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For introductory courses in Python Programming and Data Structures.

A fundamentals-first approach for efficient, elegant code

Introduction to Python Programming and Data Structures, 1st Edition helps beginning students learn problem solving and programming in a broad context. It introduces basic programming concepts and techniques on selections, loops and functions before writing custom classes. Problems and exercises with varying levels of difficulty cover interesting application areas to engage and motivate students.

Hallmark features of this title

  • A problem-driven, fundamentals-first approach focuses on problem solving rather than syntax.
  • The step-by-step presentation starts at the beginning, teaching basic concepts and techniques before writing custom classes.
    • Topics flow from fundamentals to object-oriented programming, from simple functions to STL, and from simple data types to classic structures.
  • Programming exercises are grouped by level of difficulty to give students many opportunities to practice and apply skills.
  • Engaging examples and problems provide interesting context for concepts. Examples are drawn from math, science, business, finance, gaming, animation and multimedia to make the material more relatable.
  • Flexible chapter ordering allows instructors to skip or cover graphics later.

Welcome

1. Introduction to Computers, Programs, and Python

2. Elementary Programming

3. Selections

4. Mathematical Functions, Strings, and Objects

5. Loops

6. Functions

7. Lists

8. Multidimensional Lists

9. Objects and Classes

10. Basic GUI Programming Using Tkinter

11. Advanced GUI Programming Using Tkinter

12. Inheritance and Polymorphism

13. Files and Exception Handling

14. Tuples, Sets, and Dictionaries

15. Recursion

16. Developing Efficient Algorithms

17. Sorting

18. Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues, and Priority Queues

19. Binary Search Trees

20. AVL Trees

21. Hashing

22. Graphs and Applications

23. Weighted Graphs and Applications

Appendix A. Python Keywords

Appendix B. The ASCII Character Set

Appendix C. Number Systems

Appendix D. Command Line Arguments

Appendix E. Regular Expressions

Appendix F. Bitwise Operations

Symbol Index

Supplemental Material

Glossary

About our author

Dr. Liang earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Oklahoma in 1991, and his M.S. and B.S. in Computer Science from Fudan University in Shanghai, China in 1986 and 1983. Prior to joining Armstrong State University (now merged with Georgia Southern University), he was an Associate Professor in computer science at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he twice received the Excellence in Research award.

Dr. Liang is currently a Professor of Computer Science at Georgia Southern University. He was trained in theoretical computer science. He has published in the SIAM Journal on Computing, Discrete Applied Mathematics, Acta Informatics and Information Processing Letters. He is the author of more than 30 books. His popular computer science texts are widely used in the world.

Dr. Liang was elected a Java Champion by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) in 2005. He has given lectures on programming internationally.

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