Editing Computational biology (section)

===Open source software===
[[Open source software]] provides a platform for computational biology where everyone can access and benefit from software developed in research.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Boudreau |first1=Mathieu |last2=Poline |first2=Jean-Baptiste |last3=Bellec |first3=Pierre |last4=Stikov |first4=Nikola |date=2021-02-11 |title=On the open-source landscape of PLOS Computational Biology |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=e1008725 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008725 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7358 |pmc=7877734 |pmid=33571204|bibcode=2021PLSCB..17E8725B }}</ref> [[PLOS]] cites four main reasons for the use of open source software:
* [[Reproducibility]]: This allows for researchers to use the exact methods used to calculate the relations between biological data.
* Faster development: developers and researchers do not have to reinvent existing code for minor tasks. Instead they can use pre-existing programs to save time on the development and implementation of larger projects.
* Increased quality: Having input from multiple researchers studying the same topic provides a layer of assurance that errors will not be in the code.
* Long-term availability: Open source programs are not tied to any businesses or patents. This allows for them to be posted to multiple [[web page]]s and ensure that they are available in the future.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=PLOS Computational Biology| doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002799 | volume=8| issue=11 |title=The PLOS Computational Biology Software Section|pages=e1002799|year=2012|last1=Prlić|first1=Andreas| last2=Lapp | first2=Hilmar |pmc=3510099| bibcode=2012PLSCB...8E2799P | doi-access=free }}</ref>