Dear all,
It's been two years since I've started to work in bioinformatics with
Smalltalk. It has been a difficult decision because the quality and
amount of bioinformatics libraries is absolutely amazing, but I've
received a lot of support from the main researchers at the Institute
of Genetics where I'm working in Argentina.
Now the initial step for a BioSmalltalk release is done. I hope the
FOSS community receive this pre-release as the basis for future
enhacements for bioinformatics with any Smalltalk flavor. Although in
the short-term it is unlikely for a BioSmalltalk to reach the users,
maturity and competitive level of major Bio* toolkits (BioPerl,
BioPython, BioRuby or BioJava), it could take too many years more if I
continue this work alone. However, BioSmalltalk was not conceived to
replace or defeat any other similar packages, but to provide to the
bioinformatics community the features of a pure object system. So feel
free to spread the word for all bioinformaticians, newcomers,
developers, or life scientists, for helping in any way and discovering
why Smalltalk is such a special environment.
This release was implemented in Pharo 1.3 custom Core, but cross
Smalltalk portability was a priority. I'm working now to release
versions for GemStone, Squeak and VisualWorks is there is enough
interest. Everybody is welcome to contribute.
You may download a pre-compiled release from the project page:
http://code.google.com/p/biosmalltalk/Best regards,
Hernán
--
Hernán Morales
Institute of Veterinary Genetics (IGEVET).
National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).
La Plata (1900), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Telephone: +54 (0221) 421-1799.
Internal: 422
Fax: 425-7980 or 421-1799.
Locked
