Texts in Computational Science and Engineering
              Volume              62012
A Primer on Scientific Programming with PythonAuthors:

• Hans Petter Langtangen
• …show all 1hide
  

ISBN: 978-3-642-30292-3 (Print) 978-3-642-30293-0  (Online)



Series: Texts in Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 6

Langtangen, Hans Petter

3rd ed. 2012, XXXII, 798 p. 79 illus., 30 in color.

ISBN 978-3-642-30293-0

  Immediately available per PDF-download (no DRM, watermarked)

About this textbook

• Example-oriented text with all applications taken from science and engineering
•                                         Aimed at newcomers to programming and Python, but proved to be useful for professionals too
•                                         All examples are accompanied by complete program codes, which can be modified to the reader's needs
•                                         Covers both Matlab-style "simple" programming and object-oriented programming
•                                         Demonstrates how Python can be an alternative to Matlab in scientific computing
  

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.

Authors & Editors
Hans Petter Langtangen is a professor of computer science at the University of Oslo. He has formely been a professor of mechanics and is now the director of a Norwegian Center of Excellence: "Center for Biomedical Computing", at Simula Research Laboratory. Langtangen has published over 100 scientific publications and written several books, including papers and a book on Python's potential for scientific computing. He has also developed open source and commercial software systems for computational sciences.

• Reviews
  

From the reviews of the third edition:
“A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python simultaneously introduces us to the Python programming language and its use in scientific computing. … The reader will learn good Python programming style from the Primer. The book will often present a direct solution using only the most basic language features … . 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)