1. Introduction to Computers and Python

Objectives

• Learn about exciting recent developments in computing.
• Learn computer hardware, software and Internet basics.
• Understand the data hierarchy from bits to databases.
• Understand the different types of programming languages.
• Understand object-oriented programming basics.

Objectives (cont.)

• Understand the strengths of Python and other leading programming languages.
• Understand the importance of libraries.
• Be introduced to key Python and data-science libraries you’ll use in this book.
• Test-drive the IPython interpreter’s interactive mode for executing Python code.
• Execute a Python script that animates a bar chart.

Objectives (cont.)

• Create and test-drive a web-browser-based Jupyter Notebook for executing Python code.
• Learn how big “big data” is and how quickly it’s getting even bigger.
• Read a big-data case study on a mobile navigation app.
• Be introduced to artificial intelligence—at the intersection of computer science and data science.

Outline

• 1.1   Introduction
• 1.2   Hardware and Software
  • 1.2.1  Moore’s Law
  • 1.2.2  Computer Organization
• 1.3   Data Hierarchy
• 1.4   Machine Languages, Assembly Languages and High-Level Languages
• 1.5   Introduction to Object Technology
• 1.6   Operating Systems
• 1.7   Python
• 1.8   It’s the Libraries!
  • 1.8.1  Python Standard Library
  • 1.8.2  Data-Science Libraries
• 1.9   Other Popular Programming Languages
• 1.10   Test-Drives: Using IPython and Jupyter Notebooks
  • 1.10.1  Using IPython Interactive Mode as a Calculator
  • 1.10.2  Executing a Python Program Using the IPython Interpreter
  • 1.10.3  Writing and Executing Code in a Jupyter Notebook
• 1.11   Internet and World Wide Web
  • 1.11.1  Internet: A Network of Networks
  • 1.11.2  World Wide Web: Making the Internet User-Friendly
  • 1.11.3  The Cloud
  • 1.11.4  Internet of Things
• 1.12   Software Technologies
• 1.13   How Big Is Big Data?
  • 1.13.1  Big Data Analytics
  • 1.13.2  Data Science and Big Data Are Making a Difference: Use Cases
• 1.14   Case Study—A Big-Data Mobile Application
• 1.15   Intro to Data Science: Artificial Intelligence—at the Intersection of CS and Data Science
• Exercises

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©1992–2020 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This content is based on Chapter 1 of the book Intro to Python for Computer Science and Data Science: Learning to Program with AI, Big Data and the Cloud.

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