[CF-metadata] CF

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:51:17 +0100

Dear John

In the design of standard names so far, we have not tried to answer this
general question. Standard names are intended to distinguish quantities which
need to be distinguished in a dataset, and to facilitate exchange of datasets
by identifying which quantities in them are comparable (indicated by their
having the same standard name). The level of precision required will depend
on the application. Therefore are will be standard names of varying
generality to suit the purposes. Particular projects using CF have to decide
on what subset of standard names to use. Two things might be "the same" in
one project but not in another. There are many possible relationships among the
quantities with standard names and they could be grouped in many ways.

What specific needs are there in practical development or design of software
systems which require decisions to be made about these relationships at the
time of writing the software, rather than leaving those decisions to the time
of use?

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Mon Apr 14 2008 - 15:51:17 BST