The OPeNDAP software may also be used to write new programs. This may be done either through one of the OPeNDAP-supported API libraries, such as netCDF or JGOFS, or by using the OPeNDAP data access protocol directly. There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach.
The biggest advantage of writing new code using an OPeNDAP-supported API such as netCDF or JGOFS is that the programmer in question is probably already familiar with the use of that API. Writing an OPeNDAP program using an adapted API is not significantly different than writing the same program with the original API. While writing this new program, it will be useful to remember that the data the program uses will often be remote, implying that data retrieval may not be instantaneous, and that implementation of local caching to store requested data might be a good idea, but other than that, the process is the same as writing a program using the regular API.
It is also possible to use the OPeNDAP data access protocol directly. This is somewhat more involved than using one of the OPeNDAP-compliant API libraries, and C++ is the only language supported for this. However, this approach can provide substantially more efficient programs. For further information about this approach, refer to the technical information about the DAP in The DODS Toolkit Programmer's Guide.