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Practical Computing for Biologists
Increasingly, scientists find themselves facing exponentially larger data sets and analyses without suitable tools to deal with them. Many biologists end up using spreadsheet programs for most of their data-processing tasks and spend hours clicking around or copying and pasting, and then repeating the process for other data files.
Practical Computing for Biologists shows you how to use many freely available computing tools to work more powerfully and effectively. The book was born out of the authors' own experience in developing tools for their research and helping other biologists with their computational problems. Although many of the techniques are relevant to molecular bioinformatics, the motivation for the book is much broader, focusing on topics and techniques that are applicable to a range of scientific endeavors. Twenty-two chapters organized into six parts address these topics (and more; see Contents):
*Searching with regular expressions
*The Unix command line
*Python programming and debugging
*Creating and editing graphics
*Databases
*Performing analyses on remote servers
*Working with electronics
While most of the concepts and examples apply to any operating system, the main narrative focuses on Mac OS X. Where there are differences for Windows and Linux users, parallel instructions are provided in the margin and in an appendix. The book is designed to be used as a self-guided resource for researchers, a companion book in a course, or as a primary textbook. Practical Computing for Biologists will free you from the most frustrating and time-consuming aspects of data processing so you can focus on the pleasures of scientific inquiry.
RESOURCES
For Students
The Companion Website includes downloads, community forums, tips and examples, and textbook errata and updates.
For Instructors
The Instructor's Resource Library features all of the textbook's figures and tables, provided in ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations.
Practical Computing for Biologists shows you how to use many freely available computing tools to work more powerfully and effectively. The book was born out of the authors' own experience in developing tools for their research and helping other biologists with their computational problems. Although many of the techniques are relevant to molecular bioinformatics, the motivation for the book is much broader, focusing on topics and techniques that are applicable to a range of scientific endeavors. Twenty-two chapters organized into six parts address these topics (and more; see Contents):
*Searching with regular expressions
*The Unix command line
*Python programming and debugging
*Creating and editing graphics
*Databases
*Performing analyses on remote servers
*Working with electronics
While most of the concepts and examples apply to any operating system, the main narrative focuses on Mac OS X. Where there are differences for Windows and Linux users, parallel instructions are provided in the margin and in an appendix. The book is designed to be used as a self-guided resource for researchers, a companion book in a course, or as a primary textbook. Practical Computing for Biologists will free you from the most frustrating and time-consuming aspects of data processing so you can focus on the pleasures of scientific inquiry.
RESOURCES
For Students
The Companion Website includes downloads, community forums, tips and examples, and textbook errata and updates.
For Instructors
The Instructor's Resource Library features all of the textbook's figures and tables, provided in ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations.
564 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2010
17 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Steven Haddock
2 books3 followersSTEVEN HADDOCK is a Research Scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and adjunct Associate Professor at U.C. Santa Cruz, studying bioluminescence and biodiversity of marine zooplankton.
He started programming in BASIC on an Apple ][ and began his undergraduate studies in engineering before deciding to change fields. He took this programming background with him to his graduate studies in Marine Biology, where he quickly realized the advantages that computing skills offered and felt compelled to help foster these abilities in others.
He has developed many utilities and devices for research, including instruments to monitor bioluminescence from fireflies, a freezer monitoring system, a web-based conference registration database, and a PCR calculator for smartphones. In addition to teaching invertebrate zoology, and writing a booklet to teach the technique of blue-water scuba diving, he has given tutorials in computing to students and administrators.
His interest in education extends to his Bioluminescence Web Page and the Jellywatch.org citizen-science web site.
He started programming in BASIC on an Apple ][ and began his undergraduate studies in engineering before deciding to change fields. He took this programming background with him to his graduate studies in Marine Biology, where he quickly realized the advantages that computing skills offered and felt compelled to help foster these abilities in others.
He has developed many utilities and devices for research, including instruments to monitor bioluminescence from fireflies, a freezer monitoring system, a web-based conference registration database, and a PCR calculator for smartphones. In addition to teaching invertebrate zoology, and writing a booklet to teach the technique of blue-water scuba diving, he has given tutorials in computing to students and administrators.
His interest in education extends to his Bioluminescence Web Page and the Jellywatch.org citizen-science web site.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 22, 2017
This book is amazing. I’ve been taught some of this previously but the information is crystal clear now. The section on installing software (github etc) is incredibly useful for beginners such as myself who didn’t know what compiling meant!
September 5, 2018
Оказалась настолько же полезна, насколько долго я от нее отбрыкивалась) Рада, что все-таки добралась. Преобразование файлов из режима "сдохнуть можно" наконец-то перешло в "сесть и сделать", - пожалуй, именно это я пока использую в работе чаще всего. Дальше - больше)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews