Think Julia: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

by Ben Lauwens, Allen B Downey

If you're just learning how to program, Julia is an excellent JIT-compiled, dynamically typed language with a clean syntax. This hands-on guide uses Julia 1.0 to walk you through programming one step at a time, beginning with basic programming concepts before moving on to more advanced capabilities, such as creating new types and multiple dispatch.

Designed from the beginning for high performance, Julia is a general-purpose language ideal for not only numerical analysis and computational science but also web programming and scripting. Through exercises in each chapter, you'll try out programming concepts as you learn them. Think Julia is perfect for students at the high school or college level as well as self-learners and professionals who need to learn programming basics.


Start with the basics, including language syntax and semantics
Get a clear definition of each programming concept
Learn about values, variables, statements, functions, and data structures in a logical progression
Discover how to work with files and databases
Understand types, methods, and multiple dispatch
Use debugging techniques to fix syntax, runtime, and semantic errors
Explore interface design and data structures through case studies

Genres: Programming, Computers, Computer Science

298 pages, ebook

Published April 5, 2019

Reviews

[C. Hinsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good introduction for someone who has familiarity with similar languages (particularly Python & R). It spent a lot of time in the first half going over very simple ideas, with only an occasional insight into what makes using Julia a little different from other languages, but the second half sped through features quickly and not exploring their use very deeply. I'd have liked to have seen macros and generators covered a little more in-depth, especially considering the expressiveness of Julia's vaguely Lisp-like symbol/macro system. Regardless, I feel significantly more comfortable writing Julia after reading this book; it's probably the fastest way to get up on your feet in the language.

[Luka Androjna · Rating 4 out of 5]

more of a "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" with bits of "Think Julia", last few chapters really go into Julia though.

[Paolo Quadri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic introduction of the language.
It does not touch anything beyond the standard library

[Ed Terrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Julia was created to offer the simplicity of Python, the statistical capabilities of R, and the speed of C and C++."

Think Julia is an excellent entry into the world of Julia, a modern programming language. Strong focus on hands-on programming and skill development with lots of examples as well as challenging problems to solve. At half way through, I was motivated to write a small program to brute force attack crossword puzzles by knowing only a few letters and the length of the word. It worked pretty well! Since Julia is relatively new, there are not as many answers to specific issues on StackOverflow, that you would find with Python, but that is changing. Worthwhile read.

[Ross Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference! I have written code in Julia for almost a year now and reading this book revealed a lot of great information and resources that will make their way into my code. I’m sure the book will be a solid desk reference for many years to come. Definitely good for novice programmers learning Julia as their first language. However, getting the most out of this book is likely only possible If Julia is not your first language or if you already know some basic Julia. Some topics are quite abstract and would be difficult to grasp for someone with no prior programming experience.

[Peter Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, solid intro to programming. Basically a translation of its Python sibling, and shows it (eg Monty Python snippet examples, but more materially in the way dictionaries, etc introduced) but that's not a problem.

It does feel a bit generic ie this could be any language. OK for some audiences, but if you want to understand eg Julia for scientific computing and how to use it for real, will need to look elsewhere. This book is more an intro to programming that happens to use Julia, than a guide to using Julia in the wild. Nothing wrong with that of course, if that's what you need.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the best learning to program book I've ever read. It doesn't go into great detail, but it provides the background needed to explore further into julia programming. You're left with enough practival knowledge to get started, and the info you need to find the things you want to know. It can serve as a guide to basic functions while you learn, and it is a great introduction for programming in general if you need that as well.

[Chee Wai Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have tried out most of the exercises. Able to follow through. I think the latest Julia IDE is not stable. Need to use a lower version (1.0.3) in order for me to try out most of the examples in this book.

[Eric Mesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book introducing you to how to use Julia to solve problems. I describe Julia to others as - what if Python had been designed for data analysis instead of falling backwards into that role? This book is well-written and does a great job at presenting the way Julia works.

[Eduardo Perea Fernandez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Super basic programming book. When it could get interesting with julia goodness it speeds up miserably

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Focusses more on the "Think Like a Computer Scientist" part then on the language itself, and there offering only a glimpse rather than a broad introduction as I thought it would deliver.