diff --git a/code/tools/constructNPYheader.m b/code/tools/constructNPYheader.m
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ca2840e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/code/tools/constructNPYheader.m
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+
+
+
+function header = constructNPYheader(dataType, shape, varargin)
+
+	if ~isempty(varargin)
+		fortranOrder = varargin{1}; % must be true/false
+		littleEndian = varargin{2}; % must be true/false
+	else
+		fortranOrder = true;
+		littleEndian = true;
+	end
+
+    dtypesMatlab = {'uint8','uint16','uint32','uint64','int8','int16','int32','int64','single','double', 'logical'};
+    dtypesNPY = {'u1', 'u2', 'u4', 'u8', 'i1', 'i2', 'i4', 'i8', 'f4', 'f8', 'b1'};
+
+    magicString = uint8([147 78 85 77 80 89]); %x93NUMPY
+    
+    majorVersion = uint8(1);
+    minorVersion = uint8(0);
+
+    % build the dict specifying data type, array order, endianness, and
+    % shape
+    dictString = '{''descr'': ''';
+    
+    if littleEndian
+        dictString = [dictString '<'];
+    else
+        dictString = [dictString '>'];
+    end
+    
+    dictString = [dictString dtypesNPY{strcmp(dtypesMatlab,dataType)} ''', '];
+    
+    dictString = [dictString '''fortran_order'': '];
+    
+    if fortranOrder
+        dictString = [dictString 'True, '];
+    else
+        dictString = [dictString 'False, '];
+    end
+    
+    dictString = [dictString '''shape'': ('];
+    
+%     if length(shape)==1 && shape==1
+%         
+%     else
+%         for s = 1:length(shape)
+%             if s==length(shape) && shape(s)==1
+%                 
+%             else
+%                 dictString = [dictString num2str(shape(s))];
+%                 if length(shape)>1 && s+1==length(shape) && shape(s+1)==1
+%                     dictString = [dictString ','];
+%                 elseif length(shape)>1 && s<length(shape)
+%                     dictString = [dictString ', '];
+%                 end            
+%             end
+%         end
+%         if length(shape)==1
+%             dictString = [dictString ','];
+%         end
+%     end
+
+    for s = 1:length(shape)
+        dictString = [dictString num2str(shape(s))];
+        if s<length(shape)
+            dictString = [dictString ', '];
+        end
+    end
+    
+    dictString = [dictString '), '];
+    
+    dictString = [dictString '}'];
+    
+    totalHeaderLength = length(dictString)+10; % 10 is length of magicString, version, and headerLength
+    
+    headerLengthPadded = ceil(double(totalHeaderLength+1)/16)*16; % the whole thing should be a multiple of 16
+                                                                  % I add 1 to the length in order to allow for the newline character
+
+	% format specification is that headerlen is little endian. I believe it comes out so using this command...
+    headerLength = typecast(int16(headerLengthPadded-10), 'uint8');
+	
+    zeroPad = zeros(1,headerLengthPadded-totalHeaderLength, 'uint8')+uint8(32); % +32 so they are spaces
+    zeroPad(end) = uint8(10); % newline character
+    
+    header = uint8([magicString majorVersion minorVersion headerLength dictString zeroPad]);
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/code/tools/datToNPY.m b/code/tools/datToNPY.m
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5e3f99d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/code/tools/datToNPY.m
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+
+
+function datToNPY(inFilename, outFilename, dataType, shape, varargin)
+% function datToNPY(inFilename, outFilename, shape, dataType, [fortranOrder, littleEndian])
+%
+% make a NPY file from a flat binary file, given that you know the shape,
+% dataType, ordering, and endianness of the flat binary file. 
+% 
+% The point here is you don't want to read in all the data from the
+% existing binary file - instead you can just create the appropriate header
+% and then concatenate it with the data. 
+%
+% ** completely untested
+
+if ~isempty(varargin)
+    fortranOrder = varargin{1}; % must be true/false
+    littleEndian = varargin{2}; % must be true/false
+else
+    fortranOrder = true;
+    littleEndian = true;
+end
+
+header = constructNPYheader(dataType, shape, fortranOrder, littleEndian);
+
+% ** TODO: need to put the header into a temp file instead, in case the
+% outFilename is the same as the inFilename (and then delete the temp file
+% later)
+fid = fopen(tempFilename, 'w');
+fwrite(fid, header, 'uint8');
+fclose(fid)
+
+str = computer;
+switch str
+    case {'PCWIN', 'PCWIN64'}
+        [~,~] = system(sprintf('copy /b %s+%s %s', tempFilename, inFilename, outFilename));
+    case {'GLNXA64', 'MACI64'}
+        [~,~] = system(sprintf('cat %s %s > %s', tempFilename, inFilename, outFilename));
+        
+    otherwise
+        fprintf(1, 'I don''t know how to concatenate files for your OS, but you can finish making the NPY youself by concatenating %s with %s.\n', tempFilename, inFilename);
+end
+    
diff --git a/code/tools/writeNPY.m b/code/tools/writeNPY.m
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..844dc35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/code/tools/writeNPY.m
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+
+
+function writeNPY(var, filename)
+% function writeNPY(var, filename)
+%
+% Only writes little endian, fortran (column-major) ordering; only writes
+% with NPY version number 1.0.
+%
+% Always outputs a shape according to matlab's convention, e.g. (10, 1)
+% rather than (10,).
+
+
+shape = size(var);
+dataType = class(var);
+
+header = constructNPYheader(dataType, shape);
+
+fid = fopen(filename, 'w');
+fwrite(fid, header, 'uint8');
+fwrite(fid, var, dataType);
+fclose(fid);
+
+
+end
+