# Preface

## About This Course

This course is developed by Talal Al-Yazeedi, currently working as a research assistant professor at the **Khalifa Center for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (KCGEB)** at **United Arab Emirates University (UAEU)**. This bioinformatics course is delivered in dual language (**Arabic and English**). While the course materials are provided in English, sessions will be delivered using both Arabic and English languages. It is designed to provide students and researchers with a solid foundation in genomics and bioinformatics, bridging the gap between biological concepts and computational analysis. This course assumes trainees do not have any prior knowledge of command-line interfaces. The course will start by introducing basic concepts and will move towards handling real-life data for the most common bioinformatics analyses.

## Who Is This Course For?

This course is intended for:

- **Graduate students** in biology, biotechnology, or related fields who want to add computational skills to their toolkit
- **Researchers** transitioning into genomics who need practical bioinformatics training
- **Biologists** interested in analysing their own sequencing data
- **Anyone** curious about how computational methods are applied to biological problems

## Learning Philosophy

Our approach emphasises:

1. **Hands-on learning** - Every concept is accompanied by practical exercises using real data
2. **Reproducibility** - All analyses are designed to be reproducible and well-documented
3. **Building blocks** - Skills are introduced incrementally, with each session building on previous ones

*Additional sessions will be added as the course develops.*

## Prerequisites

Before starting this course, you should have:

- **Basic molecular biology knowledge** - Understanding of DNA, RNA, genes, and proteins
- **Command-line familiarity** - Comfortable navigating directories and running commands

:::{admonition} New to the command line?
:class: tip
Don't worry if you're not comfortable with the command line yet. We recommend completing a basic Unix/Linux tutorial. However, we will take you through the basics of Unix commands in the first few sessions. Resources like [GeeksforGeeks Unix introduction](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/linux-unix/essential-linuxunix-commands/) are helpful.
:::

## How to Use This Course

1. **Read the theory sections** to understand the concepts
2. **Run the code examples** in your own environment
3. **Complete the exercises** at the end of each session
4. **Experiment** — modify the code and see what happens

## Acknowledgments

This course was made possible through the support of:

- **Khalifa Center for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology**
- **United Arab Emirates University**
- The open-source bioinformatics community

## Contact

For questions, suggestions, or feedback about this course, please:

- Open an issue on [GitHub](https://github.com/alyazeeditalal/bioinformatics_training)
- Contact the course instructor directly

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*Let's begin your journey into bioinformatics!*