XML AND SCIENTIFIC FILE FORMATS

For many years, scientific data has been stored and transferred using a variety of data formats. In recent years XML has become an important and popular for exchanging digital information, including scientific data. At the most abstract level, XML can be used for any purpose that a binary format might be used, and vice versa. XML has many good features, but XML is not likely to replace binary data formats for scientific data.

Our team at NCSA has been studying and providing tools to store, share, and manage scientific data for many years. One of our products is the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF), a format and library which is used by scientists from many communities around the world. In recent years, we have studied emerging Web and XML technologies. In particular, we are interested to learn how XML and binary files can best be used by scientists, and how XML and binary formats should work together in systems.

This paper summarizes some of the lessons we have learned.