Terminology

Before describing the sep_90 structure and routines it is helpful to define some terms:

• Operator overloading - A language feature that allows different routines, with different argument lists, to be called by the same name (like C++).
• Optional arguments - Arguments that may or may not be passed to a subroutine or function. When passed are usually specified by my_optional = my_variable.
• SEPlib77 dataset - traditional SEP old-style dataset which is described by
  • n1, n2, n3...- integer - the dimensions of the dataset.
  • o1, o2, o3,..- real - the origin of the axes of the dataset.
  • d1, d2, d3,..- real - the sampling between points on the axes.
  • label1, label2, label3,...- character* - label for dataset axes.
  and contains an array of (n1*n2*...) values.
• SEPlib90 dataset - extension of traditional SEPlib77 dataset to handle irregular datasetBiondi et al. (1996). Consists of
  • a grid and grid format file (GFF), describing dataset regularities;
  • a header format file (HFF) and header values file, for header values;
  • and data values file and history file.
• sep_90 - a Fortran90 type (similar to a C structure), which is the base type for accessing our library.
• SEPF90 - the SEP90 data structure and other contents of libsepf90.a.