The CCP4 Program Suite is an integrated set of programs for protein crystallography developed in a close collaboration between crystallographers under an initiative by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (formerly the SERC). Applications include data reduction, various scaling programs, Patterson search and refinement, isomorphous and molecular replacement, phase improvement (density modification), structure refinement and presentation of results. Since the CCP4 project was established in 1979, the suite has continued to grow, both in the number of programs included and in the number of users. At the latest count, the Suite included 130 programs, and was used at 372 sites worldwide. To keep the project at the forefront of protein crystallography, a number of initiatives are being pursued. Some of these are reported here.
We continue to make new releases of the suite as new programs are added and existing ones improved. Version 3.2 was released in November 1996 and included the following new programs:
Documentation for most programs is now distributed in HTML format. Although this documentation is also available on the CCP4 WWW site, it is intended to be viewed locally in conjunction with running the programs. Initially, extensive use of hypertext links is intended to make connections between different programs more obvious, for example in running a chain of programs. With time, it is hoped to turn the html documentation into a more integrated help system to guide the user through the structure solution process.
On a similar theme, Liz Potterton at York has been working since January 1997 on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to the program suite. The GUI will work as an additional layer on top of the traditional Suite. In addition to providing a user-friendly environment, the GUI will include additional functionality for project management and the analysis of results. A prototype has been developed based on several common "tasks". This is currently being tested, and more task interfaces being added, but is not yet ready for public release.
In common with other projects, we are making more and more use of the World Wide Web for disseminating information. The CCP4 Home Page can be found at http://www.dl.ac.uk/CCP/CCP4/main.html and includes a variety of information on the program suite and other CCP4 activities. An important recent addition is the Problems Page, which contains details of any problems with the latest release, and what the user should do about it. Another recent use of our WWW site is for archive retrieval. You can already access the June 1996 and January 1997 issues of the CCP4 Newsletter, and future issues will also appear there. New for 1997, you will also be able to view the Proceedings of the annual CCP4 Study Weekend on the web (in addition to their usual distribution).
The next CCP4 Study Weekend is to be held in Reading on the 9th/10th of January 1998. The topic is to be databases and their use by crystallographers. Meanwhile, the next outing for the CCP4 team will be in Lisbon for the ECM-17. We hope to see you there!
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