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Hi all,
Long time member here at TL, never really got into posting much but I thought I would give it a try.
Currently I am a beginner at programming and I have installed python and have written a couple of simple scripts (guess the random number, montecarlo simulation, etc etc). I am a double major in mathematics and economics, so I am trying to use python a bit computationally.
Does anyone know any good modules/libraries/addons (not sure what they are called) that support numerical analysis stuff and a way to plot stuff on graphs?
I have heard stuff about numpy and some sort of plotting addon, but I am super confused on even installing it even though they have "instructions (confusing)" on their website. Do you guys know any other things or know how to install stuff like that? What are some good forums that are beginner friendly.
Right now I am trying to learn programming on projects and trying to figure shit out. What other ways are good at learning programming.
cheers
 
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I thought this had something to do with the map Python.
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That's why I included "programming" in the title :D
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Braavos36402 Posts
which version of python do you have? 1.1 or 1.3?
because in 1.3 its harder to spot bugs
ba dum ch
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Should be able to get what you want by googling python math api
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Zurich15366 Posts
Python is very popular in the Sciene / Math community. I bet there are numerous packages out there, you'll have to sift though google results for a while.
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I'm getting sick of Python.
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On February 19 2009 17:05 [r]h_probe wrote:
That's why I included "programming" in the title :D
i saw it as python progamming -_-;;;
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On February 19 2009 18:54 Ilikestarcraft wrote:Show nested quote +On February 19 2009 17:05 [r]h_probe wrote:
That's why I included "programming" in the title :D i saw it as python progamming -_-;;;
whats progamming?
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On February 19 2009 18:08 zatic wrote:
Python is very popular in the Sciene / Math community. I bet there are numerous packages out there, you'll have to sift though google results for a while.
From what I hear, there aren't that many python packages out there. I've been told I'm one of the lucky few.
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Canada9720 Posts
http://www.python.org/ and their forums should have a nice list of most of the popular libraries and apis available for cpython.
python is a great first programming language, because it has both a concise and easily readable syntax. one thing that may throw off beginners is the need for indentation and the importance of white space in general.
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I don't find that need for indentation bad at all. It enhances the readability of the code. Having to take care of all the braces in other languages is much more annoying.
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I have taken a semester course in Python, so I know a few basics, but not too much really. I find that just doing the weekly exercises that you are given enhances your understanding alot. When you poke around and find out what works and what doesnt work. After a while you learn the syntax by heart.
THAT is when programming becomes fun, because now you can focus on making the program, and not fighting with that stupid syntax all the time(although you'll still run into alot of errors i bet :p)
I don't know if you're taking a class or not, but motivation is very important, as with any other task.
If your motivation is there, I'd recommend buying a book on Python, because it is often more structured and the tasks are setup to increase your knowledge incrementally. Atleast that is my experience.
When I tried to get into programming by just reading on the internet i got very confused, a book helped me tons atleast.
On indentation : I love it. I've done programming in both java and Python, and I find the Python code alot cleaner.
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On February 19 2009 18:56 Mastermind wrote:Show nested quote +On February 19 2009 18:54 Ilikestarcraft wrote:On February 19 2009 17:05 [r]h_probe wrote:
That's why I included "programming" in the title :D i saw it as python progamming -_-;;; whats progamming?
progaming oops
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I'm a python dev, ask me anything you like.
You want numpy and matplotlib. I sometimes use PIL (python imaging library) to draw graphs, but that's because I have something of a masochistic streak.
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/users/pyplot_tutorial.html
If you google numpy/matplotlib "tutorial" you should find quite a few resources to get you started.
Since you say you're having trouble installing them, I suppose you're on windows (frown). In that case, get the Enthought python distribution and forget installing anything yourself: http://www.enthought.com/products/getepd.php
It's free for academics, and comes with every single productivity-related python module you could possibly imagine, including numpy/scipy/matplotlib/etc
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different from pythong progaming...
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Thanks for all the comments guys, especially miseiler. A followup question: are any good python specific forums? I will definitely shout out a question or two if needed miseiler.
Dknight.... I can't believe you remembered my name after such a long time. Want to play a game of bw to catch up sometime? Whats the state of the [cf] crew?
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I learned a little Python over winter break. I don't really like it. Meh. But since no one's mentioned it:pythonchallenge.com
I think you can probably start on that without any programming experience, to be honest. It's mostly just knowing the right module to use and then the most complicated programming you have to do is nested for loops.
If you try it out, I would advise you to find out which module to use immediately either by understanding the hints or looking it up the forum. Also, on challenges where you have to do text parsing, don't do it the ugly way. And once you beat a level, I bet looking at a bunch of different solutions on the wiki would be very helpful for your programming skills.
Some of the challenges are pretty cool. The coolest one I remember was where you had to take a 1x10000 image and turn it into a 100x100 image by arranges the pixels in a special way.
I don't recall any problem that's very interesting mathematically, so I don't know if it will interest you. But if it does, feel free to PM if you get stuck on any of em up to 20-something (I GOT BORED I DIDN'T GIVE UP K?).
I managed to install a few libraries (you need PIL for python challenge), but I believe how to do it depends what you're running, and even then there are different options. I just found instructions by googling.
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You should definitely look into SAGE, the open-source clone of Mathematica. It's made for symbolic computation and can certainly do graphs, etc, and you program in Python.
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I've never used python, in fact its something I want to learn, but what I would suggest to you is learn matlab. Matlab is heavily used for technical computing. It is a powerful programming language developed specifically for doing math and data analysis. Its pretty much the standard. Of course its proprietary, so you may want to start out with the opensource clone, scilab.
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EPT
