title: Python - read 2d array from binary data
body: <p>I try to read a 2d array with floats from a binary file with Python. Files have been written with big endian by a Fortran program (it is the intermediate file of the Weather Research and Forecast model). I already know dimension sizes of the array to read (nx &amp; ny) but as a Fortran and IDl programer I am completely lost, how to manage it in Python. (Later on I want to visualize the array).</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Shall I use <code>struct.unpack</code> or <code>numpy.fromfile</code> or the <code>array module</code>?</li>
  <li>Do I have to read first a vector and afterwards reshape it? (have seen this option only for the numpy-way)</li>
  <li>How do I define a 2d array with numpy and how do I define the dtype to read with big-endian byte ordering?</li>
  <li>Is there an issue with array ordering (column or row wise) to take into account?</li>
  </ol>