Overview of Scientific Computing

History

1. State a handful of examples of pre-modern mathematical algorithms.

2. State a handful of examples of pre-modern hardware used for computing.

Modern Scientific Computing

1. Give examples of applications of scientific computing in the modern world.

Programming

Terminology

1. Define the following terms:
   • Programming language
   • Computer program
   • Syntax

Python

1. State the creator of Python.
2. Give a rough history of Python.

Python Tools

1. Define the following terms:
   • Terminal
   • Interpreter
   • Script
   • Computational notebook

2. State the filename suffix (“file extension”) for a Python script.

3. Explain how a notebook differs from a script.

4. State the main notebook format used in Python.

5. State the cloud-based Jupyter notebook environment we will use throughout the course.