A Quick Guide for Developing Effective Bioinformatics Programming Skills

Bioinformatics programming skills are becoming a necessity across many facets of biology and medicine, owed in part to the continuing explosion of biological data aggregation and the complexity and scale of questions now being addressed through modern bioinformatics. Although many are now receiving formal training in bioinformatics through various university degree and certificate programs, this training is often focused strongly on bioinformatics methodology, leaving many important and practical aspects of bioinformatics to self-education and experience. The following set of guidelines distill several key principals of effective bioinformatics programming, which the authors learned through insights gained across many years of combined experience developing popular bioinformatics software applications and database systems in both academic and commercial settings [1–6]. Successful adoption of these principals will serve both beginner and experienced bioinformaticians alike in career development and pursuit of professional and scientific goals.