Bookreview: Python scripting for computational science

high quality textbook

Written by Hans Petter Langtangen
Written in English
ISBN 978-3540739159

Python scripting for computational science is an unusually good textbook. The author goes straight to the point without beating around the bush and the book is full of simple to understand examples. There are three things to be aware of before buying this book. First of all it's written for people who are into computational science. In other words not a good choice for those who simply want to learn Python. If that's your goal there are much better choices available.

However, if you are into simulations, statistics, modeling and the likes this is definitely the book you should choose for learning Python. The examples in the book are typically the kind of examples the later group will enjoy. Something else you should be aware of is the fact that the author has a somewhat non-traditional method of teaching certain subjects. A good example is the topic of regular expressions. The approach is to give the reader examples that don't work and ask them to try to figure out why they don't work. This is a well bound book, looks very nice on the shelf and you really feel the quality while flipping the pages.