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Paper: EleFits: A Modern C++ API on Top of CFITSIO
Volume: 535, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXXI
Page: 13
Authors: Basset, A.; Grizonnet, M.; Degaudenzi, H.
Abstract: EleFits is a modern C++ package to read and write FITS files which focuses on safety, user-friendliness, and performance. This paper presents the development rationale, examples, and comparisons to the available alternatives: CFITSIO, CCfits, SFITSIO, and AFW. EleFits is the only option which features a fully consistent and optimal internal type management system. Nevertheless, the complexity is hidden by a templated API agnostic of the underlying architecture. EleFits is shown to be more compact and to involve less parameters than its alternatives, which makes it both simpler and less error-prone. Furthermore, EleFits provides exclusive features like HDU selectors and automatic buffering of binary tables. To maximize performance, EleFits is built as a CFITSIO wrapper as thin as possible. A benchmark was developed to compare I/O times, with CFITSIO as the reference. While the two libraries are generally equivalent, optimizations implemented internally make EleFits even faster in some classical cases, unless the CFITSIO user spends considerable development efforts. The package is used since years internally to the Euclid ground segment and has been open-sourced.
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