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[fitsbits] FITS long integer support
On Thu 2004-10-21T10:00:52 -0600, Eric Greisen hath writ:
I did not suggest that we need to avoid files 2 GByte in size, just constructs like 64-bit integers which are simply not supported on many computers in any easily accesible way. Thus tables with heaps should stay 2 GBytes, but we ship 10 GBytes visibility data sets a fair amount. But 64-bit integer capability does exist, it is becoming more common, and it cannot be ignored forever. So again (having been in deep contact with the culture of the Internet on behalf of the FITS MIME effort) I find myself echoing the words of the original RFC Editor Jon Postel from RFCs 791 and 1122 way back at the inception of the Internet: Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send. Nobody can require that any particular FITS reader evolve to understand new additions to the standard, but that should not prevent progress for everyone else. The initial usage of 64-bit capability will undoubtedly be experimental and only between parties which have mutual interest and common hardware. But in the case of FITS the pathway to a 64-bit standard was outlined long ago, and reiterated in this discussion. If the FITS community had the financial incentives and backing of the Internet at large we would already have created the equivalent of an IETF Working Group, and the outlines that have been given would already serve as the seeds of a "Proposed Standard" (as seen in section 4.1.1 of RFC 2026). I personally expect to be making routine use of 64-bit processors within the next year. Taking into account the time and effort required to make a modification of the FITS standard, I assert that it is already time to begin the process of admitting 64-bit integers to FITS. -- Steve Allen UCO/Lick Observatory Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Voice: +1 831 459 3046 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla PGP: 1024/E46978C5 F6 78 D1 10 62 94 8F 2E 49 89 0E FE 26 B4 14 93 |
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