Ticket Options

Question Details

TICKET ARCHIVE -> Perl For Mac

Darwiniano - May 30, 2005 - 4:26 pm

I'm a molecular biologist and I'm interested in getting into programming.

My objectives are mainly to work with data bases and some analysis of DNA and protein sequences, as well as construct something to organize my stuff. I'm also interested in work in both Mac and Pcs, so I want to know your suggestions about using Perl.

Thanks..

Saxphile - May 30, 2005 - 7:59 pm

Hi Roger,

I'm a molecular biologist, too. A while back we tried to find a comprehensive bioinformatics solution for contig assembly/phylogeny/general molecular biology stuff. We went through Windows, Linux, and in the end decided to get a iMac G5. You can run any Windows program on Mac with Virtual PC (I use it all the time).

Mac OS X has built-in support for Perl/Python. In fact, I use Python all the time. I found it more accommodating and I don't spend as much time debugging compared to Perl. A few programs that we use:

Free:
MacGDE http://www.msu.edu/~lintone/macgde/
4Peaks and EnzymeX http://www.mekentosj.com/programs/
ClustalX http://www.embl.de/~chenna/clustal/darwin/
Sequence Analysis http://informagen.com/SA/
ARB http://www.microbiol.unimelb.edu.au/...to_MacOSX.html

Commercial:
Lasergene http://www.dnastar.com/web/r3.php
Paup http://paup.csit.fsu.edu/mac.html
OligoChecker X http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...ocheckerx.html
Sequencher http://www.genecodes.com/sequencher/
VectorNTI http://register.informaxinc.com/solu...rntia/mac.html

Let me know if you need more information.

Charlie

--------
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso

Darwiniano - Jun 1, 2005 - 5:30 am

Thank you Charly!

Sincerely, I've never heard about python, but right now I'm taking a look at it.

And respecting the suggested applications, I will check them in the next few days. My biggest problem is that at my work they assigned me a PC, and I'm trying to get an Internet conexion for my Mac (that I prefer so much)... so actually I'm doing a mess downloading stuff for the mac in the pc, and then transfering the archives, etc... you can imagine.

But well, I really appreciate your answer... and thank you again!!