cdm/src/main/java/ucar/nc2/iosp/nids/Nidsheader.java
protected Object convert( byte[] barray, DataType dataType, int nelems, int byteOrder) {

        if (dataType == DataType.BYTE) {
          return barray;
        }

        if (dataType == DataType.CHAR) {
          return IospHelper.convertByteToChar( barray);
        }

        ByteBuffer bbuff = ByteBuffer.wrap( barray);
        if (byteOrder >= 0)
          bbuff.order( byteOrder == ucar.unidata.io.RandomAccessFile.LITTLE_ENDIAN? ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN : ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN);

        if (dataType == DataType.SHORT) {
          ShortBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asShortBuffer();
          short[] pa = new short[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;

        } else if (dataType == DataType.INT) {
          IntBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asIntBuffer();
          int[] pa = new int[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;

        } else if (dataType == DataType.FLOAT) {
          FloatBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asFloatBuffer();
          float[] pa = new float[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;

        } else if (dataType == DataType.DOUBLE) {
          DoubleBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asDoubleBuffer();
          double[] pa = new double[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;
        }

        throw new IllegalStateException();
    }
protected Object convert( byte[] barray, DataType dataType, int nelems, int byteOrder) {

        if (dataType == DataType.BYTE) {
          return barray;
        }

        if (dataType == DataType.CHAR) {
          return IospHelper.convertByteToChar( barray);
        }

        ByteBuffer bbuff = ByteBuffer.wrap( barray);
        if (byteOrder >= 0)
          bbuff.order( byteOrder == ucar.unidata.io.RandomAccessFile.LITTLE_ENDIAN? ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN : ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN);

        if (dataType == DataType.SHORT) {
          ShortBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asShortBuffer();
          short[] pa = new short[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;

        } else if (dataType == DataType.INT) {
          IntBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asIntBuffer();
          int[] pa = new int[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;

        } else if (dataType == DataType.FLOAT) {
          FloatBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asFloatBuffer();
          float[] pa = new float[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;

        } else if (dataType == DataType.DOUBLE) {
          DoubleBuffer tbuff = bbuff.asDoubleBuffer();
          double[] pa = new double[nelems];
          tbuff.get( pa);
          return pa;
        }

        throw new IllegalStateException();
    }
this converts a byte array to another primitive array
@param barray
@param dataType
@param nelems
@param byteOrder
@return