Practical Computing for Biologists
In this age of informatics and genomics, the ability to mine and manipulate data is an essential skill for graduate students in ecology and evolutionary biology.Practical Computing for Biologistsprovides a much-needed guide to using Unix and Python to assemble and analyze large data sets. I'm looking forward to using this book as a text to accompany our quantitative bootcamp for new graduate students. --Michael Alfaro, University of California, Los Angeles, USAFor a committed point-and-clicker like myself,Practical Computing for Biologistsis a most valuable book. It offers just the right introduction for those less computer savvy biologists who would like to enhance and streamline their ability to handle, process, and analyze data. This book has already made me more confident in confronting the large amounts of data that face me in day-to-day research. --Ronald Jenner, The Natural History Museum, London, UKThe book covers a wide range of subjects that truly justifies the title of ‘practical computing.’ In addition to the usual programming-related topics, it also includes a thorough introduction to the programming environment, approaches to combining different programs together, a description of the basic text manipulation tools such as regular expressions, and even an introduction to dealing with digital art and images. As such the book is great value for the money, being at least three books in one. --Olga G. Troyanskaya,CellMy copy ofPractical Computing for Biologistsarrived last week, and I've been very impressed. It is a well-written, well-paced guide to basic computing skills for scientists and engineers of all stripes (not just biologists). … And it's beautifully produced: full-color printing and great graphical design make this book a joy to read. If I ever do turn Software Carpentry into a book, I might skip the topicsPCBcovers and just tell people to go and buy it. --Greg Wilson, software-carpentry.org --Ronald Jenner, The Natural History Museum, London, UKFor a committed point-and-clicker like myself,Practical Computing for Biologistsis a most valuable book. It offers just the right introduction for those less computer savvy biologists who would like to enhance and streamline their ability to handle, process, and analyze data. This book has already made me more confident in confronting the large amounts of data that face me in day-to-day research. --Ronald Jenner, The Natural History Museum, London, UK