What is an NDF?

``NDF'' stands for Extensible N-Dimensional Data Format. It is a standard file format for storing data which represent N-dimensional arrays of numbers, such as spectra, images, etc. and it therefore forms the basis of many spectral and image-processing applications. This document describes a subroutine library for accessing data stored in this form from applications written to run within a programming environment (such as ADAM - see SUN/101 & SG/4). For applications which do not use such facilities, a ``stand-alone'', version of the library is also available (see §).