ISMB99 - Tutorial 9
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This tutorial will describe an open systems approach to the development of integrated and distributed computing systems with an emphasis on the use of PERL tools, XML, and standards for the next generation internet. Computational support for distributed data management in the molecular biology laboratory requires tools that are robust, portable, easily extensible and available a low-cost. To address these needs we have developed PERL database abstraction, object serialization and distributed computing toolkits. This tutorial will introduce relevant technologies and provide examples of production software using these tools. Several core computational technologies will be addressed. These will include relational databases and the RDBAL Relational Database Abstraction Layer that we have developed to support vendor independent database development. PQEDIT, a PERL query by example data editor and automated forms generator that uses RDBAL to reverse engineer relational database schemas. Object serialization using XML and data interchange in heterogeneous multilingual environment will be described. SQL and XML will be introduced in the course of this presentation. Issues in distributed computing using HTTP communications will be discussed including response time, load balancing, communications reliability, data distribution strategies, and user/service management. The RCGI.pm toolkit for distributed computing will be introduced and used in examples. |