This book, along with Beginning Perl for Bioinformatics, forms a basic course in Perl Programming. It covers the core Perl language and many of its module extensions, presenting them in the context of biological data and problems of pressing interest to the biology community. The second volume finishes the basic Perl tutorial material (references, complex data structures, object-oriented programming, use of modules - all presented in a biological context) and presents some advanced topics of considerable interest in bioinformatics. All material is presented at a level of detail that is of practical use to practitioners as well as to students.
Other O'Reilly books on bioinformatics include Developing Bioinformatics Computer Skills, Beginning Perl for Bioinformatics, and BLAST.