The Extensible Markup Language (XML), is a format for structured documents on the
web. It is completely ASCII, which means that the files are larger but that there
are fewer chances for difficulty reading them on different types of machines. While
HDF allows you to add annotations, XML provides an almost open-ended ability to
define characteristics of an object. The drawback is that text processing of XML
can require ten times the time of binary processing.
There were two attempts at making an extensible markup language for scientific data,
and they seem to have succeeded only within disciplines where data formats are well
understood. One is XDF, the eXtensible
Data Format by NASA, and the other is
XSIL, Extensible Scientific Interchange Language at Caltech.
If you would like to save data in XML format, take a look at one of the above to
see how it is done and create a format for your own data. Making a correct format
is an art, but making something that does the job is very simple.
Here is an XDF example.
<XDF>
<structure>
<array>
<axis name="X-axis">
<values> a list of values along one dimension</values>
</axis>
<axis name="Y-axis">
<values> a list of values along other dimension</values>
</axis>
<read> info on the ordering of the data values and record
format.
<recordFormat>...</recordFormat>
</read>
<data>
The Data goes here
</data>
</array>
<array>
Some other array of data...
</array>
</structure>
</XDF>
from
XDF, the eXtensible Data Format for Scientific Data.
Ed Shaya ADC/NASA/RITSS
