{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/3430","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/3430/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/3430/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/3430/events","html_url":"https://github.com/astropy/astropy/issues/3430","id":56411492,"number":3430,"title":"Use io.ascii to parse FITS ASCII tables?","user":{"login":"embray","id":676149,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/676149?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray","html_url":"https://github.com/embray","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/embray/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/labels/Affects-release","name":"Affects-release","color":"0052cc"},{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/labels/Effort-high","name":"Effort-high","color":"fef2c0"},{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/labels/io.ascii","name":"io.ascii","color":"c7def8"},{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/labels/io.fits","name":"io.fits","color":"c7def8"},{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/labels/Needs-clarification","name":"Needs-clarification","color":"444444"},{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/labels/Package-expert","name":"Package-expert","color":"bfe5bf"}],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":null,"comments":4,"created_at":"2015-02-03T17:44:25Z","updated_at":"2015-04-01T16:37:45Z","closed_at":null,"body":"As mentioned in other issues, the eventual goal for `io.fits` is to use Astropy `Table` (or a specialized subclass thereof) as the native format in which to return table data read from FITS files (both at the high level `Table.read()` interface, and the lower-level `HDU.data` interface).\r\n\r\nSince `io.ascii` already returns its results as `Table` objects, it seems worth investigating using it to parse FITS ASCII tables, rather than reinventing the wheel.  My knowledge of `io.ascii` is still superficial so I don't know if it supports all the features that would be needed to parse FITS ASCII tables.  And if not, I don't know how much effort it would be to add those features over just using a specialized parsers just for FITS.  This is a reminder to look into it."},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/comments/88548480","html_url":"https://github.com/astropy/astropy/issues/3430#issuecomment-88548480","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/3430","id":88548480,"user":{"login":"dhomeier","id":709020,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/709020?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier","html_url":"https://github.com/dhomeier","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/dhomeier/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2015-04-01T16:37:45Z","updated_at":"2015-04-01T16:37:45Z","body":"Possibly naïve question: is `io.fits` not using `cfitsio` under the hood for ASCII as well as binary files? That would seem to be far more mature than adapting `io.ascii` to FITS' specific Fortran-style flavour.\r\nAs an aside, perhaps HEASARC should be contacted to list astropy as Python interface on their [FITSIO page](http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/fitsio/fitsio.html) rather than some package that has last been updated when pyfits was still alive."}}