## Changes Introduced in V9.0.0

The following describes the most significant changes which occurred in the AST library between versions V8.7.2 and V9.0.0:

1. Functions such as astResample and astMask that handle grids of data values now have alternative interfaces that can handle grids that contain more pixels than can be represented in a 4-byte integer. This is achieved by using 8-byte integer arguments in place of 4-byte arguments. The names of these “8-byte” interfaces are the same as the 4-byte interfaces but have the digit “8” appended to the function name (before any trailing data type code). These new interfaces are documented in an extra paragraph entitled Handling of Huge Pixel Arrays attached to the reference documentation for each such function.

Note, all C or C++ code that uses AST should be recompiled to pick up changes made to the header file ast.h. This should be done even if you do not intend to use the new 8-byte interfaces.