CHIMERA SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Chimera是我们的下一代分子图形应用程序 其主要设计目标是可扩展性和易用性。奇美拉是 用带有C++扩展的Python编写，并使用普遍接受的 应用程序编程接口(API)规范，如 `‘Tk’‘(TCL工具包)用于其图形用户界面，OpenGL用于 三维图形基元。此外，奇美拉还 使用本地开发的对象技术框架对象类 用于处理分子数据的库。因为计划 可扩展性是此项目的主要设计目标，我们选择使用 作为Chimera命令的完整编程语言(Python) 语言。这将允许用户创建复杂的嵌套命令 “脚本”(例如，迭代循环和条件执行)，其中 TURN将允许在多个 分子模型。Python是一种解释性语言，具有广泛的 包含Tk接口的库，这意味着用户将能够 轻松创建自己的定制图形用户界面(GUI) 元素(如菜单和对话框)作为其扩展的一部分。 Chimera本身是用一小部分核心功能实现的， 包括图形显示、蛋白质数据库(PDB)输入和基本 用户界面元素(菜单栏、工具栏、命令行、回复 窗口和状态行)。更高级的功能构建在 核心的顶层使用了Python扩展模块。这将导致一个 程序体系结构，可在以下情况下轻松添加新功能 需要的。事实上，我们已经在很大程度上使用了这种基本的扩展机制 Chimera中存在的标准功能，因为它既 以这种方式编程又快又容易，而且它确保了小集合 我们提供的核心功能足以构建任何 用户可能希望的扩展。最近嵌合体的发展是 专注于消除之前对Motif和OpenInventor的依赖。 (Motif是一种在基于Unix的平台上流行的图形用户界面窗口管理器 工作站，但不常在其他平台上使用，例如 微软Windows或苹果Macintosh。OpenInventor是一个 流行的OpenGL图形包的面向对象接口，但是 目前只有Silicon Graphics才有OpenInventor可用于其 工作站。)消除Chimera对Motif和OpenInventor的依赖 显著增加了Chimera的可移植性，特别是在 尊重Windows NT。许多用户界面元素还具有 最近添加的(例如鼠标面板、镜头和选择面板)。 Chimera(多序列格式(MSF)文件)的两个新扩展 查看器和结构对齐查看器)也在开发中 并在我们3月16日的咨询委员会会议上进行了演示， 1998年；它们受到了好评。

Chimera is our next generation molecular graphics application whose main design goals are extensibility and ease of use. Chimera is being written in Python with C++ extensions and uses commonly accepted application programmer interface (API) specifications such as the ``Tk'' (TCL toolkit) for it's graphical user interface and OpenGL for three- dimensional graphics primitives. In addition, Chimera also uses the locally developed Object Technology Framework object class library for manipulating molecular data. Because program extensibility is a major design goal for this project, we chose to use a complete programming language (Python) as the Chimera command language. This will allow users to create complex Chimera command ``scripts'' (e.g. iterative loops and conditional execution), which in turn will allow sophisticaed operations to be perfromed on multiple molecular models. Python is an interpreted language with an extensive library that includes interfaces to Tk, which means users will be able to easily create their own custom graphical user interface (GUI) elements (such as menus and dialog boxes) as part of their extensions. Chimera itself is implemented with a small set of core functionality, including graphical display, Protein Data Bank (PDB) input, and basic user interface elements (menu bars, tool bar, command line, reply window and status line). More advanced features are constructed on top of the core using Python extension modules. This results in a program architecture in which new functionality is easily added when needed. In fact, we have used this basic extension mechanism to much of the standard functionality present in Chimera, since it is both fast and easy to program this way, and it insures that the small set of core functions we do provide are adequate to build whatever extensions a user may desire. Recent Chimera development has been focused on removing its previous dependence on Motif and OpenInventor. (Motif is a GUI window manager that is popular on UNIX-based workstations but is not commonly used on other platforms such as Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh. OpenInventor is an object-oriented interface to the popular OpenGL graphics package, but only Silicon Graphics currently has OpenInventor available for their workstations.) Removing Chimera's dependence on Motif and OpenInventor increases the portability of Chimera significantly, particularly with respect to Windows NT. A number of user interface elements have also recently been added (e.g., mouse panel, lenses, and selection panel). Two new extensions to Chimera (a Multiple Sequence Format (MSF) file viewer and a stru cture alignment viewer) are also under development and were demonstrated at our Advisory Committee meeting on March 16, 1998; they were well received.