OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING FOR THE BIOSCIENCES

The development of software systems for the biosciences is always clos ely connected to experimental practice. Programs must be able to handl e the inherent complexity and heterogeneous structure of biological sy stems in combination with the measuring equipment. Moreover, a high de gree of flexibility is required to treat rapidly changing experimental conditions. Object-oriented methodology seems to be well suited for t his purpose. It enables an evolutionary approach to software developme nt that still maintains a high degree of modularity. This paper presen ts experience with object-oriented technology gathered during several years of programming in the fields of bioprocess development and metab olic engineering. It concentrates on the aspects of experimental suppo rt, data analysis, interaction and visualization. Several examples are presented and discussed in the general context of the experimental cy cle of knowledge acquisition, thus pointing out the benefits and probl ems of object-oriented technology in the specific application field of the biosciences. Finally, some strategies for future developments are described.