Book Image

Applied Computational Thinking with Python

By : Sofía De Jesús, Dayrene Martinez
Book Image

Applied Computational Thinking with Python

By: Sofía De Jesús, Dayrene Martinez

Overview of this book

Computational thinking helps you to develop logical processing and algorithmic thinking while solving real-world problems across a wide range of domains. It's an essential skill that you should possess to keep ahead of the curve in this modern era of information technology. Developers can apply their knowledge of computational thinking to solve problems in multiple areas, including economics, mathematics, and artificial intelligence. This book begins by helping you get to grips with decomposition, pattern recognition, pattern generalization and abstraction, and algorithm design, along with teaching you how to apply these elements practically while designing solutions for challenging problems. You’ll then learn about various techniques involved in problem analysis, logical reasoning, algorithm design, clusters and classification, data analysis, and modeling, and understand how computational thinking elements can be used together with these aspects to design solutions. Toward the end, you will discover how to identify pitfalls in the solution design process and how to choose the right functionalities to create the best possible algorithmic solutions. By the end of this algorithm book, you will have gained the confidence to successfully apply computational thinking techniques to software development.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introduction to Computational Thinking
9
Section 2:Applying Python and Computational Thinking
14
Section 3:Data Processing, Analysis, and Applications Using Computational Thinking and Python
20
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Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Computer Science

The world of computer science is a broad and complex one. Not only is it constantly changing and evolving, but the components we consider part of computer science are also adapting and adjusting. The computational thinking process allows us to tackle any problem presented with purpose and focus. No matter what the problem is, we can break it down, find patterns that will help us find solutions, generalize our solutions, and design algorithms that can help us provide solutions to the problems.

Throughout this book, we will be looking at the computational thinking process carefully, tackling problems in multiple areas and using the Python programming language and associated libraries and packages to create algorithms that help us solve these problems. Before moving into the problems, however, we will explore some of the important computer science concepts that will help us navigate the rest of the book.

In this chapter, we will explore the following topics:

  • Introduction to computer science
  • Theoretical computer science
  • Systems software
  • Computing
  • Data types and structures