RE: Computing school Florence 2005

["I. David Brown" <idbrown@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca>]

	On the topic of the proposed computing school for Florence, I
would like to put in a plug for a session introducing CIF and other
advanced information handling schemes such as XML.

	Most people will be familiar with CIF as a file structure used for
information exchange between different programs and different users, but
in the not to distant future, particularly for the biomolecular users, CIF
browsers will be able to retrieve information that is not explicitly
stored in the CIF by consulting algorithms in the CIF dictionaries.  XML
is a similar standard, but not yet as as advanced or well established.
It does, however, have much wider industry support than CIF, and the new
generation of crystallographers will need to be aware of both of these
standards.

			David


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Dr.I.David Brown,  Professor Emeritus
Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research,
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Tel: 1-(905)-525-9140 ext 24710
Fax: 1-(905)-521-2773
idbrown@mcmaster.ca
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