3 Introduction

Bio-PEPA is a high-level modelling language for describing models of biochemical processes (for more information see [1]). Models can be concisely expressed in a notation similar to that of a programming language, and visualised, analysed and shared. However, this manual is concerned with how to use the Bio-PEPA software; it does not include an introduction to the Bio-PEPA language. For this, see [11].

The Bio-PEPA Eclipse Plug-in is a complete development environment for Bio-PEPA models. Models can be composed using the built-in editor, simulated using both stochastic and deterministic simulators and the results can be plotted in graphical form. In addition to this the Bio-PEPA Eclipse Plug-in supports experimentation with models and export of models to different formats such as SBML which can be processed with other modelling tools.

The Bio-PEPA Eclipse Plug-in is written in Java and is freely available without charge. The Bio-PEPA Eclipse Plug-in does not depend on external libraries. It can be used on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.