Perl Programming for Biologists

Perl Programming for Biologists. By D. Curtis Jamison . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003; 191 pages; $42.95D. Curtis Jamison, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Computational Science at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia, wrote the book Perl Programming for Biologists . Perl is an open-source interpreted scripting language originally designed for Unix systems programming by Larry Wall about 25 years ago. Due in large part to its powerful regular expressions for pattern matching and its accessibility for nonprogrammers, Perl has become the most popular programming language in bioinformatics. The goal of this book is to provide the reader with the background and tools necessary to write scripts of immediate practical value to his or her work.It is Dr. Jamison's long-held desire to see full integration of computer technology into the experimental protocol that he brings to Perl Programming for Biologists . That desire translates into a very accessible text, which any biomedical researcher lacking programming experience would find a quick and painless primer. This book clearly targets that audience, and in so doing is too elementary for most researchers with intermediate or advanced programming experience. Furthermore, …