Previous: Structure of the spa, Up: The SPA
The easily-extendible nature of the SPA is one of the package's unique attributes. The SPA was originally designed by a devoted synoptician, and contained mostly large-scale atmospheric diagnostics. Other users have since requested (and often provided) very useful computational subprograms that have extended the utility of the package immensely. For example, you may want to calculate storm-relative helicity, a variable not currently supported in the SPA. The developer's interface provides a means by which you can build a helicity calculator with only a few read statements in the interfac3 (template) program. Our hope, of course, is that any computational routine that you create (or, any set of interface routines developed by the very brave) will be incorporated into the next release of the SPA.
A series of utilities are provided as the developer's interface as described in Developers interface. Following the steps described with the utilities will make development of the archive an almost enjoyable process.