Autori: R.H. Landau, M.J. Paez, C.C. Bordeianu

Editorial: Wiley-VCH, 2007.

Rezumat:

Preface to Second Edition

During the ten years that have passed since the publication of the first edition,
many students and teachers have read it and rewarded us with their
gratitude (and suggestions). Our cumulative experiences have permitted us
to uncover which parts of the text could be made clearer and which parts
could use new materials. In this second edition we stay true to the general
structure of the first edition that has proven successful to many people. However,
most every chapter has been rewritten, and new materials have been
added in many places, particularly: probability and statistics, trial-and-error
search techniques, IEEE floating point representation, optimizing and tuning,
the Message Passing Interface (MPI) for parallel programming, the Java
Matrix library (JAMA), the solution of simultaneous nonlinear equations, cubic
spline techniques, the eigenvalue problem, and the solutions of ordinary
and partial differential equations. Probably the most obvious change when
compared to the first edition is our use of Java as our language of choice in
the text. Even though it might not be evident from all the hype about Java’s
prowess at Web computing, Java is actually a good language for teaching
computational physics: it demands proper syntax, produces useful error messages,
is consistent and intelligent in handling precision, goes a long way
towards being computer-system independent, has Sun Microsystems providing
free program-development environments [86] (so students can compile
at home too), and runs fast enough on modern computers for nonresearch
purposes. Recognizing that one language cannot satisfy everyone, the
CD included with the text contains many of the same programs in C, Fortran77
and Fortran9X; we recommend that the reader become familiar with
more than one compiled language, and this may be a good way to do that.

Cuvinte cheie: computational physics

URL: http://www.wiley-vch.de/publish/en/books/bySubjectPH00/ISBN3-527-40626-3/?sID=b3a58dc71cf2cfd4226b158e5ce9769c