[Biopython] Biopython SUBA interface

[Peter]

On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 12:53 AM, Parsa Hosseini
<phosse1 at students.towson.edu> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I have some python cgi scripts which interface with the Arabidopsis
> thaliana SUBA database.
> I'd like to contribute such scripts (and hopefully much more). I was
> curious how I can go about submitting such code and/or if anyone
> would find such a script/interface of use?
> Thanks alot,

Hi Parsa,

Are these stand alone scripts that you would use at the command
line, or a Python module you can use in a Python script? Either
way we could include them...

I had a quick look at http://suba.plantenergy.uwa.edu.au/ and
it isn't clear if they have an official API. Are you doing this by
building the HTTP request and then parsing the HTML results?
If so, that is worrying for two reasons. First, it is fragile and
will need updates whenever the site makes changes to their
layout (something that has happened to other HTML parsers
in Biopython that have since been deprecated and removed).
Secondly, in the absence of an official API are there any
usage guidelines? The SUBA team may not be happy with
people running scripts that could use up far more resources
than several people using the website interface.

As to would anyone find such a script/interface of use, well,
personally probably not in my current work. But I'm sure there
are people using Biopython working on plant genomes and
Arabidopsis thaliana.

Regards,

Peter