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From: Nick Spadaccini <nick@csse.uwa.edu.au>
To: Group finalising DDLm and associated dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
Sent: Thursday, 26 November, 2009 15:10:27
Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
On 26/11/09 9:59 PM, "SIMON WESTRIP" <simonwestrip@btinternet.com> wrote:
> Just as a distraction from trying to understand modulated structure CIFs,
> here goes:
>
> I'd use semicolon delimiters (see long arrows <------ below)
> and if I didnt know the definition of the item, I would
> respect the whitespace.
>
> Actually, I'd probably bung in a couple of extra newlines for good measure
> if I knew what I were dealing with - i.e.
>
> ;
> O'"
> ;
>
> Funnily enough, this is actually easier to read using my eyes
> than "O'"" :-)
Strictly the string is
;O'"
;
Since there is a desire that everything has to be returned as a raw string.
Looking at it as a byte stream we have \n;O'"\n; and once you strip off the
string delimiters (\n;) you get O'". Voila!
Read on I have inserted additional comments.
> From: Herbert J. Bernstein <yaya@bernstein-plus-sons.com>
> To: Nick.Spadaccini@uwa.edu.au; Group finalising DDLm and associated
> dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
> Sent: Thursday, 26 November, 2009 12:41:46
> Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
>
> I am trying to get some CIF-2 related software done, so please advise
> me on some specific cases:
>
> How should the following C-style strings followed by their CIF-1.1
> representations be presented in a CIF 2 document? I've only put
> in CIF 2 cases where I think there is no question, but feel free
> to correct those.
>
> C-style CIF-1.1 style CIF-2
>
> "O'" "O'" or 'O'' "O'"
> "O\"" "O"" or 'O"' 'O"'
> "O'\"" "O'"" or 'O'"' ?
> <------------------------ \n;O'"\n;
Or '''O'"''' but not with """ because the terminator is corrupted.
> "''O''" "''O''" or '''O''' "''O''"
> "'''O'''" "'''O'''" or ''''O'''' ?
> <------------------------------- \n;'''O'''\n;
Or """'''O'''"""
> "\"\"O'\"\"" """O'""" or '""O'""' ?
> <---------------------- \n;""O'""\n;
Or '''""O'""'''
> "\"\"\"O'\"\"\"" """"O'"""" or '"""O'"""' ?
> <---------------------- \n;"""O'"""\n;
Or '''"""O'"""'''
> and for semi-colon delimited string, is the last new-line part of
> the string or part of the delimiter, i.e. if the string is
> "abc\n" is the CIF-2 version
My reading of it has always been given by the definition of the delimiter,
which is \n;. These are what I strip off.
When we speak of stripping off the delimiters at both ends, then just as we
strip the """ trigram from both ends, the same is true of \n; digram. Hence
I say the second of the two examples \n;abc\n\n;
> ;abc
> ; <-------------------- if newlines are not required by the items
> definition, I'd be tempted to strip the whitespace
The above is the string "abc"
> or
>
> ;abc
> <-------------------- without knowing the items definition, I'd be
> tempted to respect the whitespace
> ;
>
This is "abc\n"
>
> =====================================================
> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>
> +1-631-244-3035
> yaya@dowling.edu
> =====================================================
>
> On Thu, 26 Nov 2009, Nick Spadaccini wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 25/11/09 10:24 PM, "SIMON WESTRIP" <simonwestrip@btinternet.com> wrote:
>>
>>> What Brian has said here - specifically
>>>
>>> "if this were dropped as part of the CIF2 specification,
>>> we would need to think carefully about how else to retain this
>>> functionality"
>>>
>>> is also relevant to how we handle the CIF1.1 markup conventions.
>>> As I understand it in CIF1.1 these are the default conventions for
>>> text fields unless the dictionary prohibits them, but in CIF2 all such
>>> conventions will _not_ be part of the spec, and can only be interpretted at
>>> the dictionary level.
>>>
>>> Is this correct?
>>
>> Yes, this is my understanding. There will be many different conventions I
>> presume, some will be widely accepted and standard, they will be part of the
>> underlying systems that interpret the files. For instance if something is
>> declared as a TeX encoding, we know what to do.
>>
>>>
>>> I'm only asking because we (at the IUCr at least) will have to address this
>>> issue sooner rather than later when adopting CIF2, so I just want to make
>>> sure
>>> I understand base CIF2 correctly
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Simon
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Brian McMahon <bm@iucr.org>
>>> To: Group finalising DDLm and associated dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, 25 November, 2009 13:34:05
>>> Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
>>>
>>> (I've switched the thread title to deal separately with line folding.)
>>>
>>> As Herbert says, line folding is part of the CIF 1.1 spec (pages 34-35
>>> of the ITG bible). Currently, it invokes a special meaning for the
>>> backslash (reverse solidus) character, but only when it is the first
>>> non-blank after an opening semicolon or comment hash delimiter. We have
>>> yet to discuss whether to extend it to other string types (specifically
>>> the triple-quoted strings).
>>>
>>> It's quite easy these days to generate single strings that are longer
>>> than 2048 characters (or any other arbitrary line limit) - e.g. a
>>> protein or nucleic acid sequence. Many, many chemical names broke the old
>>> 80-character line length limit.
>>>
>>> We're very happy with CIF applications that do not interpret the
>>> line-folding protocol, so long as they preserve the existing backslashes.
>>> However, a fully-compliant CIF 1.1 parser should be able to return an
>>> unfolded string to an application that requests it.
>>>
>>> As Herbert says, if this were dropped as part of the CIF2 specification,
>>> we would need to think carefully about how else to retain this
>>> functionality.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Brian
>>>
>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 07:54:51AM -0500, Herbert J. Bernstein wrote:
>>>> The line folding protocol was discussed and adopted by COMCIFS and is
>>>> posted, aong with other "Common Semantic Features" at
>>>>
>>>> http://www.iucr.org/resources/cif/spec/version1.1/semantics
>>>>
>>>> but that is neither here nor there. The point is that the IUCr uses CIF
>>>> to get work done. If we disable something they are using, we should offer
>>>> some equivalent functionality so they can use CIF 2 to do their work.
>>>> Otherwise, they will have to do the sensible thing, and continue to use
>>>> CIF 1, or, worse, create their own dialect of CIF 2.
>>>>
>>>> Now, I broke my nose yesterday morning and find myself a bit punchy today,
>>>> so I will drop out of this discussion for a while. Hopefully, when I
>>>> return to it, this whole matter will be settled in some way that will
>>>> allow people to actually use CIF 2, instead of it becoming what it seems
>>>> on its way to becoming -- something elegant but not terrible useful, a bit
>>>> like PL/I.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Herbert
>>>>
>>>> =====================================================
>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>
>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>>> =====================================================
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, 25 Nov 2009, Nick Spadaccini wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I am with John. STAR has no line-folding protocol. As far as I can recall
>>>>> neither did CIF. Somewhere along the way line folding was discussed (or
>>>>> introduced?), but I am not sure it is formally part of any spec.
>>>>>
>>>>> None of my software handles anything about line folding. I can see no
>>>>> reason
>>>>> for it, since with a 2048 maximum record length, and a free format
>>>>> structure
>>>>> there is plenty of room to output your data. The only time it would be
>>>>> necessary is when (dataname + space + datavalue)> 2048 and when is that
>>>>> ever going to happen?
>>>>>
>>>>> May be the desire for it comes from making the data "pretty" and read well
>>>>> in a text editor. Well that is the task of an application to read the CIF
>>>>> and present it appropriately. The CIF is strictly about CONTENT and not
>>>>> FORM.
>>>>>
>>>>> Since we have given up on elided characters being part of CIF syntax, and
>>>>> the belief by others that this not be a lexer issue, I think we should
>>>>> absolutely consistent. The lexer knows how to identify tokens and reads
>>>>> everything within them as a raw string.
>>>>>
>>>>> If your "encoding" for \n; strings includes characters that break the
>>>>> lexer,
>>>>> then protect it in some way so that when you pass that string back as raw
>>>>> in
>>>>> your software, somebody knows how to unprotect it back to the original (as
>>>>> with ALL string encoding).
>>>>>
>>>>> One concession I think we can consider is to change the delimiter from \n;
>>>>> to \n;\n. I don't see this as causing me any problems, since I handle
>>>>>
>>>>> ; stuff
>>>>> More stuff
>>>>> ; _newname
>>>>>
>>>>> routinely, but others don't. I believe most people do use (and probably
>>>>> think) the delimiter is \n;\n anyway.
>>>>>
>>>>> Two questions
>>>>>
>>>>> (1) Do you agree that line folding just another encoding and therefore not
>>>>> a
>>>>> STAR/CIF issue? Consequently it is the responsibility of the encoding not
>>>>> to
>>>>> break the lexer.
>>>>> (2) Do we think \n;\n is a better delimiter?
>>>>>
>>>>> On 25/11/09 10:33 AM, "John Westbrook" <jwest@pdb-mail.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi James,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My preference is avoid the elides in the syntax for the purpose of
>>>>>> escaping
>>>>>> terminators
>>>>>> in strings deferring interpretation to the application.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I do not understand all of the issues related to line folding, which I
>>>>>> believe is an issue for Brian and Simon.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> John
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> James Hester wrote:
>>>>>>> Thanks for the quick reply over Thanksgiving, John. I take from your
>>>>>>> message that the PDB does not need any elide mechanism to be defined
>>>>>>> in the CIF2 syntax. Would you therefore be prepared to vote in favour
>>>>>>> of not defining any elides, or would you prefer to abstain?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Votes so far:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> No elides: James, Nick, Herbert if the IUCr + PDB say it is OK
>>>>>>> Elides:?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Unknown: John, Joe, David B., Brian, Simon
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 12:03 PM, John Westbrook
>>>>>>> <jwest@pdb-mail.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>>>>>>>> I confess that I am having difficulty keeping up with all aspects
>>>>>>>> of this discussion. Following Herb's suggestion I will try to
>>>>>>>> summarize the quoting issues from the PDB perspective.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 1. As there are multiple ways of quoting a string our tools and files
>>>>>>>> surround embedded quotes with quotes of the opposite sense or with
>>>>>>>> semicolons in the mixed case. I think that this point has been
>>>>>>>> covered a number of times now and I believe that Nick has suggested
>>>>>>>> that all reasonable cases can be handled by using this approach.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 2. I too was not aware that original definition of terminators
>>>>>>>> had changed and did not include either a leading or trailing
>>>>>>>> whitespace. Certainly this must still be the case for single
>>>>>>>> and double quotes. I cannot recall ever seeing an example
>>>>>>>> where the terminator \n; was following by a whitespace character,
>>>>>>>> but about half of the codes that I am familiar with would
>>>>>>>> fall over on \n;next_token.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 3. Line folding has never been an issue for PDB nor has line length.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> John
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein wrote:
>>>>>>>>> My major concern about anything we do is to be able to preserve
>>>>>>>>> the functionality of the practices that the IUCr is following in
>>>>>>>>> journal publications and the PDB is following. Inasmuch as they seem
>>>>>>>>> able to cope with no elide in CIF 1.1, the remaining question is
>>>>>>>>> whether
>>>>>>>>> they will be negatively impacted by the change in string termination
>>>>>>>>> without any elide. If they can use CIF 2 with these changes, my
>>>>>>>>> objections are purely academic and irrelevant. -- Herberrt
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>>>>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>>>>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>>>>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Wed, 25 Nov 2009, James Hester wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Herbert: I have the dubious advantage of not having participated in
>>>>>>>>>> all those CIF1.0/1.1 discussions, so only have the spec as written
>>>>>>>>>> down to rely on.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Anyway, how do you feel about abandoning any specification of elides
>>>>>>>>>> in CIF2 syntax, as suggested by Nick?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Herbert J. Bernstein
>>>>>>>>>> <yaya@bernstein-plus-sons.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> Dear James,
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I started to write:
>>>>>>>>>>> "No, in CIF 1.1, none of the terminal quote marks, including the
>>>>>>>>>>> \n;
>>>>>>>>>>> are
>>>>>>>>>>> effective unless followed by whitespace (\n, space, tab, of end of
>>>>>>>>>>> file).
>>>>>>>>>>> This is a well-established, and very tricky part of the CIF spec
>>>>>>>>>>> going back
>>>>>>>>>>> to 1990. That is why Nick had to explicitly specify that a terminal
>>>>>>>>>>> quote
>>>>>>>>>>> mark would be effective no matter what it was followed by."
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> But the grammer currently on the IUCr web site is _not_ the one
>>>>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>>>>>> recall COMCIFs discussing and approving. It now explcitly removes
>>>>>>>>>>> the requirement for terminal white space in the special case of
>>>>>>>>>>> the \n; text field terminator. I don't recall when that change was
>>>>>>>>>>> adopted,
>>>>>>>>>>> but it appears that you are right under the current spec
>>>>>>>>>>> about the example I chose. Inasmuch as there is a lot of working
>>>>>>>>>>> code
>>>>>>>>>>> that enforces and uses the original whitespace handling and uses it
>>>>>>>>>>> in line-folding, I will not revise CIFtbx 3, but I will try to do
>>>>>>>>>>> something to adapt to this change for CIFtbx 4.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I guess we are just going to have yet another few dialects of CIF.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>>>> Herbert
>>>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>>>>>>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>>>>>>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>>>>>>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, 25 Nov 2009, James Hester wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> To be precise, we are not 'referring all elides to the application'
>>>>>>>>>>>> because no elides are recognised by the lexer under Nick's latest
>>>>>>>>>>>> suggestion, so there are no elides to refer to the application.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> My understanding of CIF1.1 syntax suggests that the string you
>>>>>>>>>>>> provide
>>>>>>>>>>>> would produce a syntax error in CIF1.1, as the semicolon at the
>>>>>>>>>>>> start
>>>>>>>>>>>> of the second line would terminate the string, and so whitespace
>>>>>>>>>>>> should then appear as the second character on the second line,
>>>>>>>>>>>> rather
>>>>>>>>>>>> than reverse solidus.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 9:23 AM, Herbert J. Bernstein
>>>>>>>>>>>> <yaya@bernstein-plus-sons.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> The only problem with referring all elisdes to the application is
>>>>>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>>>>>> with the removal of the requirement of a blank after a \n; for it
>>>>>>>>>>>> to be
>>>>>>>>>>>> effective, the line folding protocol develops a slight gap. The
>>>>>>>>>>>> case is as follows
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> ;\
>>>>>>>>>>>> ;\
>>>>>>>>>>>> ;
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Is a valid single text field in CIF 1.1, which when handled with
>>>>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>>>> line folding protocol translates to the equivalent of ';' because
>>>>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>>>> embedded ;\ is not a valid text terminator. If we require that
>>>>>>>>>>>> a text field the begins with "\n;\\" must be terminated by "\n; "
>>>>>>>>>>>> or "\n;\n" or "\n;\t" that problem would be fixed.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>>>>>>>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>>>>>>>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>>>>>>>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> ddlm-group mailing list
>>> ddlm-group@iucr.org
>>> http://scripts.iucr.org/mailman/listinfo/ddlm-group
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> ddlm-group mailing list
>>> ddlm-group@iucr.org
>>> http://scripts.iucr.org/mailman/listinfo/ddlm-group
>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> --------------------------------
>> Associate Professor N. Spadaccini, PhD
>> School of Computer Science & Software Engineering
>>
>> The University of Western Australia t: +61 (0)8 6488 3452
>> 35 Stirling Highway f: +61 (0)8 6488 1089
>> CRAWLEY, Perth, WA 6009 AUSTRALIA w3: www.csse.uwa.edu.au/~nick
>> <http://www.csse.uwa.edu.au/%7Enick>
>> MBDP M002
>>
>> CRICOS Provider Code: 00126G
>>
>> e: Nick.Spadaccini@uwa.edu.au
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> ddlm-group mailing list
>> ddlm-group@iucr.org
>> http://scripts.iucr.org/mailman/listinfo/ddlm-group
>>
> _______________________________________________
> ddlm-group mailing list
> ddlm-group@iucr.org
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
> ddlm-group mailing list
> ddlm-group@iucr.org
> http://scripts.iucr.org/mailman/listinfo/ddlm-group
cheers
Nick
--------------------------------
Associate Professor N. Spadaccini, PhD
School of Computer Science & Software Engineering
The University of Western Australia t: +61 (0)8 6488 3452
35 Stirling Highway f: +61 (0)8 6488 1089
CRAWLEY, Perth, WA 6009 AUSTRALIA w3: www.csse.uwa.edu.au/~nick
MBDP M002
CRICOS Provider Code: 00126G
e: Nick.Spadaccini@uwa.edu.au
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Reply to: [list | sender only]
Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
- To: Nick.Spadaccini@uwa.edu.au, Group finalising DDLm and associated dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
- Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
- From: SIMON WESTRIP <simonwestrip@btinternet.com>
- Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:38:53 +0000 (GMT)
- In-Reply-To: <C734BB63.12644%nick@csse.uwa.edu.au>
- References: <C734BB63.12644%nick@csse.uwa.edu.au>
I wasnt being flippant about my treatment of the whitespace -
the qualification was that I knew what the data item was and therefore
knew what I could safely do with any leading or trailing whitespace...
but I take the point that fundamentally we should adhere strictly to the rules
the qualification was that I knew what the data item was and therefore
knew what I could safely do with any leading or trailing whitespace...
but I take the point that fundamentally we should adhere strictly to the rules
From: Nick Spadaccini <nick@csse.uwa.edu.au>
To: Group finalising DDLm and associated dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
Sent: Thursday, 26 November, 2009 15:10:27
Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
On 26/11/09 9:59 PM, "SIMON WESTRIP" <simonwestrip@btinternet.com> wrote:
> Just as a distraction from trying to understand modulated structure CIFs,
> here goes:
>
> I'd use semicolon delimiters (see long arrows <------ below)
> and if I didnt know the definition of the item, I would
> respect the whitespace.
>
> Actually, I'd probably bung in a couple of extra newlines for good measure
> if I knew what I were dealing with - i.e.
>
> ;
> O'"
> ;
>
> Funnily enough, this is actually easier to read using my eyes
> than "O'"" :-)
Strictly the string is
;O'"
;
Since there is a desire that everything has to be returned as a raw string.
Looking at it as a byte stream we have \n;O'"\n; and once you strip off the
string delimiters (\n;) you get O'". Voila!
Read on I have inserted additional comments.
> From: Herbert J. Bernstein <yaya@bernstein-plus-sons.com>
> To: Nick.Spadaccini@uwa.edu.au; Group finalising DDLm and associated
> dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
> Sent: Thursday, 26 November, 2009 12:41:46
> Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
>
> I am trying to get some CIF-2 related software done, so please advise
> me on some specific cases:
>
> How should the following C-style strings followed by their CIF-1.1
> representations be presented in a CIF 2 document? I've only put
> in CIF 2 cases where I think there is no question, but feel free
> to correct those.
>
> C-style CIF-1.1 style CIF-2
>
> "O'" "O'" or 'O'' "O'"
> "O\"" "O"" or 'O"' 'O"'
> "O'\"" "O'"" or 'O'"' ?
> <------------------------ \n;O'"\n;
Or '''O'"''' but not with """ because the terminator is corrupted.
> "''O''" "''O''" or '''O''' "''O''"
> "'''O'''" "'''O'''" or ''''O'''' ?
> <------------------------------- \n;'''O'''\n;
Or """'''O'''"""
> "\"\"O'\"\"" """O'""" or '""O'""' ?
> <---------------------- \n;""O'""\n;
Or '''""O'""'''
> "\"\"\"O'\"\"\"" """"O'"""" or '"""O'"""' ?
> <---------------------- \n;"""O'"""\n;
Or '''"""O'"""'''
> and for semi-colon delimited string, is the last new-line part of
> the string or part of the delimiter, i.e. if the string is
> "abc\n" is the CIF-2 version
My reading of it has always been given by the definition of the delimiter,
which is \n;. These are what I strip off.
When we speak of stripping off the delimiters at both ends, then just as we
strip the """ trigram from both ends, the same is true of \n; digram. Hence
I say the second of the two examples \n;abc\n\n;
> ;abc
> ; <-------------------- if newlines are not required by the items
> definition, I'd be tempted to strip the whitespace
The above is the string "abc"
> or
>
> ;abc
> <-------------------- without knowing the items definition, I'd be
> tempted to respect the whitespace
> ;
>
This is "abc\n"
>
> =====================================================
> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>
> +1-631-244-3035
> yaya@dowling.edu
> =====================================================
>
> On Thu, 26 Nov 2009, Nick Spadaccini wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 25/11/09 10:24 PM, "SIMON WESTRIP" <simonwestrip@btinternet.com> wrote:
>>
>>> What Brian has said here - specifically
>>>
>>> "if this were dropped as part of the CIF2 specification,
>>> we would need to think carefully about how else to retain this
>>> functionality"
>>>
>>> is also relevant to how we handle the CIF1.1 markup conventions.
>>> As I understand it in CIF1.1 these are the default conventions for
>>> text fields unless the dictionary prohibits them, but in CIF2 all such
>>> conventions will _not_ be part of the spec, and can only be interpretted at
>>> the dictionary level.
>>>
>>> Is this correct?
>>
>> Yes, this is my understanding. There will be many different conventions I
>> presume, some will be widely accepted and standard, they will be part of the
>> underlying systems that interpret the files. For instance if something is
>> declared as a TeX encoding, we know what to do.
>>
>>>
>>> I'm only asking because we (at the IUCr at least) will have to address this
>>> issue sooner rather than later when adopting CIF2, so I just want to make
>>> sure
>>> I understand base CIF2 correctly
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Simon
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Brian McMahon <bm@iucr.org>
>>> To: Group finalising DDLm and associated dictionaries <ddlm-group@iucr.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, 25 November, 2009 13:34:05
>>> Subject: Re: [ddlm-group] Use of elides in strings
>>>
>>> (I've switched the thread title to deal separately with line folding.)
>>>
>>> As Herbert says, line folding is part of the CIF 1.1 spec (pages 34-35
>>> of the ITG bible). Currently, it invokes a special meaning for the
>>> backslash (reverse solidus) character, but only when it is the first
>>> non-blank after an opening semicolon or comment hash delimiter. We have
>>> yet to discuss whether to extend it to other string types (specifically
>>> the triple-quoted strings).
>>>
>>> It's quite easy these days to generate single strings that are longer
>>> than 2048 characters (or any other arbitrary line limit) - e.g. a
>>> protein or nucleic acid sequence. Many, many chemical names broke the old
>>> 80-character line length limit.
>>>
>>> We're very happy with CIF applications that do not interpret the
>>> line-folding protocol, so long as they preserve the existing backslashes.
>>> However, a fully-compliant CIF 1.1 parser should be able to return an
>>> unfolded string to an application that requests it.
>>>
>>> As Herbert says, if this were dropped as part of the CIF2 specification,
>>> we would need to think carefully about how else to retain this
>>> functionality.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Brian
>>>
>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 07:54:51AM -0500, Herbert J. Bernstein wrote:
>>>> The line folding protocol was discussed and adopted by COMCIFS and is
>>>> posted, aong with other "Common Semantic Features" at
>>>>
>>>> http://www.iucr.org/resources/cif/spec/version1.1/semantics
>>>>
>>>> but that is neither here nor there. The point is that the IUCr uses CIF
>>>> to get work done. If we disable something they are using, we should offer
>>>> some equivalent functionality so they can use CIF 2 to do their work.
>>>> Otherwise, they will have to do the sensible thing, and continue to use
>>>> CIF 1, or, worse, create their own dialect of CIF 2.
>>>>
>>>> Now, I broke my nose yesterday morning and find myself a bit punchy today,
>>>> so I will drop out of this discussion for a while. Hopefully, when I
>>>> return to it, this whole matter will be settled in some way that will
>>>> allow people to actually use CIF 2, instead of it becoming what it seems
>>>> on its way to becoming -- something elegant but not terrible useful, a bit
>>>> like PL/I.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Herbert
>>>>
>>>> =====================================================
>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>
>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>>> =====================================================
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, 25 Nov 2009, Nick Spadaccini wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I am with John. STAR has no line-folding protocol. As far as I can recall
>>>>> neither did CIF. Somewhere along the way line folding was discussed (or
>>>>> introduced?), but I am not sure it is formally part of any spec.
>>>>>
>>>>> None of my software handles anything about line folding. I can see no
>>>>> reason
>>>>> for it, since with a 2048 maximum record length, and a free format
>>>>> structure
>>>>> there is plenty of room to output your data. The only time it would be
>>>>> necessary is when (dataname + space + datavalue)> 2048 and when is that
>>>>> ever going to happen?
>>>>>
>>>>> May be the desire for it comes from making the data "pretty" and read well
>>>>> in a text editor. Well that is the task of an application to read the CIF
>>>>> and present it appropriately. The CIF is strictly about CONTENT and not
>>>>> FORM.
>>>>>
>>>>> Since we have given up on elided characters being part of CIF syntax, and
>>>>> the belief by others that this not be a lexer issue, I think we should
>>>>> absolutely consistent. The lexer knows how to identify tokens and reads
>>>>> everything within them as a raw string.
>>>>>
>>>>> If your "encoding" for \n; strings includes characters that break the
>>>>> lexer,
>>>>> then protect it in some way so that when you pass that string back as raw
>>>>> in
>>>>> your software, somebody knows how to unprotect it back to the original (as
>>>>> with ALL string encoding).
>>>>>
>>>>> One concession I think we can consider is to change the delimiter from \n;
>>>>> to \n;\n. I don't see this as causing me any problems, since I handle
>>>>>
>>>>> ; stuff
>>>>> More stuff
>>>>> ; _newname
>>>>>
>>>>> routinely, but others don't. I believe most people do use (and probably
>>>>> think) the delimiter is \n;\n anyway.
>>>>>
>>>>> Two questions
>>>>>
>>>>> (1) Do you agree that line folding just another encoding and therefore not
>>>>> a
>>>>> STAR/CIF issue? Consequently it is the responsibility of the encoding not
>>>>> to
>>>>> break the lexer.
>>>>> (2) Do we think \n;\n is a better delimiter?
>>>>>
>>>>> On 25/11/09 10:33 AM, "John Westbrook" <jwest@pdb-mail.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi James,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My preference is avoid the elides in the syntax for the purpose of
>>>>>> escaping
>>>>>> terminators
>>>>>> in strings deferring interpretation to the application.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I do not understand all of the issues related to line folding, which I
>>>>>> believe is an issue for Brian and Simon.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> John
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> James Hester wrote:
>>>>>>> Thanks for the quick reply over Thanksgiving, John. I take from your
>>>>>>> message that the PDB does not need any elide mechanism to be defined
>>>>>>> in the CIF2 syntax. Would you therefore be prepared to vote in favour
>>>>>>> of not defining any elides, or would you prefer to abstain?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Votes so far:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> No elides: James, Nick, Herbert if the IUCr + PDB say it is OK
>>>>>>> Elides:?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Unknown: John, Joe, David B., Brian, Simon
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 12:03 PM, John Westbrook
>>>>>>> <jwest@pdb-mail.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>>>>>>>> I confess that I am having difficulty keeping up with all aspects
>>>>>>>> of this discussion. Following Herb's suggestion I will try to
>>>>>>>> summarize the quoting issues from the PDB perspective.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 1. As there are multiple ways of quoting a string our tools and files
>>>>>>>> surround embedded quotes with quotes of the opposite sense or with
>>>>>>>> semicolons in the mixed case. I think that this point has been
>>>>>>>> covered a number of times now and I believe that Nick has suggested
>>>>>>>> that all reasonable cases can be handled by using this approach.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 2. I too was not aware that original definition of terminators
>>>>>>>> had changed and did not include either a leading or trailing
>>>>>>>> whitespace. Certainly this must still be the case for single
>>>>>>>> and double quotes. I cannot recall ever seeing an example
>>>>>>>> where the terminator \n; was following by a whitespace character,
>>>>>>>> but about half of the codes that I am familiar with would
>>>>>>>> fall over on \n;next_token.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 3. Line folding has never been an issue for PDB nor has line length.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> John
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein wrote:
>>>>>>>>> My major concern about anything we do is to be able to preserve
>>>>>>>>> the functionality of the practices that the IUCr is following in
>>>>>>>>> journal publications and the PDB is following. Inasmuch as they seem
>>>>>>>>> able to cope with no elide in CIF 1.1, the remaining question is
>>>>>>>>> whether
>>>>>>>>> they will be negatively impacted by the change in string termination
>>>>>>>>> without any elide. If they can use CIF 2 with these changes, my
>>>>>>>>> objections are purely academic and irrelevant. -- Herberrt
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>>>>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>>>>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>>>>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Wed, 25 Nov 2009, James Hester wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Herbert: I have the dubious advantage of not having participated in
>>>>>>>>>> all those CIF1.0/1.1 discussions, so only have the spec as written
>>>>>>>>>> down to rely on.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Anyway, how do you feel about abandoning any specification of elides
>>>>>>>>>> in CIF2 syntax, as suggested by Nick?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Herbert J. Bernstein
>>>>>>>>>> <yaya@bernstein-plus-sons.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> Dear James,
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I started to write:
>>>>>>>>>>> "No, in CIF 1.1, none of the terminal quote marks, including the
>>>>>>>>>>> \n;
>>>>>>>>>>> are
>>>>>>>>>>> effective unless followed by whitespace (\n, space, tab, of end of
>>>>>>>>>>> file).
>>>>>>>>>>> This is a well-established, and very tricky part of the CIF spec
>>>>>>>>>>> going back
>>>>>>>>>>> to 1990. That is why Nick had to explicitly specify that a terminal
>>>>>>>>>>> quote
>>>>>>>>>>> mark would be effective no matter what it was followed by."
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> But the grammer currently on the IUCr web site is _not_ the one
>>>>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>>>>>> recall COMCIFs discussing and approving. It now explcitly removes
>>>>>>>>>>> the requirement for terminal white space in the special case of
>>>>>>>>>>> the \n; text field terminator. I don't recall when that change was
>>>>>>>>>>> adopted,
>>>>>>>>>>> but it appears that you are right under the current spec
>>>>>>>>>>> about the example I chose. Inasmuch as there is a lot of working
>>>>>>>>>>> code
>>>>>>>>>>> that enforces and uses the original whitespace handling and uses it
>>>>>>>>>>> in line-folding, I will not revise CIFtbx 3, but I will try to do
>>>>>>>>>>> something to adapt to this change for CIFtbx 4.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I guess we are just going to have yet another few dialects of CIF.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>>>> Herbert
>>>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>>>>>>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>>>>>>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>>>>>>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, 25 Nov 2009, James Hester wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> To be precise, we are not 'referring all elides to the application'
>>>>>>>>>>>> because no elides are recognised by the lexer under Nick's latest
>>>>>>>>>>>> suggestion, so there are no elides to refer to the application.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> My understanding of CIF1.1 syntax suggests that the string you
>>>>>>>>>>>> provide
>>>>>>>>>>>> would produce a syntax error in CIF1.1, as the semicolon at the
>>>>>>>>>>>> start
>>>>>>>>>>>> of the second line would terminate the string, and so whitespace
>>>>>>>>>>>> should then appear as the second character on the second line,
>>>>>>>>>>>> rather
>>>>>>>>>>>> than reverse solidus.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 9:23 AM, Herbert J. Bernstein
>>>>>>>>>>>> <yaya@bernstein-plus-sons.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> The only problem with referring all elisdes to the application is
>>>>>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>>>>>> with the removal of the requirement of a blank after a \n; for it
>>>>>>>>>>>> to be
>>>>>>>>>>>> effective, the line folding protocol develops a slight gap. The
>>>>>>>>>>>> case is as follows
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> ;\
>>>>>>>>>>>> ;\
>>>>>>>>>>>> ;
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Is a valid single text field in CIF 1.1, which when handled with
>>>>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>>>> line folding protocol translates to the equivalent of ';' because
>>>>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>>>> embedded ;\ is not a valid text terminator. If we require that
>>>>>>>>>>>> a text field the begins with "\n;\\" must be terminated by "\n; "
>>>>>>>>>>>> or "\n;\n" or "\n;\t" that problem would be fixed.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> =====================================================
>>>>>>>>>>>> Herbert J. Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science
>>>>>>>>>>>> Dowling College, Kramer Science Center, KSC 121
>>>>>>>>>>>> Idle Hour Blvd, Oakdale, NY, 11769
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> +1-631-244-3035
>>>>>>>>>>>> yaya@dowling.edu
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> --------------------------------
>> Associate Professor N. Spadaccini, PhD
>> School of Computer Science & Software Engineering
>>
>> The University of Western Australia t: +61 (0)8 6488 3452
>> 35 Stirling Highway f: +61 (0)8 6488 1089
>> CRAWLEY, Perth, WA 6009 AUSTRALIA w3: www.csse.uwa.edu.au/~nick
>> <http://www.csse.uwa.edu.au/%7Enick>
>> MBDP M002
>>
>> CRICOS Provider Code: 00126G
>>
>> e: Nick.Spadaccini@uwa.edu.au
>>
>>
>>
>>
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cheers
Nick
--------------------------------
Associate Professor N. Spadaccini, PhD
School of Computer Science & Software Engineering
The University of Western Australia t: +61 (0)8 6488 3452
35 Stirling Highway f: +61 (0)8 6488 1089
CRAWLEY, Perth, WA 6009 AUSTRALIA w3: www.csse.uwa.edu.au/~nick
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