The Rosalind project provides an opportunity for learning bioinformatics through problem solving. Rosalind works the following way:

• you select a problem to solve from a list of available problems,
• you look through the problem and work out your solution (an example input and output is provided for each problem),
• you download a random dataset and provide the output of your solution for that specific dataset,
• the output is then checked by the Rosalind system and you get feedback immediately.

I”ve seen a lot of bioinformatics/programming related online learning materials in the last few months and Rosalind is one of the best I”ve come across so far. I definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about bioinformatics abd scripting.

Rosalind offers three “locations”:

• Python Village: this place is for people who don”t know anything about programming. It”s basically an interactive Python tutorial.
• Bioinformatics Stronghold: this is the actual “solving biology related problems by scripting” part of the project.
• Bioinformatics Armory: this place is for problem solving with existing tools.

A few facts about Rosalind:

• It”s completely free.
• It”s computer platform and programming language independent.
• There are badges and achievements and you can also collect XP which all help you keep motivated (and make you feel like you”re playing a computer game).
• The project was named after Rosalind Franklin, who is probably one of the most underappreciated scientists of all time.