A Student’s Guide to Python for Physical Modeling

Python is a computer programming language that is rapidly gaining popularity throughout the sciences. A Student’s Guide to Python for Physical Modeling aims to help you, the student, teach yourself enough of the Python programming language to get started with physical modeling. You will learn how to install an open-source Python programming environment and use it to accomplish many common scientific computing tasks: importing, exporting, and visualizing data; numerical analysis; and simulation. No prior programming experience is assumed.

This tutorial focuses on fundamentals and introduces a wide range of useful techniques, including:

• Basic Python programming and scripting
• Numerical arrays
• Two- and three-dimensional graphics
• Monte Carlo simulations
• Numerical methods, including solving ordinary differential equations
• Image processing
• Animation

Numerous code samples and exercises–with solutions–illustrate new ideas as they are introduced. Web-based resources also accompany this guide and include code samples, data sets, and more.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Getting Started with Python
Chapter 2 Structure and Control
Chapter 3 Data In, Results Out
Chapter 4 First Computer Lab
Chapter 5 More Python Constructions
Chapter 6 Second Computer Lab
Chapter 7 Still More Techniques
Chapter 8 Third Computer Lab

Appendix A Installing Python
Appendix B Errors and Error Messages
Appendix C Python 2 versus Python 3
Appendix D Under the Hood
Appendix E Answers to “Your Turn” Questions