Section: 3.1 What is netCDF, really?

3.1 What is netCDF, really?

In the real world, things are a little more complicated.

In actuality, netCDF like most software, is evolving to adapt to and keep up with its user community. Currently netCDF is:

Two data models
- classic model (netCDF-1, netCDF-2, netCDF-3)
- enhanced model (netCDF-4)
Two formats with variants
- classic format and large file variant
- netCDF-4 (HDF5-based) format and classic model variant
Two independent flavors of APIs
- C-based interfaces (C, C++, Fortran-77, Fortran-90, Perl, Python, Ruby, Matlab, ...)
- Java interface

You mostly don't need to be aware of these complications, because new versions of netCDF support

Also, files written through one language API are readable through other language APIs.