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