Something I've always wanted in HDF5 is a way to externally describe the properties of groups, datasets, etc. for instance when I want to investigate the best chunk size for a dataset to have good I/O performance, I have to change the parameters in the right HDF5 function in my code and recompile my application, I may comment or uncomment some of the calls to set or unset some properties, etc. Having an XML file describing the data (groups, datasets, datatypes, etc.) together with the properties to use (compression feature, chunk size, etc.) would ease the task of adapting the I/O part of applications for particular needs or particular platforms. This is an idea already present in the ADIOS data format ( http://www.olcf.ornl.gov/center-projects/adios/) and that I have also used in my own I/O middleware Damaris (http://damaris.gforge.inria.fr).
Matthieu 2011/11/11 Rhys Ulerich <[email protected]> > > We (The HDF group) would like to get your thoughts on the importance and > > role of XML in the HDF5 ecosystem. > > I like it. Especially the possibility of representing new domains > entirely within HDF5/XML. > > On the data side, using a skeletal HDF5/XML dump of a datafile to > check that it is valid according to some domain-specific schema will > be handy. I suggest adding recommended HDF5 attributes with > particular names for such validation purposes (e.g. an XML schema > against which '/' or some other object should verify) so that tools > like h5diff could perform such a verification. > > On the developer/user side, if there's a one-to-one HDF5-to-XML > mapping it should be possible to use XML DOM and SAX APIs, ideally > within the mainstream XML parsers, to traverse an HDF5 data file. > Suddenly you'll find HDF5 combined with commodity web technologies and > datasets relatively easily rendered with DOM/CSS approaches. It would > be a huge win to toss a plugin into Firefox, point it at an HDF5 file, > provide a stylesheet, and find the datasets genuinely browsable. I > personally love the utility and quality of the un*x CLI toolset but I > could imagine browser capabilities easing HDF5 adoption by many folks. > > Random comment on the document: From where did you pull the fooT, > barG, etc. naming convention? I find the Hungarian-like notation a > bit distracting compared to, say, just spelling out "Type". No need > to introduce brevity-- it's XML. > > - Rhys > > _______________________________________________ > Hdf-forum is for HDF software users discussion. > [email protected] > http://mail.hdfgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/hdf-forum_hdfgroup.org > -- Matthieu Dorier ENS Cachan, Brittany (Computer Science dpt.) IRISA Rennes, Office E324 http://perso.eleves.bretagne.ens-cachan.fr/~mdori307/wiki/
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