[fitsbits] Question(s) regarding development of proprietary FITS manipulation software. . .

[Steve Allen]

On Mon 2007-07-30T20:25:53 -0700, gberz3 hath writ:
> I'm currently working with a client that needs to manipulate FITS
> files.

Neverminding the rest, what does the client mean by FITS files?

No two creators of FITS files produce them the same way.  Some are
tables, some are images, some are extracts of relational databases,
some are all of the above.

This was the major challenge that inspired the FITS MIME types, and it
was a challenge that in the end MIME could not handle.  There is not
yet any way to tell a machine what sort of processing and display is
appropriate to do with any given FITS file.

--
Steve Allen                 <sla at ucolick.org>                WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory        Natural Sciences II, Room 165    Lat  +36.99855
University of California    Voice: +1 831 459 3046           Lng -122.06015
Santa Cruz, CA 95064        http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/     Hgt +250 m