Designing a modern molecular modeling environment
Chung-Fah Huang · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · 1989
Computer modeling is an indispensable tool in studying molecular interactions. The goal of this project is to design and implement a macromolecular workbench (MMWB) which integrates the many techniques used in molecular modeling with modern computer hardware to create an easy-to-use and powerful modeling environment. To achieve this goal, MMWB provides the following facilities: a single user interface, a single data communications protocol, and a single data management library. The user interface is multi-layered system that facilitates user customization and extension. The data communications protocol is built on top of standard network protocol to transparently provide distributed computing. The data management library uses an object paradigm on top of tables to structure data hierarchically. Each facility provides a standard system service which simplifies the task of its users. With standard system services, users need only learn a single system to access the entire range of applications in the environment; applications can communicate with each other without explicit prior arrangements; and data duplication is minimized since the same data may be shared by many applications. These characteristics make MMWB an effective and useful modeling tool.