A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python

Hans Petter Langtangen is a professor of computer science at the University of Oslo. He has formerly 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 the bestseller TCSE 6 "A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python", now in its 5th edition. He has also developed open source and commercial software systems for computational sciences.

Preface.- Computing with Formulas.- Loops and Lists.- Functions and Branching.- User Input and Error Handling.- Array Computing and Curve Plotting.- Dictionaries and Strings.- Introduction to Classes.- Random Numbers and Simple Games.- Object-Oriented Programming.- Sequences and Difference Equations.- Introduction to Discrete Calculus.- Introduction to Differential Equations.- A Complete Differential Equation Project.- Programming of Differential Equations.- Debugging.- Migrating Python to Compiled Code.- Technical Topics.- References.- Index.

"This update to previous editions ... continues to serve as an excellent introduction to scientific programming and the Python programming language. ... Each chapter has a significant collection of exercises, which reinforce the concepts contained in the chapter. ... this is an excellent book for any individual starting to learn scientific programming, and it will serve as a great reference book for those working in the field. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates." (D. B. Mason, Choice, Vol. 54 (9), May, 2017)

"The authors have made a very concerted effort to describe Python in a very easy, flowing way with many useful case studies. ... I have no hesitation in recommending this book for senior high school students or freshmen in college. One must certainly have access to the Python development environment, and this book will be a worthy companion in the journey to mastering programming concepts." (Naga Narayanaswamy, Computing Reviews, May, 2017)

"All the concepts are illustrated using relatively simple examples that are mostly mathematical. ... This book gives a thorough course to learn Python, and yet it is all brought at the level of a first year at the university. The fact that each concept is introduced with an example is essential. ... it is a description of how the language is used, which is a very natural approach." (European Mathematical Society, euro-math-soc.eu, August, 2016)