Abstract

The Extensible N-Dimensional Data Format (NDF) is a format for storing bulk data in the form of N-dimensional arrays of numbers. It is typically used for storing spectra, images and similar datasets with higher dimensionality. The NDF format is based on the Hierarchical Data System HDS (SUN/92) and is extensible; not only does it provide a comprehensive set of standard ancillary items to describe the data, it can also be extended indefinitely to handle additional user-defined information of any type.

This document describes the routines provided for accessing NDF data objects. It also discusses all the important NDF concepts and includes a selection of simple example applications.