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Introduction to computing and programming in Python (4th ed.)
Guzdial M., Ericson B., Pearson, New York, NY, 2015. 528 pp. Type: Book (978-0-134025-54-4)
Date Reviewed: Sep 21 2017

Finding a topic to motivate students to want to learn to program is a challenge for any programming teacher. The media computation class at Georgia Institute of Technology was developed to provide that motivation for the general student population. The topics covered in this book are aimed at teaching students something about digital media, as well as programming and computer science (CS) concepts.

As can be inferred from the title, this textbook teaches programming with Python (Jython). A specialized development environment with built-in access to reading and writing digital media files eases the introduction of CS concepts to students who may be more interested in how these digital files are created, modified, and stored. The authors cite research that indicates learning is best remembered when the concepts and skills are related to many different ideas or to ideas that come up in everyday circumstances. Programming constructs are introduced with concrete examples that have students generating their own image or sound files. As the course progresses, students may start asking questions that can be answered by introducing more abstract CS ideas.

The programming basics include creating variables, assignment, creating functions, and using loops, conditionals, and arrays. The media objects include text, images, sounds, and movies. There are also chapters that introduce files, databases, and web development. Some intentional replication can be found between the image and sound coding examples as a way to introduce the idea that the same algorithm can provide similar effects on different media types. Readers will find good programming practices, such as using meaningful variable names and judicious use of comments, sprinkled throughout the discussion.

Toward the end of the book, the chapters start to cover more abstract topics such as computing speed, functional programming, and object-oriented programming. These topics have been placed later in the book intentionally because they become more relevant to students after they have completed the coding exercises earlier in the book.

This is not a generic learn-to-program-in-Python book since it is focused on media computation and it takes a slightly different approach to introducing programming and CS concepts. The main purpose of this book is to be a textbook for introducing CS to a general student population. Therefore, the intended audience includes undergraduate students (and professors teaching the class) or advanced placement (AP) CS teachers and students. I would recommend it for teachers looking for a text that will appeal to a wide variety of students or the motivated self-learner interested in learning about media manipulation.

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Reviewer:  Julia Yousefi Review #: CR145557 (1711-0695)
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