[fitsbits] Output array type when BZERO is an integer {External}

[Richard J. Mathar]

jp> Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:23:18 -0700
jp> From: John Parejko <parejkoj at uw.edu>
jp> To: Jonas <jonas.repo at protonmail.com>
jp> Cc: "fitsbits at listmgr.nrao.edu" <fitsbits at listmgr.nrao.edu>
jp> Subject: Re: [fitsbits] Output array type when BZERO is an integer
jp>         {External}
jp> ...
jp> uint64 images being only supported by cfitsio convention has been an annoyance for us in the past. It really should be supported
jp> natively in FITS.

I think that the Java reference implementation of nom.tam.fits
also supports the 64bit image type. (Search for VALUE_FOR_LONG in the source 
code.) https://github.com/nom-tam-fits/nom-tam-fits .
In the particular case of the Java language (unlike C or python) the
number of bytes in the integer classes are of fixed, known IEEE length,
which makes life slightly easier to a programmer. The newer FORTRAN
languages also have ways to bind integer types to representations of strictly
known lengths.

The complex data type (spinors? magnetic fields?)
is apparently not yet supported in nom.tam.fits . The idea of quaternions
(4 values, Dirac equations of bispinors etc) has not yet been introduced into 
the FITS standard.  Support of UUID's would need 128 bits....

Richard Mathar