Re: Java netCDF

> From: Jason Waring <address@hidden>
> To: address@hidden
> Organization:  CSIRO Division of Marine Research
> Subject: Java netCDF

Hi Jason,

> I have been given your name by Joe Sirott as a point of contact for
> discussing the current development status of the Java netCDF interface.
> 
> I was impressed with the code that Joe has developed, but it lacks a
> few features that I need for a project I am just starting up
> (namely a more transparent RMI interface, better handling
> of security and most importantly the ability to write netCDF files).
> 
> Joe tells me that you have plans for supporting and enhancing the
> Java netCDF tools. If so, then I would be interested to know how you
> are getting along, and whether you need any assistance. I am more than
> happy to be involved in any development.

Thanks very much for your generous offer of assistance.

I had hoped to have something releasable by now, but finishing the
netCDF 3 documentation and other items has taken much longer than I
expected and left very little time for Java development.

After working on the RMI stuff for a while, I decided to not try to keep
up with changes in RMI until after JDK 1.1 was generally available.  I
think it's important to get the netcdf package interfaces right before
trying to adapt them to RMI.  But I'd be interested in hearing what
security improvements you have in mind.

Joe's package treats attributes as another kind of variable, and I don't
think that will work for a read-write interface, so I intend to add an
attribute class.

I have made some progress.  I was still planning on making the first
version a read-only interface.  Perhaps I should not bother with the
read-only initial release and wait until the whole read-write interface
is done instead?

I'll package up what I've done (fixing a few bugs and improving
floating-point access) and you can see if that's of any use to you.
Perhaps you'll have time to develop it further before I get back to it.

I'll let you know where to get it by the end of this week.

--Russ