issue_comments: 38004488

Here's an elementary example of using HDF5 memory images to pass self-describing binary data between processes using pytables:

``` python import numpy as np import os import tables

pipe_name = '/tmp/my-pipe' driver = "H5FD_CORE" my_array_name = "My array" my_attribute = "Drummer is cool!" my_title = "My title"

def child(): h5_file = tables.open_file("in-memory", title=my_title, mode="w", driver=driver, driver_core_backing_store=0) h5_file.create_array(h5_file.root, "array", np.array([0., -1., 1., -2., 2.]), title=my_array_name) h5_file.root.array.attrs.my_attribute = my_attribute image = h5_file.get_file_image() h5_file.close()

pipeout = open(pipe_name, 'w')
pipeout.write(image)
pipeout.flush()

def parent(): pipein = open(pipe_name, 'r') image = pipein.read()

h5_file = tables.open_file("in-memory", mode="r", driver=driver,
                           driver_core_image=image,
                           driver_core_backing_store=0)
print("my_title is \"%s\"." % h5_file.title)
print("my_attribute is \"%s\"." % h5_file.root.array.attrs.my_attribute)
print("my_array_name is \"%s\"." % h5_file.root.array.title)
print("array data is \"%s\"." % str(h5_file.root.array[:]))
h5_file.close()

if not os.path.exists(pipe_name): os.mkfifo(pipe_name)

pid = os.fork() if pid: parent() else: child() ```