This blog accompanies A Student’s Guide to Python for Physical Modeling by Jesse M. Kinder and Philip Nelson. The book is now in its second edition ! A Student’s Guide provides an introduction to the Python computer language and a few libraries (NumPy, SciPy, and PyPlot) that will enable students to get started in physical modeling. Some of the topics covered include the following: basic Python programming importing and exporting data numerical arrays 2D and 3D plotting Monte Carlo simulations numerical integration solving ordinary differential equations symbolic mathematics animation image processing Python classes version control with Git You can have a look at the Table of Contents . On this Web site, you will find data sets, code samples, errata, additional resources, and extended discussions of the topics introduced in the book. Enjoy! Plots created with NumPy and PyPlot.
We are pleased to announce the second edition of A Student’s Guide to Python for Physical Modeling ! The book will be available in early August, in time for fall classes. We have updated the book to reflect changes in the language, and we have added new material on methods that have become more prominent in scientific programming in recent years — such as data science and version control. The second edition is about 70 pages longer than the updated edition. However, we maintained the concise, hands-on approach of earlier editions and worked diligently to make the text clear and easy to follow. New Material Our first task was to bring everything up to date so that readers can build a working Python environment from scratch. Everything from installation instructions to screenshots have been brought up to date. We also developed and tested all code with the latest version of Python: Python 3.9. We made a deliberate effort to use simple constructs and standard libraries, so the code