Programming Issues

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Keep the following in mind when looking at the example programs included in this tutorial:

APIs vary with different languages

• C routines begin with the prefix “H5*” where * is a single letter indicating the object on which the operation is to be performed:

  File Interface:	H5Fopen
  Dataset Interface:	H5Dopen

• FORTRAN routines begin with “h5*” and end with “_f”:

  File Interface:	h5f.h5fopen_f
  Dataset Interface:	h5d.h5dopen_f

• Java routine names begin with “H5*” and are prefixed with “H5.” as the class. Constants are in the HDF5Constants class and are prefixed with "HDF5Constants.".:

  File Interface:	H5.H5Fopen
  Dataset Interface:	H5.H5Dopen

• APIS for languages like C++, Java, and Python use methods associated with specific objects.

HDF5 library has its own defined types

• hid_t is used for object handles
• hsize_t is used for dimensions
• herr_t is used for many return values

Language specific files must be included in applications

• Python:
  import h5py
import numpy
• C:
  "#include hdf5.h"
• FORTRAN:
  USE HDF5
  and call h5lib.h5open_f and h5lib.h5close_f to initialize and close the HDF5 FORTRAN interface
• Java:
  import hdf.hdf5lib.H5;
import hdf.hdf5lib.HDF5Constants;

See also

Examples by API for examples of using the HDF5 API.

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