Review and update CF "Software that uses CF" web page

[ethanrd]

An issue to start gathering ideas for updates and additions to the "Software that 'Understands' CF Data" page.

In a comment on the 2022 CF Workshop Hackathon issue (cf-convention/discuss#152), @jypeter suggests adding

• PCMDI's cdms2 (maybe xCDAT?)
• Ferret and pyFerret
• Maybe some R packages

[ethanrd]

@czender - Should NCO be added to this page? If so, would the description on the NCO home page work or do you have a bit more detail on how it uses CF we could include?

[ethanrd]

I recently stumbled over a 2012 netCDF workshop "Where is CF Metadata Used?" page which mentions a no longer available PCMDI "Projects and Groups Adopting or Encouraging the CF-Conventions as a Standard" page. The Wayback Machine's latest version is a February 2013 copy.

There's a good amount there which will likely require some review and maybe reaching out to some groups/projects.

It also has me wondering if the current CF software page shouldn't be expanded to include projects, groups, and maybe datasets being produced using CF.

[czender]

@ethanrd please start with that and then remind me at the workshop (perhaps at a relevant hackathon?) and I'll suggest some more CF-oriented text.

[kevin-obrien]

@ethanrd definitely should add PyFerret and ERDDAP. Looks like a good hackathon, like @czender suggested..

[ethanrd]

The netCDF software page might be useful to review.

[ethanrd]

@ajheaps - Can we add cf-view to the CF software page?

[ethanrd]

@ajheaps and @davidhassell - I started drafting some Markdown text for adding cf-view to the CF software list. I was looking at the cf-view website but didn't find a description of what aspects of CF it supports. Do you have a suggestion for a sentence or two on what aspects of CF it uses/supports? Here's the Markdown text I have so far:

### cf-view - CF Python Quick Look Visualization Package
The [cf-view Python package](https://ajheaps.github.io/cf-view/) is a quick look data exploration tool for netCDF and Met Office PP data.
It uses the [cf-python](#cf-python---cf-python-package) and [cf-plot](#cf-python---cf-python-package) packages so is able to process any CF-compliant dataset.

[davidhassell]

Hi @ethanrd. Whilst cf-python can deals with anything, I'm not sure how cf-view view deals with non-spatiotemporal dimensions. I think that @ajheaps might be away for a bit, who'll know for sure, but I would say that if you are keen to close this then the bit of text that you have is fine, and we can always add more details later.

[ethanrd]

@davidhassell - I added the cf-view text above with a minor change to Charlie's PR (#266). I think it can be merged once someone checks that my change didn't break anything.

I added text for ERDDAP and (Py)Ferret in a new PR (#291). I'll ask for review there.

[ethanrd]

I'm reopening this issue as there's a second PR attached to it that is still open.

[JonathanGregory]

@ethanrd, what shall we do about #291 (Add to the CF software list (ERDDAP and Ferret/PyFerret)?

[ethanrd]

@JonathanGregory - I think we can merge it. I spoke with Kevin about this awhile back and he was good with it.

[ethanrd]

It has some conflicts with the main branch. I'll fix that and merge and we can go from there.