A High Level Interface to the HDF5 File Format

Daniel B. Michelson and Anders Henja

August 8, 2000

Abstract:

HL-HDF is a high level interface to the Heirarchical Data Format, version 5, developed and maintained by the HDF group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. HDF5 is a file format designed for maximum flexibility and efficiency and it makes use of modern software technology. HDF5 sports such fundamental characteristics as platform independence and efficient built-in compression, and it can be used to store virtually any kind of scientific data. HL-HDF is designed to focus on selected HDF5 functionality and make it available to users at a high level of abstraction to make data management easier. This documentation contains an introduction to HL-HDF, compilation and installation instructions, and it describes how HL-HDF interacts with HDF5. A library reference provides information on how to use the software and assistance on creating user-defined data representations is also presented. A few example programs are provided as well. Finally, an interface between HL-HDF and the Python programming language is presented and documented.