Hi All,
As a rookie in Bio-informatics, I would like to ask for the clear edge between classifying a question as IT rather than Bio-informatics .
Thanks!
Jo
if your question is:
How can I improve the following query ?
select * from database.car;
it's IT
if your question is:
How can I improve the following query ?
select * from database.genes;
it's bioinformatics
:-)
It's a good question. In my opinion, there is no "clear edge". There will always be questions that fall into a grey area.
The classic example is when you need to use a particular software package (R, for example) to solve a bioinformatics research problem and you have a question about how to use the package, such as "how do I read in a file". Some people would argue that because the IT knowledge is required to solve the research problem, then the question is bioinformatics-related. Others would argue that this is a "basic R usage" question.
My opinion is that you should stop and ask yourself: is my question more about addressing the research problem or more about how to program/use software? If the latter, then it is better suited to a programming forum such as Stack Overflow.
I'd also suggest that people not worry too much about it and if in doubt, just ask. We're always happy to advise as to whether questions are appropriate and direct people to more suitable places if required.
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version 2.3.6
As Pierre indicated, if you can demonstrate that a possibly IT-related question is processing biological data then it'll probably be kept open. Note the "probably" in the last sentence since there really are no clear rules on this (I expect that any strict rules would be found lacking). Absolute musts are mentioning (1) what your end goal is and (2) how what you're doing is biologically related.
Yes, it always helps to mention that you are working with biological data and say something about that.
thank you very much for the useful explanations !