This book presents computer programming as a key method for solving mathematical problems. There are two versions of the book, one for MATLAB and one for Python. The book was inspired by the Springer book TCSE 6: A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python (by Langtangen), but the style is more accessible and concise, in keeping with the needs of engineering students. The book outlines the shortest possible path from no previous experience with programming to a set of skills that allows the students to write simple programs for solving common mathematical problems with numerical methods in engineering and science courses. The emphasis is on generic algorithms, clean design of programs, use of functions, and automatic tests for verification.
This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book presents computer programming as a key method for solving mathematical problems. This second edition of the well-received book has been extensively revised: All code is now written in Python version 3.6 (no longer version 2.7). In addition, the two first chapters of the previous edition have been extended and split up into five new chapters, thus expanding the introduction to programming from 50 to 150 pages. Throughout the book, the explanations provided are now more detailed, previous examples have been modified, and new sections, examples and exercises have been added. Also, a number of small errors have been corrected. The book was inspired by the Springer book TCSE 6: A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python (by Langtangen), but the style employed is more accessible and concise, in keeping with the needs of engineering students. The book outlines the shortest possible path from no previous experience with programming to a set of skills that allows students to write simple programs for solving common mathematical problems with numerical methods in the context of engineering and science courses. The emphasis is on generic algorithms, clean program design, the use of functions, and automatic tests for verification.
The book serves as a first introduction to computer programming of scientific applications, using the high-level Python language. The exposition is example and problem-oriented, where the applications are taken from mathematics, numerical calculus, statistics, physics, biology and finance. The book teaches "Matlab-style" and procedural programming as well as object-oriented programming. High school mathematics is a required background and it is advantageous to study classical and numerical one-variable calculus in parallel with reading this book. Besides learning how to program computers, the reader will also learn how to solve mathematical problems, arising in various branches of science and engineering, with the aid of numerical methods and programming. By blending programming, mathematics and scientific applications, the book lays a solid foundation for practicing computational science. From the reviews: Langtangen ... does an excellent job of introducing programming as a set of skills in problem solving. He guides the reader into thinking properly about producing program logic and data structures for modeling real-world problems using objects and functions and embracing the object-oriented paradigm. ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. F. H. Wild III, Choice, Vol. 47 (8), April 2010 Those of us who have learned scientific programming in Python ‘on the streets’ could be a little jealous of students who have the opportunity to take a course out of Langtangen’s Primer.” John D. Cook, The Mathematical Association of America, September 2011 This book goes through Python in particular, and programming in general, via tasks that scientists will likely perform. It contains valuable information for students new to scientific computing and would be the perfect bridge between an introduction to programming and an advanced course on numerical methods or computational science. Alex Small, IEEE, CiSE Vol. 14 (2), March /April 2012 “This fourth edition is a wonderful, inclusive textbook that covers pretty much everything one needs to know to go from zero to fairly sophisticated scientific programming in Python...” Joan Horvath, Computing Reviews, March 2015
The new edition of an introductory text that teaches students the art of computational problem solving, covering topics ranging from simple algorithms to information visualization. This book introduces students with little or no prior programming experience to the art of computational problem solving using Python and various Python libraries, including PyLab. It provides students with skills that will enable them to make productive use of computational techniques, including some of the tools and techniques of data science for using computation to model and interpret data. The book is based on an MIT course (which became the most popular course offered through MIT's OpenCourseWare) and was developed for use not only in a conventional classroom but in in a massive open online course (MOOC). This new edition has been updated for Python 3, reorganized to make it easier to use for courses that cover only a subset of the material, and offers additional material including five new chapters. Students are introduced to Python and the basics of programming in the context of such computational concepts and techniques as exhaustive enumeration, bisection search, and efficient approximation algorithms. Although it covers such traditional topics as computational complexity and simple algorithms, the book focuses on a wide range of topics not found in most introductory texts, including information visualization, simulations to model randomness, computational techniques to understand data, and statistical techniques that inform (and misinform) as well as two related but relatively advanced topics: optimization problems and dynamic programming. This edition offers expanded material on statistics and machine learning and new chapters on Frequentist and Bayesian statistics.
Scripting with Python makes you productive and increases the reliability of your scientific work. Here, the author teaches you how to develop tailored, flexible, and efficient working environments built from small programs (scripts) written in Python. The focus is on examples and applications of relevance to computational science: gluing existing applications and tools, e.g. for automating simulation, data analysis, and visualization; steering simulations and computational experiments; equipping programs with graphical user interfaces; making computational Web services; creating interactive interfaces with a Maple/Matlab-like syntax to numerical applications in C/C++ or Fortran; and building flexible object-oriented programming interfaces to existing C/C++ or Fortran libraries.
This open access book offers an initial introduction to programming for scientific and computational applications using the Python programming language. The presentation style is compact and example-based, making it suitable for students and researchers with little or no prior experience in programming. The book uses relevant examples from mathematics and the natural sciences to present programming as a practical toolbox that can quickly enable readers to write their own programs for data processing and mathematical modeling. These tools include file reading, plotting, simple text analysis, and using NumPy for numerical computations, which are fundamental building blocks of all programs in data science and computational science. At the same time, readers are introduced to the fundamental concepts of programming, including variables, functions, loops, classes, and object-oriented programming. Accordingly, the book provides a sound basis for further computer science and programming studies.
This book presents computer programming as a key method for solving mathematical problems. There are two versions of the book, one for MATLAB and one for Python. The book was inspired by the Springer book TCSE 6: A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python (by Langtangen), but the style is more accessible and concise, in keeping with the needs of engineering students. The book outlines the shortest possible path from no previous experience with programming to a set of skills that allows the students to write simple programs for solving common mathematical problems with numerical methods in engineering and science courses. The emphasis is on generic algorithms, clean design of programs, use of functions, and automatic tests for verification.
Python Programming and Numerical Methods: A Guide for Engineers and Scientists introduces programming tools and numerical methods to engineering and science students, with the goal of helping the students to develop good computational problem-solving techniques through the use of numerical methods and the Python programming language. Part One introduces fundamental programming concepts, using simple examples to put new concepts quickly into practice. Part Two covers the fundamentals of algorithms and numerical analysis at a level that allows students to quickly apply results in practical settings. - Includes tips, warnings and "try this" features within each chapter to help the reader develop good programming practice - Summaries at the end of each chapter allow for quick access to important information - Includes code in Jupyter notebook format that can be directly run online
Your Python code may run correctly, but you need it to run faster. Updated for Python 3, this expanded edition shows you how to locate performance bottlenecks and significantly speed up your code in high-data-volume programs. By exploring the fundamental theory behind design choices, High Performance Python helps you gain a deeper understanding of Python’s implementation. How do you take advantage of multicore architectures or clusters? Or build a system that scales up and down without losing reliability? Experienced Python programmers will learn concrete solutions to many issues, along with war stories from companies that use high-performance Python for social media analytics, productionized machine learning, and more. Get a better grasp of NumPy, Cython, and profilers Learn how Python abstracts the underlying computer architecture Use profiling to find bottlenecks in CPU time and memory usage Write efficient programs by choosing appropriate data structures Speed up matrix and vector computations Use tools to compile Python down to machine code Manage multiple I/O and computational operations concurrently Convert multiprocessing code to run on local or remote clusters Deploy code faster using tools like Docker
More physicists today are taking on the role of software developer as part of their research, but software development isnâ??t always easy or obvious, even for physicists. This practical book teaches essential software development skills to help you automate and accomplish nearly any aspect of research in a physics-based field. Written by two PhDs in nuclear engineering, this book includes practical examples drawn from a working knowledge of physics concepts. Youâ??ll learn how to use the Python programming language to perform everything from collecting and analyzing data to building software and publishing your results. In four parts, this book includes: Getting Started: Jump into Python, the command line, data containers, functions, flow control and logic, and classes and objects Getting It Done: Learn about regular expressions, analysis and visualization, NumPy, storing data in files and HDF5, important data structures in physics, computing in parallel, and deploying software Getting It Right: Build pipelines and software, learn to use local and remote version control, and debug and test your code Getting It Out There: Document your code, process and publish your findings, and collaborate efficiently; dive into software licenses, ownership, and copyright procedures
