Subject: HyperChem

From: Brian Williams <williams!at!bucknell.edu>
Date: Fri, 08 Oct 2004 13:59:08 -0400

Let me add my $0.02 regarding HyperChem.  While respecting Professor 
Winter's experiences, I have to say that my and my colleagues experience 
using HyperChem in smaller upper level P-Chem classes is more 
favorable.  We too bought the five license package and installed this on 
Windows based computers, admittedly all more or less exactly the 
same.  While our ISR staff did have to struggle a bit during the first 
installation, once we got it working it remained very usable.  Where we 
have had the most difficulty is when our ISR people decide to completely 
re-install everything (as they seem to do periodically around here) and 
forget to re-install the HyperChem.

The main problem, I think, with the site licensing relates to how an 
individual computer using the site license goes about finding permission to 
do so.  Our ISR staff did finally have to do a little messing around to 
overcome this problem, so that all the computers using HyperChem knew where 
to look to get permission.  I don't consider myself to be a real computer 
jock, so I don't know the technical details of exactly what they did, but 
this seemed to cure most of the problems (except of course, when they 
forget to re-install it after their maintenance).

Personally, I like the interface on HyperChem better than that on Spartan 
or GaussView, but this is probably a matter of individual taste.  We have 
used HyperChem in P-Chem and BioPchem classes to illustrate normal mode 
vibrations and Ramachandran plot type information for simple model 
peptides, and I have also used it in an upper level seminar class on 
computational chemistry.  Student response has been uniformly favorable-in 
fact, once they see it, some students start to try to use it on their own 
for other classes or projects.  In short, I like the product; I would agree 
with that from what I have seen, many higher level computations do take 
longer than with Gaussian.

Instructors interested in using computational chemistry in teaching might 
also wish to check out the work being done at Hope College with respect to 
Gaussian.  I don't remember the individual's name, but I believe there is a 
Web based package to allow easier student use in conjunction with lab or 
homework type exercises.

Brian