can I just link the new netcdf library to it?

There are serveral things going on.

First of all, netcdf-2.4 is out.
It has bug fixes and performance enhancements
for supercomputers. No changes to the interface.
The documentation is much improved.

We are currently working on netcdf-3.
That's what I was talking to Richard about.
Besides the internal changes I mentioned, we are offering a
new and different 'C' interface with release 3. The big deal is that
the new interface is "type safe" meaning that there are separate 'put'
and 'get' functions for the different types: double, float, long, int, short.
Also, coordinate arrays become 'size_t' rather than 'long'.

Don't despair, however. The new interface will not have name collisions with
the old and the old interface will also be supported for the forseeable future.
You will be able use old code without changes.

I'm curious as to what your application is.

-glenn