Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!gatech!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!world!wware
From: wware@world.std.com (Will Ware)
Subject: Re: STk program for designing molecules
Message-ID: <DtsD24.LFz@world.std.com>
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
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References: <Dtnupo.L9@world.std.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 23:54:04 GMT
Lines: 33

Some months ago, I posted a note to the sci.nanotech newsgroup saying that
it would be interesting to come up with some kind of easy-to-use CAD
system for designing small molecules. I then went off and worked on this
(very intermittently), and have recently gotten it to a presentable state.

Anybody interested in tinkering with it will find it at
ftp://ftp.std.com/pub/wware/nanocad-0.1.tar.gz
and there's a web page about it at
http://world.std.com/~wware/ncad.html

At the moment, it runs only on Unix systems (including Linux) and requires
STk (a Scheme interpreter with Tcl/Tk extensions). In future I hope to
extend its portability by using the MrEd interpreter (being developed by
the Rice University Programming Language Theory group) which uses wxWindows
to get portability across X Windows, MS Windows, and the Mac OS.

There are basically two components to NanoCAD, the user interface and the
potential energy calculator. The user interface is loosely based on the
RasMol program, with additions to allow placing and moving atoms and
bonds. The potential energy calculator is an (incomplete) implementation
of the MM2 model discussed in the book "Nanosystems" by K. Eric Drexler.
As time permits, I'll try to make improvements in both areas.  The top
level of NanoCAD is written in Scheme, allowing for easy modification and
experimentation.

NanoCAD is distributed under the GNU General Public License. You may
copy/distribute/sell/give it away whimsically, provided the recipient
receives a copy of the source code, and any "derived works" are also 
covered by the terms of the GPL.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------
Will Ware <wware@world.std.com> web <http://world.std.com/~wware/>
PGP fingerprint   45A8 722C D149 10CC   F0CF 48FB 93BF 7289
