Demonstrate byte order problem in netCDF4 package.

byte_order.py

import netCDF4
import numpy as np


def create_file(filename, format):
    dataset = netCDF4.Dataset(filename, mode='w', format=format)
    dataset.createDimension('time', None)
    dataset.createDimension('space', 4)
    dims = ('time', 'space')
    little_little = dataset.createVariable('little-little', '<f4', dims)
    little_big = dataset.createVariable('little-big', '<f4', dims)
    big_little = dataset.createVariable('big-little', '>f4', dims)
    big_big = dataset.createVariable('big-big', '>f4', dims)

    little_little[:] = np.arange(12, dtype='<f4').reshape(3, 4) * 2
    little_big[:] = np.arange(12, dtype='>f4').reshape(3, 4)
    big_little[:] = np.arange(12, dtype='<f4').reshape(3, 4)
    big_big[:] = np.arange(12, dtype='>f4').reshape(3, 4)

    dataset.close()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    create_file('classic.nc', 'NETCDF3_CLASSIC')
    create_file('hdf_based.nc', 'NETCDF4')