Subject: GACS (Guide to Available Chemistry Software) Project ?

From: Herbert Homeier (t4720) <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 15:25:03 +0200

Hello all,

There a many places where archives for chemistry software
are under current development. But still, software for a
given problem is often difficult to find.

In my opinion, there is a need for a Guide to Available
Chemistry Software (GACS) Project. It should be similar in 
spirit to the Guide to Available Mathematical Software 
(GAMS) project. This is a database structured by problem
classes and subclasses. The database contains the pointer to
a place where the software can be obtained. GAMS is available 
under gopher or WWW as
#
Type=1
Name=GAMS (Guide to Available Mathematical Software project)
Path=
Host=gams.nist.gov
Port=70
URL: http//gams.nist.gov
#
and offers a telnet and an X11 user interface.

Maybe that some features of a GACS
are already implemented or under construction.

My question is whether anybody knows of any GACS-like 
project or plans for it. If there is some interest group
for such a project, please let me know. 

Perhaps it is not too much effort to get a GACS started.
It might be possible to get interface and database software 
from the GAMS people. Then, some people have to decide on a
class/subclass structure of common chemical problems for
which software is available or desirable. The most laborious
part would be to enter the data per software module. But
this could perhaps be done in some "automated" fashion or
by each software provider for his/her software.

What do you think about this? In case of suffient response
I will summarize to CCL.

Best regards

Herbert

--------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Herbert H. H. Homeier
Institut fuer Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie
Universitaet Regensburg
D-93040 Regensburg, Germany
Phone: +49-941-943 4720                FAX  : +49-941-943 2305
email: [email-masked]
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