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Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype
From: |
Pierre de Buyl |
Subject: |
Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype |
Date: |
Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:52:26 +0200 |
User-agent: |
Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) |
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 10:39:05AM +0200, Konrad Hinsen wrote:
> Peter Colberg writes:
>
> > I would like to mandate the variable-length string datatype for all
> > string values appearing in the specification. The restriction to
> > variable-length strings simplifies the implementation of H5MD readers
> > in low-level programs greatly, as fixed-length and variable-length
> > string datatypes are not convertible.
>
> +1
Has anyone the experience of variable-length string datatype in Fortran?
This should not prevent us from picking this solution, but I prefer to know the
implications.
P
> > On the implementation side, h5py needs to be instructed explicitly
> > to use vlen strings. The h5py author at one point was enthusiastic
> > and let h5py write vlen strings by default, but user(s) complained
> > and this sensible default was reverted.
>
> I happen to agree with Andrew on that point. h5py has a very sensible
> default: HDF5 datasets are as equivalent as possible to NumPy arrays.
> Making exceptions for special cases (such as character arrays) creates
> more problems than it solves. For example, how do you handle record
> arrays that mix character and numeric data?
>
> As a general rule, I always favor consistency over convenience in
> interface specifications. You can easily add a convenience layer on
> top of a consistent interface, but the other direction is a pain.
>
> In our case, PyH5MD is the convenience layer, so the problem is solved :-)
>
> Konrad.
> --
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Konrad Hinsen
> Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS Orléans
> Synchrotron Soleil - Division Expériences
> Saint Aubin - BP 48
> 91192 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
> Tel. +33-1 69 35 97 15
> E-Mail: research AT khinsen DOT fastmail DOT net
> http://dirac.cnrs-orleans.fr/~hinsen/
> ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0330-9428
> Twitter: @khinsen
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
- [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype, Peter Colberg, 2013/09/19
- [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype, Konrad Hinsen, 2013/09/19
- Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype,
Pierre de Buyl <=
- Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype, Felix Höfling, 2013/09/23
- Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype, Konrad Hinsen, 2013/09/24
- Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype, Felix Höfling, 2013/09/24
- Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype, Konrad Hinsen, 2013/09/24
- Re: [h5md-user] Mandate Variable-length string datatype, Felix Höfling, 2013/09/24