Support for data containing NaN values

[Mike Fitzpatrick]

I took the question differently:  If VO allows FITS  data, and
FITS data allows NaN, then apps should of course allow
for this.  OTOH, if the question is whether "VO data" as is
serialized in a VOTable allows NaN values the I think the
answer is 'no' (but I'd have to check).  There are similar issues
with how NULL values are handled, but again it depends on
whether it is in the serialized VOTable or the end data product
being accessed.  The DAL protocols don't say anything about
NaN/NULL beyond how they might be serialized, FITS is FITS
and if that's what the app retrieves in the end and then that is
the standard to follow when interpreting the data.  Was that
your question?

My $0.02,
-Mike



On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 2:06 AM, Mark Taylor <m.b.taylor at bristol.ac.uk>wrote:

> On Thu, 22 Sep 2011, Randy Thompson wrote:
>
> > As a general question, does data containing NaN values
> > violate any VO standards or protocols,and if not, should VO
> > applications be expected to accept them as input?
>
> the question is rather broad ("data" can take many forms), but on
> the whole the answer is that most standards and software in the VO
> should and do behave sensibly in the presence of NaN-valued floating
> point values.
>
> --
> Mark Taylor   Astronomical Programmer   Physics, Bristol University, UK
> m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk +44-117-928-8776 http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/
>
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