ATOMS: crystallography for the X-ray absorption spectroscopist

ATOMS is a user application providing crystallographic functionality useful to x-ray absorption spectroscopists. ATOMS is also a set of reusable, obje ct-oriented software modules written in the Perl programming language provi ding crystallographic functionality and access to databases of absorption c oefficients and anomalous scattering factors. The main use of the ATOMS pro gram is to generate input data for the ab initio, multiple scattering, x-ra y absorption spectroscopy code FEFF. However the code offers many additiona l features, including useful calculations involving absorption coefficients and simulations of Diffraction Anomalous Fine-Structure (DAFS) spectra. Co mmand line, graphical, and web-based interfaces to the code are offered as part of the standard distribution. As Perl runs on a wide variety of common computer platforms, ATOMS itself is a cross platform application. All text presented to the user can be internationalized - support for four language s is currently included in the package. Development of ATOMS is active - a FEFF interface, structure visualization, and additional crystallographic ca lculations are among the future developments.