I'm in the early beginning of studying bioinformatics. I will use it in my study of microbiology (molecular microbiology) In shaa Allah.
My question is: "Should i focus on bioinformatics as databases and tools use only?, or should I should study computer science too?"
I think this is an interesting question. I'm one of the generation of bioinformaticians with no formal training who 'fell in' to bioinformatics from a biology background because we liked computing and biology. Sometimes I feel that my lack of formal grounding in CS topics is something I should address (despite the fact I still spend a large chunk of my time interacting with computer scientists).
Given that there is now so much amazing material out there covering CS themes, you could certainly focus on the more practical aspects of bioinformatics for your studies, but ensure that you at least spend some time perhaps with MIT's OpenCourseware Computing Science lectures to give you a theoretical background in CS that would prove useful, but which you could build up in your own time?
I have a B.S. in Computer Science, and I currently work as a Bioinformatics Programmer and Data Analyst. There are things I learned along with my formal CS training that I use every day, and other things that I barely remember. Of course this will vary depending on what type of bioinformatics job you end up doing.
I think the skills are what matters in the end. Whether you learn them by reading and hacking around on your own computer or in a classroom/computer lab is up to you. There's a lot in the general Computer Science curriculum that is really kind of "out there", IMHO.
I would recommend really focusing on the following skills:
I think you will gain a sense of how much computer science you need as your studies progress. It all depends on what kinds of things you want to do.
Your research may require only that you become familiar with online tools such as databases or web-based analyses. And if those are all you need, then that is just fine.
However, if you want to do things like retrieve data to files on your computer, statistical analysis or develop your own analytical tools, then you'll need some computer science. Whether to invest in formal computer science education is a decision for you. Many "scientist programmers" are self-taught, but I suspect that many of them would write better programs if they had some formal training! Especially when it comes to issues such as testing and documentation.
This isn't a simple question to answer, because there's really a spectrum of people doing bioinformatics work. On one end are hard-core programmers, who build more efficient tools and only kind of faintly grasp the biology. On the other end are wet lab scientists who have learned a few R commands - just enough to run a t.test on their data. I'm pretty solidly in the middle, with a dual background.
So the question you have to ask yourself is: What kind of research do you want to do, and what skills do you need to pick up in order to make that happen?
Now, assuming that you've decided that you're going to need decent programming skills, the other question is: do you have time to put the work in now, or would you rather put it in piecemeal as you go? If you're committed to writing your own analysis tools and have the time, a few semesters of Computer science now would be enormously helpful later, but will take time away from your thesis work. (I'd probably recommend going up to whatever class covers things like complexity and data structures). On the other hand, you can certainly pick up this stuff as you go, but you'll often have to take some time out from analysis to read up on the concepts that you're working with.
So my non-answer answer is: It depends. :)
Programming is just like human language, you must learn it.
You can just learn a little, like a baby. At this stage, although you can't express many great thing, it is a great thing that you can babble something.
Programming languages are all easy to learn, if you spend more time to practice, you can absolutely know almost any aspect of it. At this stage, you can express any thing you want to, just like you say something using English. But as you can speak fluent English, this does not guarantee you as a great writer. You must have something you want to express, you must have idea you want to share. These ideas come from math/statistics.
An attitude of life-long learning is really necessity.
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I am from a computer scientist background and I think the real good thing being a bioinformatician is to work with biologists and to share our knowledge. So, you can perhaps study some basics about algorithms and data structures, but then work with computer scientists. You will give them as much as they will give you.
I'm from exactly the same background as Dan. In fact, a lot of bioinformaticians are biologists-turned-programmers. It's perhaps becoming less common now that more institutions offer formal programs in bioinformatics.
Wow,thanks, your answer really supportive.I hope one day be one of this generation.
"but which you could build up in your own time?" ..oh difficult question, i will do my best, but my brain can understand!! i will see. thanks for link i didn't know a bout it before.
I realise 'spare time' is at a premium for most people :)
yes, but not here in Egypt. this field so recent about 5 years, so people here should walks in the same way you go on, but one feel with hope, you are excellent example that i may one day be like:)
@Daniel you are right but i have 6 months without any responsibility toward real job, i don't want to waste them thinking what should i study?, where should i begin from, this site really helpful. thanks you all for this great site:)
@neilfws yes, but not here in Egypt. this field so recent about 5 years, so people here should walks in the same way you go on, but one feel that there is hope, you are excellent example that i wish be like:)