Biok is a prototype of a programmable application for biologists written in XOtcl , an object extension of Tcl. The system is based on a dataflow model, and contains a spreadsheet implemented with TkTable as the central dataflow and end-user component. The prototype has been presented to individual biologists, evaluated in workshops, and used by students for their project. The evaluation of the end-user programming facilities of the prototype has shown the potential of combining a graphical user interface with an embedded programming environment.
Design workshops with biologists as well as student projects are still ongoing.
Tcl comes with Tk, i.e a rich list of tools to build graphical user interfaces. There is bioperl of course, but as we said, we need introspection mechanisms to implement programmability. Because we need a scripting language. References Gunnar Von Heijne. Membrane protein structure prediction.