[NeXus-committee] Calling all NeXus instrument editors

[Ray Osborn]

Dear colleagues,
I'm writing to the committee list, because I think most of the instrument
editors are subscribed, and I want to follow Peter in encouraging you to
make some progress before the NIAC meeting next week.  I know that many of
you don't think it is possible to produce a full definition before the
meeting (in fact, one person resigned to make that clear), especially as it
took us a long time to establish the base classes.  However, it is important
that we can use the meeting to ensure that these definitions are produced in
a timely fashion because all the facilities have said that this is the one
area that is holding up progress in adopting NeXus.

I have written a simple FAQ item,
<http://www.nexus.anl.gov/nexus_faq.html#6>, that describes the procedure
you should follow.  In principle, the hard work has been done in defining
the base classes.  You only need to pick and choose what items in those
classes are important.  However, what's really essential is that we find out
by next week where you think the existing base classes,
<http://www.nexus.anl.gov/nexus_design.html#classes>, are deficient for your
needs.  If we don't have that information, we will have missed a crucial
opportunity to make sure that the core definitions are correct.  Once they
are correct, your job should be relatively simple.

I know everyone is extremely busy.  If you have time to produce a complete
draft definition, please make sure Peter has a copy, and post it on the
Swiki.  If you don't have time, please at least scan through the base
classes and let us know what you think we should be discussing next week.
Otherwise, important issues may get put off for a year.

With best regards,
Ray
-- 
Dr Ray Osborn                Tel: +1 (630) 252-9011
Materials Science Division   Fax: +1 (630) 252-7777
Argonne National Laboratory  E-mail: ROsborn at anl.gov
Argonne, IL 60439-4845