As is the case with many other aspects of our lives here in the twilight years of the twentieth century, the computer is having an evermore pervasive role in the daily endeavors of the electron microscopist. And as I contemplate the little button on the microwave that allows me to burn popcorn the exact same way, time after time, I am led to wonder “where is it all going?”…the technology that is. I know where the burnt popcorn will end up. Whether we like it or not, the computer is a tool that can drastically improve our productivity, and typically such productivity gains occur precisely within those tasks where mistakes are the most likely to creep in, to wit: the mundane and repetitive.

As an example, consider the task of indexing a diffraction pattern for a known crystal. In the far distant and superstitious past of the mid to late 1960's, this task required all sorts of strange alchemy.