The modified programs are `smart' clients.

• Many client programs are limited to a fixed set of pre-formatted data types (e.g., GIF, text).

• Programs rebuilt with a DODS library can read and analyze data in a wide variety of data types and structures similar to most modern programming languages.

• Smart clients are the key to combining data from several sources.

• While the analysis program runs on the user's computer, the data remains remote, facilitating the use of many data sets without having to copy each to the local computer.

The communication protocol used by DODS is similar to a programming language in that it enables the contents of a data set to be described as variables to which a number of operators may be applied. This high-level programatic description enables translation between the access mechanism of the library and that of the data servers.