Search found 18 matches
- Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:11 pm
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Requirements for "core" features
- Replies: 9
- Views: 64254
Re: Requirements for "core" features
Strange to say, fortran 77 is still heavily used. Now that there is an ISO C-binding spec for fortran 2xxx, C can be used to support fortran reasonably well, but even in that case there are people who absolutely refuse to mix C and fortran for sound reasons. SAX and DOM are good illustrations of the...
- Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:43 pm
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Scope of the API - features
- Replies: 14
- Views: 79529
Re: Scope of the API - features
jcbollinger wrote: What design-level difficulties might arise from addressing validation after designing at least a rough version of the some of the other, more universal API features? Or else, how might an API design that addresses validation be distinguished from one that addressed only James's li...
- Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:08 pm
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Requirements for "core" features
- Replies: 9
- Views: 64254
Re: Requirements for "core" features
I would suggest two separate efforts: 1. A simple event-driven parser/writer for applications requiring a light footprint; and 2. A full stored tree/database based parser for maximal functionality In either case, we need to be able to simultaneously open multiple CIFS and dictionaries for read/write...
- Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:47 pm
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Scope of the API - features
- Replies: 14
- Views: 79529
Re: Scope of the API - features
As previously noted, I think failing to make allowances for validation in the initial design will greatly increased the difficulty in incorporating it later, while designing to include validation from the start costs very little and, when properly done can easily be turned off when efficiency or oth...
- Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:22 pm
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Scope of the API - features
- Replies: 14
- Views: 79529
Re: Scope of the API - features
The most difficult cases to handle without a dictionary that I encounter are unquoted string of digits with leading zeros and embedded pluses hyphens. These could be intended as numbers or as serial numbers in bibliographic context or as symmetry operations. Having the dictionary type specified grea...
- Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:31 pm
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Scope of the API - features
- Replies: 14
- Views: 79529
Re: Scope of the API - features
Certainly many CIFs can be parsed successfully without recourse to a dictionary. However, there are also CIFs for which parsing without a dictionary can be difficult (e.g. due to confusion between strings and numbers). If we are trying to design a common API to be used by a wide range of application...
- Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:48 am
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Scope of the API - features
- Replies: 14
- Views: 79529
Re: Scope of the API - features
Validation is difficult to add later if it has not been provided for in the initial design. If the concern is efficiency, I would suggest designing on the basis of a validating parser and then providing the option of a bypass of the validation for efficiency.
- Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:23 pm
- Forum: CIF Application Programming Interface
- Topic: Scope of the API - CIF coverage
- Replies: 1
- Views: 27710
Re: Scope of the API - CIF coverage
Unless we want CIF to diverge even more than it already has into conflicting dialects, it would be desirable for any common API to support as wide a range of CIF variants as possible. The parametrized model followed by gcc come to mind. gcc uses command line options to allow correct compilation of a...