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theoretical physics in the first half of the last century. This will also prepare us to explore

the fascination of information processing in living beings and its reflection in the computer

model (Part III), whether we want to better fight infections, understand cancer, or even

understand ourselves.

Short Instructions for Usage of the Book

A classical textbook should (i) teach you the practice of bioinformatics and (ii) provide

accurate definitions. For these two points, we have (i) prepared not only exercises in each

chapter, but also tutorials for the most important software examples along with tips for use,

and (ii) included a number of definitions in the glossary so that important terms are defined

and explained.

Nevertheless, the book here is deliberately not a classical textbook. We want to convey

joy and interest in bioinformatics. You can and are welcome to read the examples and

chapters at your leisure and then, if you are interested in certain analyses in more detail, to

practice them, work through the questions, look at the tutorials and do everything in more

detail. Systematically, all current areas of bioinformatics are presented in a broad over­

view, and each end of chapter briefly summarizes the presented area again in a conclusion.

We can only provide a stimulating introduction here. Without practicing and working

through several examples for each of the software, it is not possible to gain sufficient expe­

rience for your own analyses. A sound knowledge of biology is also important, since you

should be able to critically examine the program outputs with your knowledge. A number

of suggested books on molecular biology but also on the national research data and medi­

cal informatics initiative are listed in the chapters. For students who enjoy programming,

appropriate references for further reading are given in the introduction to the tutorials.

Since bioinformatics lives on databases and software, we have summarized databases and

programs and their basic use in the chapters and in the appendix.

How Does Bioinformatics Work?