C2M: Configurable Chemical Middleware

One of the vexing problems that besets concurrent use of multiple, heterogeneous resources is format multiplicity. C(2)M aims to equip scientists with a wrapper generator on their desktop. The wrapper generator can build wrappers, or converters that can convert data from or into different formats, from a high-level description of the formats. The language in which such a high-level description is expressed is easy enough for scientists to be able to write format descriptions at minimal cost. In C(2)M, wrappers and documentation for human reading are automatically obtained from the same user-supplied specifications. Initial experiments demonstrate that the idea can, indeed, lead to the advent of usergoverned wrapper generators. Future research will consolidate the code and extend the approach to a realistic variety of formats.