code from the
read routines (even more work for me!), but it had the advantage that I could
perform additional optimizations in the write routines that I couldn't do
otherwise.  Although the startup costs of this implementation are fairly high
(for writing only), it should be quite fast for batch writing of multiple files.</p>

<p>3. I decided to bite the bullet and invest the time required (...guess what I
did for my Christmas vacation!).  Although I thought that a big project like
this would be better sui