Search found 38 matches

by jamesrhester
Tue Jan 29, 2013 5:12 am
Forum: CIF dictionary namespace conventions
Topic: COMCIFS namespace and dictionary policy
Replies: 3
Views: 33161

Re: COMCIFS namespace and dictionary policy

I'm happy with John's suggested adjustments. This is probably the place to set policy on a question that persists in our other thread of discussion: to what, if any, extent may data names from different domains appear in the same data file? We are agreed, I think, that data names from different doma...
by jamesrhester
Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:34 am
Forum: CIF dictionary namespace conventions
Topic: COMCIFS namespace and dictionary policy
Replies: 3
Views: 33161

COMCIFS namespace and dictionary policy

Could I get some comments on the following statement of IUCr namespace and dictionary policy? Can we improve on this? I think we have a chance to act on the Madrid discussion of the status of different dictionaries from external providers in the context of namespaces as well. If all goes well at thi...
by jamesrhester
Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:36 am
Forum: CIF dictionary namespace conventions
Topic: The namespace problem and a possible solution
Replies: 8
Views: 102899

Re: The namespace problem and a possible solution

Thanks, James, for the clarifications. I don't see any show-stoppers, but I do see some issues that should be considered: ⋅ For the _audit.domain item to be of much use, its values need to be drawn from a list of standard alternatives. Domains could self-select, but if CIF were some day t...
by jamesrhester
Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:07 am
Forum: CIF dictionary namespace conventions
Topic: The namespace problem and a possible solution
Replies: 8
Views: 102899

Re: The namespace problem and a possible solution

(I am perhaps going to repeat myself in the following, but the discussion is helpful in allowing me to clarify the key issues). In light of John's points let me clarify the aim as I see it: we wish to provide a mechanism such that other domains may use CIF with minimal or no coordination with COMCIF...
by jamesrhester
Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:12 pm
Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
Topic: Survey of existing software
Replies: 12
Views: 62729

Re: Survey of existing software

I am singularly uninterested in any approach that fundamentally relies on C++. However, inasmuch as one of the points raised in favor of iotbx.cif is that the data structure it yields is defined by the application, I could accept moving forward on the basis of defining the (standard C) data structu...
by jamesrhester
Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:03 pm
Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
Topic: Level 1 CIF API compliance
Replies: 5
Views: 42008

Re: Level 1 CIF API compliance

My statement was intended simply to flag that I think we should put our limited resources into producing a CIFAPI rather than fiddling with the compliance idea that I originally proposed, although I think that both are worthwhile in the long run. So there is no dispute from me regarding John's state...
by jamesrhester
Tue Dec 11, 2012 4:52 am
Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
Topic: Survey of existing software
Replies: 12
Views: 62729

Re: Survey of existing software

I have finally returned to thinking about the CIFAPI, and would like to discuss the possibility that Richard Gildea's iotbx.cif work could form the basis of an API that we can go forward with. To summarise: cctbx contains an iotbx module which reads in CIF files. The parsing is done using C++ code g...
by jamesrhester
Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:55 pm
Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
Topic: Level 1 CIF API compliance
Replies: 5
Views: 42008

Re: Level 1 CIF API compliance

After some thought and discussion with Nick Spadaccini, I think it might be better to pursue developing/adopting an official CIF library, and worry about compliance specifications later.
by jamesrhester
Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:53 pm
Forum: CIF dictionary namespace conventions
Topic: The namespace problem and a possible solution
Replies: 8
Views: 102899

Re: The namespace problem and a possible solution

It is fair to say that only (1) reliably insulates various domains from collisions with other domains, because _audit items are not widely used. Option (1) also allows for any CIF to mix items from various namespaces, including items from different namespaces with the same simple name. No mechanism...
by jamesrhester
Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:14 am
Forum: CIF dictionary namespace conventions
Topic: The namespace problem and a possible solution
Replies: 8
Views: 102899

The namespace problem and a possible solution

We wish to build some sort of namespace mechanism into CIF so that other communities can use CIF with minimal, if any, coordination with COMCIFS. The key requirement is that datanames and the corresponding dictionary definitions must be unambiguously matchable. Currently, COMCIFS guarantees the uniq...