in reply to Looping made easy...

I'm starting to sound like a squeaky wheel but please check out Effective Perl Programming (especially item 12). There's no reason for anyone to not have read what is one of the best books on perl. It's informative, it will help you not get lost and it's available online for free (but it's definetly worth the money so don't be cheap - buy it).

There's getting to be a unique subculture here. I've been noticing more and more bioinformatic questions and while I applaud and appreciate the magnitude of their endeavours (and their use of perl), I'm starting to question how much emphasis is placed on the informatic part of their studies.

I know I for one would hate spending most of the night pouring over chem and biology texts only to then be confronted by some of the horrid comp sci texts that are out there especially if you have a prof that's more interested in using his/her self-published works. So please if your into bioinformatics and you only have room for one perl book - please make it Effective Perl Programming.

-derby

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Re: Re: Looping made easy...
by bioinformatics (Friar) on Jul 22, 2003 at 17:49 UTC
    Actually, it depends on where one is studying. I know that at UCI, there are many individuals who are very good programmers and geneticists at the same time. I don't represent the subculture by any means, as I've just finished my undergrad and, through an internship, am now learning about a whole new field of science. Perl is my first computer language I've learned (discluding BASIC from my apple 2e days as a child), so much of this is still very new for me. Having been exposed to some of the graduate students here, I think you will find them to be quite proficient at what they do; I wish I were only half as good:-).
    PS-I've got access to far more than one book on Perl. And yes, this was probably one of my more stupid questions on the forum, but sometimes these things clear up misconceptions in my mind, as the previous answers already have. TO ALL: You have my sincere thanks for your help! Hopefully I'll have more eloquent and advanced questions in the future...
[reply]
      bioinformatics,

      By subculture, I meant here on perlmonks we're getting a lot of beginner questions centered around bioinformatics where traditionally most of our beginner questions have been from web developers.

      Please don't think I was directing my remarks directly at you. I'm sure your perl and programming skills are much better than my bio skills. I was just curious as to how much informatics was being combined with the bio part. You've set me straight and for that I thank you.

      So please continue to ask any questions you have but really take a look at that book. It will help you understand idiomatic perl better.

      -derby

[reply]

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