[PDF] Python Scripting for Computational Science Hans Petter Langtangen

The goal of this book is to teach computational scientists and engineers how to develop tailored, flexible, and efficient working environments built from small programs (scripts) written in the easy-to-learn, very high-level language Python. The focus is on examples and applications of relevance to computational science: gluing existing applications and tools, e.g. for automating simulation, data analysis, and visualization; steering simulations and computational experiments; equipping programs with graphical user interfaces; making computational Web services; creating interactive interfaces with a Maple/Matlab-like syntax to numerical applications in C/C++ or Fortran; and building flexible object-oriented programming interfaces to existing C/C++ or Fortran libraries. In short, scripting with Python makes you much more productive, increases the reliability of your scientific work and lets you have more fun – under Unix, Windows and MacIntosh.