October 15, 2006 (Vol. 26, No. 18)

URL:
http://watcut.uwaterloo.ca/watcut/watcut/template.php

Rating:
Strong Points: Simple
Weak Points: Could use more functions

Summary:
My involvement with scientific computing began in 1985, with a program I wrote to identify restriction sites on an old Apple IIe computer. We sold a few packages because we had the fastest such program on the market at the time. I think of that as I look at WatCut. Simple sequence manipulations, such as restriction site identification, have been trivial for some time, but this information is still needed. Like many other analyses, sites identification is available for free online. WatCut is one such offering. Operating the program is simple—load a DNA sequence from a file or paste it in a text box and the program does its thing. Users can select enzymes, perform silent mutation analysis, do SNP/RFLP analysis, and format output. Best of all, the interface is simple and the price is right.

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