make varn APIs separated from var APIs

examples/README.md

@@ -93,8 +93,8 @@ be found at the beginning of each file.
 
 * [put_varn_int.py](./put_varn_int.py)
   + This example shows how to use a single call of `Variable` method
-    `put_var()` to to write a sequence of requests with arbitrary array indices
-    and lengths.
+    `put_varn()` to write a sequence of subarray requests to a variable with
+    arbitrary array indices and lengths.
 
 * [transpose.py](./transpose.py)
   + This example shows how to use `Variable` method `put_var()` to write six 3D

examples/get_vara.py

@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ def pnetcdf_io(filename, file_format):
     if rank == 0 and verbose:
         print("variable attribute \"str_att_name\" of type text =", str_att)
 
-    # Get the length of the variable's attribute named "float_att_name"
-    float_att =  v.get_att("float_att_name")
+    # Get the variable's attribute named "float_att_name"
+    float_att = v.get_att("float_att_name")
 
     # set access pattern for reading subarray
     local_ny = global_ny

examples/put_varn_int.py

@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 #
 
 """
-This example shows how to use a single call of `Variable` method `put_var()` to
-to write a sequence of requests with arbitrary array indices and lengths.
+This example shows how to use a single call of `Variable` method `put_varn()`
+to to write a sequence of requests with arbitrary array indices and lengths.
 
 To run:
   % mpiexec -n num_process python3 put_varn_int.py [test_file_name]
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ def pnetcdf_io(file_name, file_format):
     w_buf = np.full(w_len, rank, dtype=np.int32)
 
     # set the buffer pointers to different offsets to the I/O buffe
-    v.put_var_all(w_buf, start = starts, count = counts, num = num_reqs)
+    v.put_varn_all(w_buf, num = num_reqs, starts = starts, counts = counts)
 
     # close the file
     f.close()
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ def pnetcdf_io(file_name, file_format):
     filename = args.dir
 
     if verbose and rank == 0:
-        print("{}: example of writing multiple variables in a call".format(os.path.basename(__file__)))
+        print("{}: example of writing multiple subarrays of a variable in a call".format(os.path.basename(__file__)))
 
     try:
         pnetcdf_io(filename, file_format)

src/pnetcdf/_File.pyx

@@ -499,12 +499,11 @@ cdef class File:
 
         Operational mode: This method must be called while the file is in define mode.
         """
-
-
         cdef nc_type xtype
         xtype=-99
         _set_att(self, NC_GLOBAL, name, value, xtype=xtype)
 
+
     def get_att(self,name,encoding='utf-8'):
         """
         get_att(self,name,encoding='utf-8')
@@ -519,14 +518,14 @@ cdef class File:
         :param name: Name of the attribute.
         :type name: str
 
-        :rtype: str
+        :rtype: str or numpy.ndarray
 
-        Operational mode: This method must be called while the file is in define mode.
+        Operational mode: This method can be called while the file is in either
+            define or data mode (collective or independent).
         """
-
-
         return _get_att(self, NC_GLOBAL, name, encoding=encoding)
 
+
     def __delattr__(self,name):
         # if it's a netCDF attribute, remove it
         if name not in _private_atts: