Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Computational biology - Unix/Linux, data processing and programming

2004; Association of College and Research Libraries; Volume: 42; Issue: 04 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5860/choice.42-2262

1943-5975

Röbbe Wünschiers,

Gene expression and cancer classification

Bioinformatics has become a scientific discipline of its own and should not be considered to be a service provider.The day-to-day computing will always have to be done by the experimentalist himself or herself.Of course, there are now also a lot of helpful and fancy program packages for the bench scientist; but these will only perform routine tasks and all too often they are only poorly compatible.A scientist needs the freedom to develop his or her own ideas and to link things that have previously not been linked.Being able to go back to the basics of computing and programming is therefore a vital skill for the experimentalist, as important as making buffers and setting up enzyme reactions.It allows him or her to handle and analyze the data in exactly the way it is required for the project and to pursue new avenues of research, rather than trotting old paths.Unix is the key to basic computing.If one is used to Windows or Mac operating systems, this might at first sound like going back into the stone age; but the dramatic recent shift of at least the Mac operating system to a Unix base should teach us otherwise.Unix is here to stay and it allows the largest flexibility for bioinformatics applications.Those who have learned Unix will soon discover the myriad of little "progies" that are available from colleagues all over the world and that can make life much easier in the lab.This book gives exactly the sort of introduction into Unix, Unix-based operating systems and programming languages that will be a key competence for experimentally working molecular biologists and that will make all the difference for the successful projects of the future.It has been written by a bench scientist, specifically with the needs of molecular biologists in mind.It can be used either for self-teaching or in practical courses.Every group leader should hand over this book to new students in the lab, together with their first set of pipettes.