VMD-L Mailing List

From: Axel Kohlmeyer (akohlmey_at_cmm.chem.upenn.edu)
Date: Sat Jun 07 2008 - 09:41:05 CDT

On Sat, 7 Jun 2008, Alexandre A. Vakhrouchev wrote:

AV> Hi all!
AV>
AV> I have a strange question: why not all options of Tcl commands are
AV> documented in User Guide? For example I found "measure dipole ..."
AV> option typing commands in Tcl/Tk console, but it was not described at
AV> http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/current/ug/node124.html?

hi alexandre,

it is _not_ a strange question. these things do happen all the time,
since when people implement a feature, the documentation is usually
the last to be written. in this specific case, the command was added
in a flurry of adding several (it may be 4 or 5 in total) plugins to
VMD briefly before the 1.8.5 release, IIRC. both, the ir-spectral
density calculator and the dipole monitor plugin use/need it.

lets just say, i left it for you to find it. ;-)

it actually is a good opportunity to promote one of my major
"pet" projects: (good) documentation has to be written by users,
_not_ developers. only users know what really matters to other
users. and there is probably a _lot_ where people wonder, "why
is this not in the user's guide?"

everybody, please take it as an invitation to add it yourself.
even if you are not 100% certain you are the most qualified person,
the good people managing VMD will make sure it will be ok, and
you are still helping them a lot.

cheers,
   axel.

AV>
AV> 

-- 
=======================================================================
Axel Kohlmeyer   akohlmey_at_cmm.chem.upenn.edu   http://www.cmm.upenn.edu
   Center for Molecular Modeling   --   University of Pennsylvania
Department of Chemistry, 231 S.34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323
tel: 1-215-898-1582,  fax: 1-215-573-6233,  office-tel: 1-215-898-5425
=======================================================================
If you make something idiot-proof, the universe creates a better idiot.