at 10.13a EDT on 2003 December 17 Wednesday Jan Reichert said: > Philippe wrote: > > > > >Do we really need the caret? Extra semi-colons should be able to > >remove any ambiguities. Compare the following examples, it is pretty > >self-explanatory: > > > >select 1A > >select 1:A > >select 1A: > >select 1A:A > >select 1A:-1Z: > > > >Philippe > > > > > good idea, but in the current PDB there are some files with digit > insertion codes > 1bit > 5tra > 1g0u > 1hzp > I have asked RCSB whether they will alter the above files, >
good morning, since I am leaving on vacation for the holidays tomorrow, and I was partly responsible for starting this thread, I thought I would sum up my position and make a graceful exit. how graceful is debatable, of course. my opinion is that insertion codes are best indicated in scripts by preceding them with an identifier (ostensibly, the symbol ^). this identifier: - allows immediate visual recognition; - does not conflict with the existing (though undocumented) chain selection; - can handle numeric insertion codes in those instances where they arise. using extra colons is an unnecessary kludge, and much less visually intuitive than ^. for example, the extra mental processing step required to decipher the above list is not onerous, even at this hour, but hardly intuitive. and it becomes progressively harder in complex select commands. I believe the use of chains does, and will continue to far outweigh the use of insertion codes in scripting, and so the alternative syntax for chain selection should be supported. for all these reasons, I still suggest using ^ to indicate insertion codes, and maintaining the alternative chain selection syntax without modification. I think it is the best way to address all of the relevant issues. whether or not ^ is the most natural syntax to use for insertion codes; well, for some people it is, maybe not for others, and maybe some don't have a preference. in any case, I don't believe this should be the deciding factor that trumps ease of implementation, visual recognition, and avoiding conflict with existing conventions. happy holidays! :tim -- timothy driscoll molvisions - molecular graphics & visualization <http://www.molvisions.com/> usa:north carolina:wake forest ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: IBM Linux Tutorials. Become an expert in LINUX or just sharpen your skills. Sign up for IBM's Free Linux Tutorials. Learn everything from the bash shell to sys admin. Click now! http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=1278&alloc_id=3371&op=click _______________________________________________ Jmol-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jmol-users
