FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Q: What is SPARGEL?
A: SPARGEL is a tiny Java graph library for the MolBI group. Atm it is more or less a collection of some interfaces.

Q: What does the name SPARGEL mean?
A: Sparse graph extension library. The german word 'Spargel' means asparagus. Asparagus is tasty, healthy and green.

Q: Who develops SPARGEL?
A: Some people from the Molecular Bioinformatics group at Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany, are developing SPARGEL. We apply graphs to very in different fields and use SPARGEL to share graph algorithms and other code.

Q: How can SPARGEL help me / What does it do for me?
A: Extending the classes and implementing the interfaces that come with SPARGEL when writing your own graph classes allows you to use the graph analysis algorithms implemented in SPARGEL.

Q: Who uses SPARGEL and what is the intended audience?
A: This is intended for our personal use, but we share it here under an open license in case anybody else finds it useful.

Q: I want to use SPARGEL. How do I get started?
A: We do not recommend to use SPARGEL yet since it is in a very early development state and changes a lot. And no, I'm not only talking about the implemented algorithms here, the interfaces themselves may change at any time without prior notice.

Q: I implemented an algorithm and want to contribute it to the SPARGEL project!
A: That's great! If you have write access to the SVN, (MolBI group members only atm) tell Tim about it and commit it. If you do not have write access, [contact] Tim and send a patch.