;XDF data format

;designed for binary reading and writing of 2d arrays of one type

;can include header information



;Uses XDR data format for portable cross-platform binary files that know

;the size and datatype of array and includes space for header



;Header must have same number of columns as data columns

;array can only be of one datatype

;data files are compressed by default



;Written by Ankur Desai 1/22/01