[Nexus] which SAS instrument can serve as example for state-of-the-art NeXus usage? more examples are needed anyway.

[j.wuttke]

Dear colleagues,

FAQ D.11 says:

Q: Specifications are boring. Where can I find some good example data files?

A: There are a few checked into the definitions repository. At the moment the
    selection is quite limited and not very representative.

The answer is unsatisfactory, but what I find really disconcerting is the
wording of the question. "Specifications are boring" suggests that examples
are no more than a luxury, a shortcut for those who are too lazy to read.

No, specifications are not just boring, they are also terribly complicated,
and more often than not they are inconsistent and incomplete - and mature
specifications that are believed to be basically correct are all the more
complicated. Ever heard of somebody learning a programming language from
an ISO document?

Based on the NeXus reference, I could certainly implement write-out and read-in
routines so that I could transfer data from my instrument to my data-analysis
program. But would my experimental data be read by other programs? Would my
program read data from other instruments? Wouldn't I produce NeXus only in name:
syntactically correct but falling short of our main objective, portability?

I am aware that there is a long community process behind the application
classes. But this process has left no visible trace in the reference. To make
a connection between abstract specifications and actual implementations,
I would appreciate a list of instruments supporting NeXus, with links to
exemplary data files.

More specifically, for urgent needs at JCNS, I would like to ask which SAS
instrument can serve as example for state-of-the-art NeXus usage.

Best regards, Joachim

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