In the order of finishing what we start here is the second part of a previous post I promised some tools and websites to check for people that want to learn some bioinformatics basics.
First lets start on programming languages, to do bioinformatics you don't necessarily need to know programming or scripting but knowing a language will help you to understand some tools you will be using and will differentiate you from a space monkey, that is able to type and follow basic instructions.
What language to learn based in which one is better is a discussion that I will not start, there are many languages you may like or feel more comfortable with a good place to start is codecademy this place has different tools to introduce you to the basic concepts of coding and some languages (Ruby, Python and Java could interest you the most). Their interface is great and is a good starting point.
Each language has their own website with great information and educational tools feel free to visit them and enjoy about the history of Ruby, Python, Java, Perl and others.
Now to get more into biological data related projects Rosalind is a great website that runs on Python with real data sets and projects, go for it!! dare to play and make mistakes.
Now you have a good idea where to start, and I wish you well.
However, wait a moment for some words of wisdom.
Thank you for actually keep reading.
Words of wisdom:
Remember that you are going to analyze biological data, with the last generation sequencing technologies and the accessibility to many different learning tools you may forget the key to nay good scientific research: WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION!!!
Don't run analysis without understanding what questions you will answer and don't separate your data from your system learn about it and understand it as a whole, including variables that may influence it.
There, I hope that last note was not too serious.
Enjoy learning and as my boss says try to "fail better every day" !!
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