Managing default selection keywords

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi,
Following-up on a recent thread regarding issue with cholesterol selection, I 
think it'd be a good idea to have more control on the selection keywords used 
by MDAnalysis.
One the one hand having some default keywords built-in is nice and easy and 
will probably suit most users/common operations.

On the other terminology conflict may arise when trying to cover the 
nomenclatures used by different forcefields (e.g. CHO can refer to cholesterol 
but is also a special CHARMM residue).

To leverage on MDAnalysis powerful selection tools I'd suggest implementing a 
way to load one's own dictionary of selection keywords. Maybe the user could be 
alerted if the customised dictionary conflicts with the built-in dictionary and 
could choose whether or not to override it.

This would allow users to tweak dictionary to the particular 
forcefields/systems they use. 

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
MDAnalysis-0.7.5.1-py2.7-macosx-10.6-i386

Original issue reported on code.google.com by Jean.He...@gmail.com on 25 Apr 2012 at 10:31

[kritika12298]

Hello, I am looking forward to contribute to the project related to Atom for GSOC 2020.
Kindly guide me on how to get started.

[IAlibay]

Welcome to MDAnalysis @kritika12298,

If possible, we would ask you that you write an introduction on the MDAnalysis developer list. Initially I would suggest having a look at the MDAnalysis GSOC blog post and FAQ, and then work on an issue. Further discussions on the projects also can be had over the developer list.