Dear Byron Yes, it's a nice Catch-22 isn't it ... write a PyMol manual so people like myself will be able to learn PyMol well enought to be able to write the PyMol manual!
Gordon Byron Delabarre <by...@slac.stanford.edu> 10/28/2002 01:32 PM Please respond to byron To: gwebs...@lexigenpharm.com cc: pymol-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [PyMOL] PyMol Manual So write one. gwebs...@lexigenpharm.com wrote: > > Fellow PyMol Users > > Although I like using PyMol, I would like to submit a gripe about the > severe lack of a decent PyMol manual. > > A deeper description of the program's features is required if people are > seriously going to use PyMol for tricky things beyond simple > visualization (simple visualization programs are ten-a-penny and PyMol > could be so much more) > > Particularly lacking are details of structural editing (mutation, bond > rotation, cut-and-paste etc.), interfaces (if any exist) to routines for > enegy minimization and a detailed description of the Python command line > interface with examples of scripting and how to extend PyMol's > capabilities. > > By neglecting to adequately document what may be a really useful > program, the PyMol user community might fail to attract the kind of user > base and support that it deserves and that it needs to ensure its success. > > A good, clear and well-thought out manual really helps to make a case > for using a particular piece of software (and it might also lower the > odds of PyMol having to join the gray legions of commercial "payware"). > > Gordon > EMD Lexigen Research Center -- Byron DeLaBarre Stanford University / HHMI Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Physiology P250 MSLS Building//(L)650 736 1714 (C)650 468 5677