There are several programming languages that a bioinformatician (or if you want you can call him a biological data scientist) uses but the first one that surely must learn is R. R is a programming language that allows the statistical analysis of the data under examination. You can use it via the terminal but I suggest you use it through the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) R Studio which facilitates the writing, execution and debugging of the written code. I have been following courses and reading some books for about a week to acquire the concrete foundations of R and R Studio. I believe that this programming language is a "must have" for all bioinformaticians. I have thought for a long time about writing a detailed guide on R and R studio but I realize that this takes a lot of work and time which unfortunately I don't have. Maybe one day I will find the time to make a video that can help you study this language but the material available on the net is really huge. In fact, I decided to show you some sources that can help you in learning R and R Studio.
Here is what I recommend to learn R:
Video Courses:
- R programming su Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/learn/r-programming)
- R Programming for Beginners | Complete Tutorial | R & RStudio (https://youtu.be/BvKETZ6kr9Q)
- R Programming Tutorial - Learn the Basics of Statistical Computing (https://youtu.be/_V8eKsto3Ug)
Books:
- R for Data Science (https://r4ds.had.co.nz/)
- R Bioinformatics Cookbook: Use R and Bioconductor to perform RNAseq, genomics, data visualization, and bioinformatic analysis (link_amazon)
- Guida alla programmazione con R: Corso completo per imparare a programmare in poco tempo (link_amazon; solo in Italiano)
Practice:
- swirl teaches you R programming and data science interactively, at your own pace, and right in the R console! (https://swirlstats.com/students.html)
Hello and see you soon.
Omar Almolla