[fitsbits] updates to the FITS standard document

[van Nieuwenhoven, Richard]

The problem is simply the standard evolved without the standard itself,
every "convention" / "style" / "substandard" made it more structual and
complex to handle, but it keeps throwing the responsibility into the
hands of the user without the help of the reader-programs. At the moment
a user has to know (!) if a software tool is capable of doing some task
on the fits file without destroying (worst case) it at some other end.
The more "conventions" / "styles" / "substandards" exist the more
complex it gets.

A very very simplified example: There is a reader out there that will
just correct some special value in a fits file, but it does not support
the CHECKSUM. If that tool is used on a fits file with a checksum, 2
things will be broken. 1. it is not know is the checksum was correct
before the change and 2. afterwards the checksum is broken... So the
user hast to know that the fits-file has a CHECKSUM and that the tool
does not support it ....

Now think of more complex combinations of this problem. By including a
forced break of old versions, and a special convention how to specify a
convention. The user has only to know that, when there is really a
problem. reported by the software.

I do not really care how this is formatted, just that using a rewritable
part of this first fitsblock makes a conversion tool a no-brainer.

         Ritchie



Am 2015-06-30 um 04:59 schrieb Mark Calabretta:
>> From: Erik Bray [embray at stsci.edu]
>> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 6:18 PM
>> To: van Nieuwenhoven, Richard
>> Subject: Re: [fitsbits] updates to the FITS standard document
> 
> 
>> , or that there is really only one version of FITS (the
>> former is unhelpful, while the latter is downright dishonest).
> 
> You forgot to mention that the standard itself proclaims a version
> number on the title page!
> 
> Beats me why there's such resistance to versioning FITS data files, but
> if you don't like the standard you can always create a new convention!
> 
>> #ASDF 0.1.0
> 
> So who will be the first to write a FITS <-> ASDF translator?
> 
> Regards,
> Mark Calabretta
> 


-- 
BSc Richard van Nieuwenhoven
Software Architekt

adesso Austria GmbH
floridotower 26. Stock              T +43 1 2198790-0
Foridsdorfer Hauptstr. 1            F +43 1 2198790-13
A-1210 Wien                         H +43 664 88614710
                                    E richard.vannieuwenhoven at adesso.at
                                    www.adesso.at
-------------------------------------------------------------
         >>> business. people. technology. <<<
-------------------------------------------------------------
adesso Austria GmbH mit Sitz in Wien
Handelsgericht Wien FN231467v