Bioperl is a collection of more than 500 Perl modules for bioinformatics that have been written and maintained by an international group of volunteers. Bioperl is free (under a very unrestrictive copyright), and its home is http://bioperl.org. One of the most difficult things about Bioperl is getting started using it. This is due to a scarcity of good documentation (which is being rectified) as well as the sheer size of the Bioperl module library. This paper will help one get started using the Bioperl project software; it will guide one through the initial steps of getting the software, installing it, and exploring the tutorial and example material that it provides.

This is chapter 9 of Mastering Perl for Bioinformatics by James Tisdall. Free registration at ZD Net is required to view the PDF.