This draft was last updated: May 5, 1994
The HDF group has been working for some time on a next version of HDF, which we are calling HDF 4.0. The defining characteristic of HDF 4.0 will be that it supports multi-file and multi-object access to all major HDF objects. The full list of features we have planned for HDF 4.0 includes the following:
As the next article indicates, we now have an alpha version of HDF 4.0, which includes some of the items on the list. Our original plans were to have a full beta version of HDF 4.0 ready by mid-summer. However, with the loss of Chris Houck (see final article), the release will almost certainly be delayed. We are considering postponing one or more of the above features (probably the chunked storage, maybe the annotations) in order to speed up the release, but have not decided yet for sure. We welcome your thoughts about these features.
HDF Version 4.0 is ready for enthusiastic HDF users to run an alpha test now. The new version supports n-bit number types, a parallel I/O HDF interface for CM5, and reads CDF files. Please read ABOUT_4.0.alpha for more details.
http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu:8001/. The server has the Online Hypertext Version
of the HDF Reference Manual. There is a fill-out form in the home page for
users to submit questions to the HDF team.
New contributions
HDF and XDS extensions to support blocked SDS.
Hugo Patterson, graduate research fellow of Carnegie Mellon University
contributed the extensions made to HDF3.2r3 and XDS2.2 to support read/
write/display of blocked scientific data sets. The contribution is in
HDF/contrib/HDF3.2r3.Blocked_SDS/ on the NCSA ftp server. Read the
README file in
that directory for more information.
Collage release 1.3 for X Window System.
New features in 1.3:
Distribution:
The software is available through anonymous ftp for both binaries and source code. ftp ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50) and answer anonymous to the Name question. Than cd /UNIX/XCollage/Collage1.3, get DOCS, quit ftp, read DOCS and download the binaries that you need.
Chris Houck is leaving NCSA and the HDF group to pursue opportunities in the commercial world.
Chris has been a joy to work with and a tremendous asset to the HDF project during the two and a half years that he has been with us. He was responsible for the enormous task of merging the netCDF interface into HDF, for rewriting the SDS interface to make it completely compatible with the netCDF and CDF data models, and for making a countless improvements and fixes to practically all parts of the HDF code. Chris has continuously contributed important insights and opinions about how to approach HDF-related problems and issues. In addition to all this, Chris has consistently and cheerfully provided support to the growing population of HDF users.
Chris, obviously we will really miss you, we are enormously grateful for your contributions to HDF, and we wish you all the best.