Computational Biology -: Unix/Linux, Data Processing and Programming (Paperback)

~ (Author) "This book aims at the total beginner..." (more)
Key Phrases: awk statement, dollar character, file prog, Freddy Freddy, Tue Jan, Decisions Flow Control (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"This book is a practical introduction to Unix/Linux and programming for biologists … . The goal is to learn about the power of … . It is written for beginners with no computational knowledge. Basic programming constructs are introduced and applied. With this book, the reader will be able to work in the Unix … and to write programs in order to format and analyse large data files. This book was written for graduate students, professional, researchers as well as libraries." (Bio World, Issue no. 6, 2004)

Product Description

This book is a practical introduction into Unix/Linux and its programming to biologists as well as to chemists and physicists who work in bioinformatics and biophysics. The goal is to learn about the power of the stream editor 'sed' and the programming languages 'awk' and 'perl' in order to extract or format information from various sources. It is written for beginners with no computational but biological background. Basic programming constructs are introduced  and applied. With this book, the reader will be able to work in the Unix environment (BSD; Linux, MacOSX) and to write programs in order to format and analyse large data files.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (May 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 354021142X
• ISBN-13: 978-3540211426
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,416,352 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #32 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Operating Systems > Linux > Applications
  #51 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > APIs & Operating Environments > Unix

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perl is the most difficult part of the book, July 18, 2005

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A straightforward little book. Essentially a unix text about sed, awk and Perl. Ostensibly, it has to do with computational biology and the parsing of the various common data formats in that field. But a perusal of the book shows that the scope is more general. The biology formats are used as case studies. If you are in high energy physics, for example, and you have accelerator data in some other format, the book might still be of use in helping you parse out what you need.

The sed and awk discussions could have be written 10 years or more ago. Those programs have been very stable. Whereas Perl has undergone relatively rapid changes. In fact, as the book indicates, Perl is far more powerful than sed or awk. It is a fully fledged programming language that can take you some time to master. The book doesn't give a comprehensive coverage of Perl's abilities. But for the expected reader, it may suffice.

4.0 out of 5 stars For beginners only, April 6, 2008

By	L. Bleicher (Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have to confess I bought this book in a rush, without reading the descriptions and reviews. Although I was a bit disappointed (I'm not a newbie on that subject anymore), this does not mean it's useless - I'm sure it will be of great use to people who are totally unfamiliar with Linux systems and programming. I would probably use it to teach this subject for undergraduates.