Python for the assignments!

Time to crack open this forum!

Python is one of the most commonly used programming languages within Bioinformatics (next to cpp and probably Perl or the likes). And it's quick to write a lot in a few lines that resemble something close to pseudo-code and easy to read.

I'm sure cpp is excellent (and probably faster) but, personally, I have not programmed in cpp before and it can quickly become messy and unnecessary time consuming. Java on the other hand has a tendency to need O(n^2) more lines of code than cpp or python and is in my opinion more suited for large scale program solutions.

Python is excellent for building prototypes that can later be optimized at computational bottlenecks and thus I hereby throw in my vote for (the option of) using python for the next assignments along with cpp and/or java.

Hey, I'm checking with Holger on this one. It does create more work for me since I already need to support solutions for both C++ and Java, but we'll talk about it and I'll get back to you.

After consulting with Holger, we've decided Python will be allowed - however, please make sure your code is completely self-contained to make it as easy as possible for me to mark. Thank you.