About This Book

This book is a reference manual to guide you through the process of learningPython and how to use it in modern computer applications, such as data science,artificial intelligence, physical computing, and robotics. If you are looking to learna little about a lot of exciting things, then this is the book for you. It gives you anintroduction to the topics that you will need to go deeper into any of these areasof technology.This book guides you through the Python language and then it takes you on a tourthrough some really cool libraries and technologies (the Raspberry Pi, robotics, AI,data science, and so on) all revolving around the Python language. When you workon new projects and new technologies, Python is there for you with an incrediblydiverse number of libraries just waiting for you to use.This is a hands-on book. There are examples and code all throughout the book.You are expected to take the code, run it, and then modify it to do what you want.You don’t just buy a robot, you build it so you can understand all the pieces andcan make sense of the way Python works with the robot to control all the motorsand sensors. Artificial intelligence is complicated, but Python helps make a significant part of it accessible. Data science is complicated, but Python helps you dodata science more easily. Robotics is complicated, but Python gives you the codethat controls the robot. And Python even allows us to tie these pieces together anduse, say, AI in robotics.In this book, we take you through the basics of the Python language in small,easy-to-understand steps. After we have introduced you to the language, then we   step into the world of Python and artificial intelligence, exploring programmingin machine learning and neural networks using Python and TensorFlow and actually working on real problems and real software, not just toy applications.After that, we’re off to the exciting world of Big Data and data science with Python.We look at big public data sets such as medical and environmental data all usingPython.Finally, you get to experience the magic of what I call “physical computing.”Using the small, inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer (it’s small, but incrediblypopular) we show you how to use Python to control motors and read sensors. Thisis a lead-up to our final book, “Python and Robotics.” Here you learn how to builda robot and how to control that robot with Python and your own programs, evenusing artificial intelligence.This is not your mother’s RC car.Python data science, robotics, AI, and fun all in the same book.This book won’t make you understand everything about these fields, but it willgive you a great introduction to the terminology and the power of Python in allthese fields. Enjoy the book and go forth and learn more afterwards.