Does anyone have suggestions for how to structure a script to read a binary data file?

The file in question is a results file from a finite element solver, so although it's structured its not as simple as a header + a big chunk of uniform data. Its got a load of scalar variable values then massive (multi-dimensional) arrays, and both the number of words per record and the format vary.

I'm finding it hard to identify an approach which is a good compromise for being:

  • Fairly self-documenting - e.g. using explicit variable names, which can then match the documentation for the file structure
  • Compact - no great gobs of identical repeated read() and unpack() statements
  • Fast - need to handle 20GB+ of data here.

    It feels like there should be some sort of lookup or grammar approach which can tell the script what it's got, how to unpack() it, and where to put it, but I'm not sure I know what that approach is...

    In reply to Reading binary files - program structure by Anonymous Monk

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