Preface Introduction

Welcome to ENGS 20: Introduction to Scientific Computing!

From the Dartmouth course catalog:

In this course, students learn how to solve problems in engineering and sciences by writing computer programs. To this end, students learn general concepts to design programming solutions to problems and gain experience implementing these solutions in the commonly used programming language C. Programming topics include problem decomposition, control structures, recursion, arrays and other data structures, file I/O, and code modularization. Applications will be drawn from numerical solutions of ordinary differential equations, root finding, searching and sorting, simulation, and data analysis. Good programming style, debugging techniques and computational efficiency are emphasized. Although no previous programming experience is assumed, a significant time commitment is required.

Students planning to pursue the engineering sciences major are advised to take ENGS 20. Students considering the computer science major should take COSC 1 and COSC 10. Students considering both majors should consider taking ENGS 20 and COSC 10.

If searching for a specific topic, the Index or the embedded search bar at the top of the page will be of use.

In the next chapter, Getting Started, the various tools and features of this book will be introduced and explained.