Rating: 

introduction to this complex research area, and relevant pointers to

further information. It is pleasant to read and, I believe, accessible

to the broad concerned audience.

Its weak point, in my opinion, is the huge amount of non-specific introductory

material. As a medical researcher and programmer I am already familiar with

Unix, Perl and SQL servers as well as with the basics of molecular biology.

Thus, about 150 pages from the book are useless to me.

It would have been better just to refer readers to relevant introductory

ressources in order to leave more room for the core material. For instance

for a more torough presentation of algorithms and discussion of their limits,

from a scientific point of view. I would also have appreciated a better

coverage of the practical use of biological software tools which are often

poorly documented (unlike Unix, Perl etc...).

Anyway, thank you for the good job.