Subject: Comments on NOST FITS Standard 1.2

From: Bill Cotton <bcotton at nrao.edu>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 14:12:13 -0400 (EDT)

I would like to raise a strenuous objection to the "deprecation" of
the random groups format in the current draft NOST FITS definition
document.  I'm not sure exactly what the term "deprecated" means but
I interpret it as implying that it will be disallowed at some point
in the future.
   Random groups FITS format is used heavily by the radio
interferometry community to contain interferometer data.  A few years
ago it was thought that binary tables would replace random groups as
the primary format for interferometer data but this has not happened
and is unlikely to happen for the foreseeable future.  A format
actively used by a nontrivial fraction of the astronomical community
should not be deprecated. 

-Bill Cotton

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From: Tim Pearson <tjp at astro.caltech.edu>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 18:10:35 -0700 (PDT)

> should not be deprecated. 

I agree with this. There are a lot of radio and optical interferometer
data stored in this format, and programs to read the format will be
required indefinitely; and while the major analysis packages (aips,
aips++) expect data in this format, programs will be written to create
data in the random groups format. So the format should not be
deprecated. It (together with a set of rules, implicit in aips, about
how the data should be organized within the random-groups file) is the
de facto interchange format for interferometry data.

- Tim Pearson

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From: pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Pence)
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 16:27:24 -0400

Just a couple clarifications regarding the deprecation of random groups:

1.  Deprecate is defined in the FITS standard as: 

    "To express earnest disapproval of.  This term is used to refer to
     obsolete structures that ought not to be used but remain valid."

This does not imply that deprecated features will be disallowed in the
future.

2.  The random groups structure was deprecated in version 1.0 of the
NOST FITS definition that was approved in June 1993.  The current draft
version 1.2 of the document that is available for public comment has
not made any changes in this regard.

-Bill Pence

> in the future.  [snip]