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.