[Biojava-l] Question About BioJava

[Simon Brocklehurst]

Nick Heudecker wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've noticed that the BioJava news hasn't been updated since August
> 2000.  Is this project still being maintained?

Yes.  There is plenty of active development going on - I would suggest reading
the mailing list archives, or subscribe to the biojava mailing list.

>  If so, I have some
> questions:
>
>  -) Where do you see BioJava heading in the next 12/18 months?

The current BioJava is somewhat nucleotide/amino acid sequence-centric.  In
12-18 months, there will be significant functionality in other
Informatics-related areas.  One example of a new area for BioJava in the next
12-18 months, is that we (CAT) are preparing to submit a bunch of code
relating to dealing with three-dimensional macromolecular structures.  There
is also some current discussion on the mailing list about contribution of code
relating to microarray expression profiling.

>  -) How has the bioinformatics community reacted to the BioJava project?

There is significant interest - I should be surprised if many people in the
Bioinformatics community who have done anything vaguely serious with Java
aren't aware of the project.

>  -) How can I contribute?  I'm a pretty good developer and I'd like to get
> involved.  I'm interested in doing GUI and 3D development.

Maybe a good place to start the discussion about ways to contribute would be
if you let people know a bit about your background.  For example, level of
knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics. When you say 3-D development, do you
mean 3-D graphics?  Do you have any particular skills in this area e.g. expert
at 3-D graphics in general, expert with the Java 3D API?

Simon
--
Simon M. Brocklehurst, Ph.D.
Head of Bioinformatics & Advanced IS
Cambridge Antibody Technology
The Science Park, Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, UK
http://www.CambridgeAntibody.com/
mailto:simon.brocklehurst@CambridgeAntibody.com