The Extensible Data Format (XDF) is an
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. ...
standard (specified as a
DTD) developed by
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
, meant to be used throughout scientific disciplines. In many ways it is akin to
XSIL, Extensible Scientific Interchange Language. NASA provides two XDF
API
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
s, in
Perl
Perl is a family of two High-level programming language, high-level, General-purpose programming language, general-purpose, Interpreter (computing), interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it ...
and in
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...
.
XDF is used to store high-dimensional data and information related to it in compact XML format. The purpose is to have interchangeable and high quality format that can be used as a main archive format for this kind of data.
The XDF project and related development have been halted (2002,2006). The existing information have been archived to the ''UMD Astronomy Information and Knowledge Group'' site as a reference.
Astronomical Data Center Home page
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513152553/http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ , date=2007-05-13
References
XML-based standards
NASA spin-off technologies