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Downey, Allen B.
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2012
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e-book
The goal of this book is to teach you to think like a computer scientist. I like the way computer scientists think because they combine some of the best features of Mathematics, Engineering, and Natural Science. Like mathematicians,computer scientists use formal languages to denote ideas (specifically computations). Like engineers, they design things, assembling components into systems and evaluating trade offs among alternatives. Like scientists, they observe the behavior of complex systems, form hypotheses, and test predictions.The single most important skill for a computer scientist is problem-solving. By that I mean the ability to formulate problems, think creatively about solutions, and express a solution clearly and accurately. As it turns out, the process of learning to program is an excellent opportunity to practice problem-solving skills. That’s why this chapter is called “The way of the program.”
- Subjects:
- Computing
- Keywords:
- Computer programming C++ (Computer program language) Programming languages (Electronic computers) Textbooks
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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e-book
Think Bayes is an introduction to Bayesian statistics using computational methods. The premise of this book, and the other books in the Think X series, is that if you know how to program, you can use that skill to learn other topics. Most books on Bayesian statistics use mathematical notation and present ideas in terms of mathematical concepts like calculus. This book uses Python code instead of math, and discrete approximations instead of continuous mathematics. As a result, what would be an integral in a math book becomes a summation, and most operations on probability distributions are simple loops. I think this presentation is easier to understand, at least for people with programming skills. It is also more general, because when we make modeling decisions, we can choose the most appropriate model without worrying too much about whether the model lends itself to conventional analysis. Also, it provides a smooth development path from simple examples to real-world problems.
- Subjects:
- Computing and Mathematics and Statistics
- Keywords:
- Bayesian statistical decision theory Python (Computer program language) Textbooks
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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e-book
This book is about complexity science, data structures and algorithms, intermediate programming in Python, and the philosophy of science: Data structures and algorithms: A data structure is a collection that contains data elements organized in a way that supports particular operations. For example, a dictionary organizes key-value pairs in a way that provides fast mapping from keys to values, but mapping from values to keys is generally slower. An algorithm is a mechanical process for performing a computation. Designing efficient programs often involves the co-evolution of data structures and the algorithms that use them. For example, the first few chapters are about graphs, a data structure that is a good implementation of a graph---nested dictionaries---and several graph algorithms that use this data structure. Python programming: This book picks up where Think Python leaves off. I assume that you have read that book or have equivalent knowledge of Python. As always, I will try to emphasize fundmental ideas that apply to programming in many languages, but along the way you will learn some useful features that are specific to Python. Computational modeling: A model is a simplified description of a system that is useful for simulation or analysis. Computational models are designed to take advantage of cheap, fast computation. Philosophy of science: The models and results in this book raise a number of questions relevant to the philosophy of science, including the nature of scientific laws, theory choice, realism and instrumentalism, holism and reductionism, and Bayesian epistemology. This book focuses on discrete models, which include graphs, cellular automata, and agent-based models. They are often characterized by structure, rules and transitions rather than by equations. They tend to be more abstract than continuous models; in some cases there is no direct correspondence between the model and a physical system. Complexity science is an interdisciplinary field---at the intersection of mathematics, computer science and physics---that focuses on these kinds of models. That's what this book is about.
- Subjects:
- Computing
- Keywords:
- Computational complexity Python (Computer program language) Textbooks
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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e-book
Think DSP is an introduction to Digital Signal Processing in Python. The premise of this book (and the other books in the Think X series) is that if you know how to program, you can use that skill to learn other things. The author is writing this book because he thinks the conventional approach to digital signal processing is backward: most books (and the classes that use them) present the material bottom-up, starting with mathematical abstractions like phasors.
- Subjects:
- Electrical Engineering and Computing
- Keywords:
- Signal processing -- Digital techniques -- Data processing Python (Computer program language) Textbooks
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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e-book
Think Python is a concise introduction to software design using the Python programming language. Intended for people with no programming experience, this book starts with the most basic concepts and gradually adds new material. Some of the ideas students find most challenging, like recursion and object-oriented programming, are divided into a sequence of smaller steps and introduced over the course of several chapters. This textbook has been used in classes atBard College,Olin College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Maine, University of Northern Colorado.
- Subjects:
- Computing
- Keywords:
- Computer programming Python (Computer program language) Textbooks Programming languages (Electronic computers)
- Resource Type:
- e-book