Oct 25-31

Return to Bioinformatics

Summary for Week 10
Last week we discussed how the independent study is going, and we decided that it would be useful to branch out from an emphasis in programming only and search other venues as well as become familiar with Perl modules. We will continue to work on our Perl programming development, however we will not be adhering to the text as closely as before in order to branch out into some application practice.

Browsing "Developing Bioinformatics Computer Skills ":

Core Requirements for Bioinformaticians

• Fairly deep background in some aspect of molecular biology.
• Absolutely understand the Central Dogma of biology.
• Substantial experience with at least one or two major biology software packages.
• Comfortable with command-line computing.
• Experience and knowledge of one computer programming language (eg. C++) and one scripting language (eg. Perl).

I found this section to be quite useful in assessing how this course has worked for me, and what adjustments I should make to feel like I have a comprehensive introduction to bioinformatics before the end of the semester. The two weaknesses I notice in my (Erika's) own development according to this list are command-line prompting and experience with software packages. With Beginning Perl for Bioinformatics I (believe I) have been introduced to some command-line computing, however certainly more experience is necessary. As for becoming familiar with a major biology software package, I believe this could be a potential direction to go in, although I do want to keep focused on continuing to develop my Perl skills.

Over the past week I also browsed BioPerl and will get more hands-on with it next week to see how collections of modules are accessed and utilized. The idea is to become comfortable with using BioPerl, CPAN, and other resources as I continue to work with Perl.