External
Software Guidelines
Support for external software is one of the most powerful
features of the Systems Biology Research Tool. It allows skilled
software developers to:
1. |
Create their own SBRT processes (by
implementing process plug-ins) that can be freely distributed
among other SBRT users. |
2. |
Avoid "reinventing the wheel" by utilizing
pre-existing software. |
3. |
Encapsulate complicated software packages
or libraries as user-friendly SBRT processes, making sophisticated
computational techniques accessible to researchers with no
programming ability, and for free. |
Nevertheless, developers should proceed with prudence when
creating and calling external software. The following guidelines are
worth considering before calling external software from your process
plug-in.
1. |
If reasonable, avoid calling external
software altogether. This reduces the number of dependencies for
your plug-in, which makes installation easier for the end-user. |
2. |
If reasonable, call external software that
is already supported by the Systems Biology Research Tool. This also
makes installation of your process plug-in easier for the end-user. |
3. |
If reasonable, avoid calling external
software written in languages other than Java. This makes your life
easier, because you won't have to supply compiled libraries for all
the different operating systems and architectures, which is
beneficial for the end-user, as well. |
4. |
If reasonable, avoid calling commerical
software, because it is usually closed-source and it isn't free.
Consequently, it may be impossible to improve its performance if
that becomes necessary, and some fraction of the user and developer
community will be unable to use your plug-in. |
|