title: NGS++: a library for rapid prototyping of epigenomics software tools.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The development of computational tools to enable testing and analysis of high-throughput-sequencing data is essential to modern genomics research. However, although multiple frameworks have been developed to facilitate access to these tools, comparatively little effort has been made at implementing low-level programming libraries to increase the speed and ease of their development.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We propose NGS++, a programming library in C++11 specialized in manipulating both next-generation sequencing (NGS) datasets and genomic information files. This library allows easy integration of new formats and rapid prototyping of new functionalities with a focus on the analysis of genomic regions and features. It offers a powerful, yet versatile and easily extensible interface to read, write and manipulate multiple genomic file formats. By standardizing the internal data structures and presenting a common interface to the data parser, NGS++ offers an effective framework for epigenomics tool development.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  NGS++ was written in C++ using the C++11 standard. It requires minimal efforts to build and is well-documented via a complete docXygen guide, online documentation and tutorials. Source code, tests, code examples and documentation are available via the website at http://www.ngsplusplus.ca and the github repository at https://github.com/NGS-lib/NGSplusplus.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  nicolas.gevry@usherbrooke.ca or arnaud.droit@crchuq.ulaval.ca.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nordell Markovits
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Joly Beauparlant
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Toupin
authors.forename: Shengrui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Droit
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gevry
mesh_terms: D057890:Epigenomics / Q000379:methods*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D012984:Software