In a simple view, NetCDF is:

• A data model.
• A file format.
• A set of APIs and libraries for various programming languages.

Together, the data model, file format, and APIs support the creation, access, and sharing of scientific data.

• Comply with the best practices for writing NetCDF files.
• Identify protocols, servers, and clients for remote data access through NetCDF interfaces.
• Discuss how features of the enhanced NetCDF-4 format can be applied:
  • Groups.
  • Multiple unlimited dimensions.
  • User-defined types.
  • Data compression.
• Create short programs in C that use the NetCDF API to read and write files in the NetCDF classical data model for a given NetCDF data model.
• Create short programs that use the netcdf4-python module to create and read files in NetCDF-4 format for a given NetCDF data model.