nodalpoint.org

Hi,
python 2.6 is going to implement a new kind of data (like lists, strings, etc..) called 'named_tuple'.
It is intended to be a better data format to be used when parsing record files and databases.

You can download the recipe from here (it should be included experimentally in python 2.6):
- http://code.activestate.com/recipes/500261/

Basically, you instantiate a named_tuple object with this syntax:

> Person = NamedTuple("Person name surname")

"Person" is a label for the named_tuple; the following fields, 'name' and 'surname'

The NIH has published, in 2000, a definition of bioinformatics which is supposed to be the 'official' one:
- http://www.bisti.nih.gov/CompuBioDef.pdf

I partly disagree with that!! Or at least, I think it is incomplete.

Bioinformatics is not only providing services and tools for scientists and for analyzing data.
It is also a scientific discipline, in which you make an hypothesis, you write down your assumptions, you manage to find a way to demonstrate it, and then you share your results with other scientists and confront with them.

I was looking for the best way to explain what is blast to people with no background in biology/bioinformatics.

I thought I could to say it's a search engine:
- Blast is the same as google, but for biological sequences instead of search terms.