Introduction

In these few chapters, we will explain the role of scientists within the framework. Specifically, we will talk about BraneScript and Bakery, two domain-specific languages (DSLs) for Brane that are used to write workflows. Concretely, this chapters will thus focus on writing the high-level workflows that may implement a specific use-case.

To start, we recommend that you first read the next section to get a little background and read about some terminology that we will be using. After that, you can go the next chapter, where we will discuss preparing your machine for interacting with Brane.

Background

Typically, workflows revolve around packages that contain external functions (also known as package functions). These are treated extensively in the chapters for software engineers, but all a scientist needs to know is that each function is an algorithm that maybe be executed on a remote backend, managed by Brane.

Another important concept is that of datasets, which are (typically large) files or other sources that contain the data that package functions may operate on. For example, a dataset may be a CSV file with tabular data; or in another instance, it's a compressed archive of CT-scan images.

Workflows are typically in the business of using a combination of package functions acting on certain datasets to achieve certain goals. In short, they are high-level descriptions and implementation of a use-case. And that's exactly the role that a Scientist has in the Brane framework: writing these high-level workflows using low-level packages provided by software engineers as implementation.

Next

In the next chapter, we will walk you through setting up your machine to start writing workflows. If you have already done so previously, you can also skip ahead and learn how to manage packages for your workflows.