6 Summary of part one

We’ve now finished part one of this book. You are now in a position to do the following with a whole range of data formats:

This might be sufficient for your needs. On the other hand, you will probably be aware that there is a lot more information contained within an NDF than “just” data. For example, we have not dealt with access to statistical error and quality information stored within the file.

The IMG library is part of a much larger collection of data access routines: the NDF library. In part two of this book, we switch to the latter method of data access so that we can deal with the above issues. If you already have enough information to complete your job, there is no strict requirement to go further – go get your stuff done.

Part II
ADVANCED ACCESS TO DATA

In the second part of this book, we switch from the IMG library to the more advanced NDF data access library. We explore how the NDF library is able to access many more articles of information which can be stored within an NDF data file, such as error information and objects known as extensions.

Later in this half of the book, a list of helpful resources for programmers is provided, along with some helpful hints for writing applications.