HEB (header-binary) is a data format for storing and dissemination
of a dataset that can be represented as a multidimensional array.

The data in HEB format has three sections:

1) format label -- and ascii string of 32 bytes long 
   (also known as file magic in Unix slang) identifies
   the format. 

   the format label is followed by a delimiter -- carriage return
   character, decimal code 10.

2) header that contains a hash table of attributes. The hash
   tables consists of a set of pairs attribute_name/attribute value
   separated by carriage return character.
 
   attribute_name  <--> filed_delimiter <--> attribute_value <--> row delimiter

   attribute_name  -- a sequence of ASCII characters excluding colon 
                      and blank. Maximum attribute name length is 128 
                      characters. Attribute name does not contain trailing 
                      \0 character.

   field_delimiter -- colon followed by one or more blanks.

   attribute_value -- a sequence of ASCII characters. May include blanks or
                      tabulation. Attribute value does not contain trailing 
                      \0 character. Maximum attribute value length is 128 
                      characters. 

   row_delimiter   -- carriage return character (decimal code 10).


   The header section may have up to 64 attributes. The amount of space 
   reserved for the header, format label and delimiters is fixed: 2048 bytes 
   for format version 2013.01.30. Unused space is padded with blanks.
   The last character of the header section, 0-index offset 2047 with respect
   to the beginning the file is carriage return.

2.1) Mandatory attributes:
 
     2.1.1) 

     2.1.1)  Dims:             Dimensions of the array. Attribute value 
                               has four integer values separated by one or
                               more blanks. Dimension may be greater 
                               than 2^32.

     2.1.2)  Endian:           Two values are supported LE or BE. The first
                               value is for Little Endian architecture, such
                               as x86_64, i386, or i686. BE is for Big Endian
                               architecture.

     2.1.3)  Data_Format:      Describes the type of data held in the data
                               section. Supported formats are:
                               I1 -- one-byte long integer;
                               I2 -- two-byte long integer;
                               I4 -- four-byte long integer;
                               I8 -- eight-byte long integer;
                               R4 -- four-byte float number;
                               R8 -- eight-byte float number;

                               Data in R4 format are read/written through 
                               directly. Data in any other formats are 
                               transformed to (when reading) or from 
                               (when writing) REAL*4.

     2.1.4)  Data_Transform:   The following transformations are supported:
                               none -- no transformation, except type 
                                       conversion if the Data_Format is not R4.
                               scof -- scale/offset transformation is applied:
                                       extrn_val = offset + scale*intrn_val
                               log  -- scale/offset transformation is applied:
                                       extrn_val = exp(offset + scale*intrn_val)

     2.1.5)  Scale_Factor:     Scale by factor used in scof or log data 
                               transformations. Must be 1.0 of Data_Transform
                               is none.

     2.1.6)  Offset:           Offset used in scof or log data transformations. 
                               Must be 0.0 of Data_Transform is none.

     2.1.7)  Fill_Value:       Value used as a place holder for non-existent
                               data. Fill_value is not subject of 
                               transformation.

     2.1.8)  Data_Compression: must be none. Reserved for future use

     2.1.9)  Data_Offset:      Offset of the data section with respect to the 
                               beginning the file. 2048 for HEB format version 
                               of 2013.01.30. May be changed in the future.

     2.1.10) Data_Length:      Length in bytes of the data section that is in 
                               the file. Length may exceed 2^32 bytes.

2.2) Discretionary attributes may contain any information. The order of 
     attributes is irrelevant. If an attribute is defined more than once, 
     the last definition overwrites previous definitions.


3) Data section. Flat binary in IEEE format. The type of data is defined in 
   the Data_Type attribute. The endianness is defined in Endian attribute.