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(55) Call for approval: pdCIF, mmCIF
- To: COMCIFS@iucr.ac.uk
- Subject: (55) Call for approval: pdCIF, mmCIF
- From: bm
- Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 11:39:12 GMT
Dear Colleagues It is with deep regret that I pass on the news of the death of Ted Maslen in Australia on 2 February. As Chairman of the IUCr Working Party on Crystallographic Information, and first Chair of the Electronic Publishing Committee, Ted had enormous influence on the development and adoption of CIF as the IUCr's approved data exchange standard. His guidance and advice were always helpful as we began to address the needs of the publication process in an electronic era, and many of his concerns and suggestions still need to be addressed. He was well known in the Chester office, and we shall miss him very much, as a mentor and a friend. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A slightly modified version of the approved Core dictionary, numbered as 2.0.1, has been posted on the CIF web and IUCr ftp servers. It does not differ in substance from the approved release, but has some small stylistic and typographic modifications, designed largely to ensure a closer match with the mmCIF dictionary. There is some correspondence on the Core, which I propose to hold over until next time (if everyone will forgive me), on account of the developments itemised below. I have begun to update and restructure the CIF documentation found at and below http://www.iucr.ac.uk/cif/home.html. You are invited to inspect this and contribute as time and energy permits. Suggestions for improvement will be very welcome. D55.1 Approval of the CIF powder dictionary ------------------------------------------- Brian Toby has submitted a new draft of the powder CIF extension dictionary for our approval. This is available as ftp://ftp.iucr.ac.uk/pub/cifdic.p96 This version (which I've numbered 0.991) differs slightly from the version Brian sent to me. I have removed the global_ block and (for now) dropped the "include" directive which points to cif_core.dic. I've also changed "dictionary_definition" to "category_overview" throughout, and corrected a few minor typos; but the file is otherwise as received. It will be particularly helpful to review this alongside the example file supplied as ftp://ftp.iucr.ac.uk/pub/pdexampl.cif These files, and PostScript or pdf formatted versions, are available from the web page at http://www.iucr.ac.uk/cif/pd/index.html Please let me know if you would prefer me to send any or all of these to you by email. D55.2 Approval of the macromolecular CIF dictionary --------------------------------------------------- Paula Fitzgerald has submitted the mmCIF dictionary for our approval. The latest draft is available as ftp://ftp.iucr.ac.uk/pub/cifdic.m96 As of the time of writing, this version is numbered 0.9.0, though I am hoping for a slightly modified version in the near future, which will address a particular concern of the PDB and introduce a few minor style modifications. Nonetheless, I consider the version submitted as sufficiently stable for us to begin the formal review process. I shall endeavour to produce a formatted version of the mmCIF dictionary in the next week or two. However, this is far from a trivial undertaking, and I would urge you to begin working on the electronic source file at the earliest opportunity. I remind you that the mmCIF home page at Rutgers (http://ndbserver.rutgers.edu/NDB/mmcif/dictionary/index.html) contains additional documentation and examples that you may find helpful to consult. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This has been a shorter note than usual, but it introduces us to a particularly busy phase of our work. I should be grateful if you would make all reasonable effort to download (or request) and study these documents as a matter of high priority. It is our stated aim to complete review on a submitted dictionary within a month. Experience with the Core suggests this may be a little optimistic, but it also illustrates the need for strenuous effort to keep the review within a reasonable time frame, so that we may release these much-awaited extensions to the community. I remind you that all full members of the Committee are required to endorse a dictionary so that it may be considered as 'approved'. Consultants and Observers are of course welcome to make suggestions or comments for improvement. Regards Brian
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