We are living in the era of digital transformation. Computers are rapidly becoming the most important tool for companies, science, society, and indeed our everyday life. We all need a basic understanding of Computer Science to make sense of the world, to make decisions, and to improve our lives. Yet there are many misunderstandings about Computer Science. The reason is that it is a nascent discipline that has evolved rapidly and had to reinvent itself several times over the last 100 years – from the beginnings of scientific computing to the modern era of smartphones and the cloud. This book gives an intuitive introduction to the foundations and main concepts of Computer Science. It describes the basic ideas of solving problems with algorithms, modern data-driven approaches, and artificial intelligence (AI). It also provides many examples that require no background in technology. This book is directed toward teenagers who may wonder whether they should major in Computer Science, though it will also appeal to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the art of Computer Science and modern information technology. Of course, not everyone must become a computer expert, but everyone should take advantage of and understand the innovations and advances of modern technology.

Computer graphics is a vast field that is becoming larger every day. It is impossible to cover every topic of interest, even within a specialization such as CG rendering. For many years, Noriko Kurachi has reported on the latest developments for Japanese readers in her monthly column for CG World. Being something of a pioneer herself, she selected topics that represented original and promising new directions for research. Many of these novel ideas are the topics covered in The Magic of Computer Graphics. Starting from the basic behavior of light, the first section of the book introduces the most useful techniques for global and local illumination using geometric descriptions of an environment. The second section goes on to describe image-based techniques that rely on captured data to do their magic. In the final section, the author looks at the synthesis of these two complementary approaches and what they mean for the future of computer graphics.

If you have ever looked at a fantastic adventure or science fiction movie, or an amazingly complex and rich computer game, or a TV commercial where cars or gas pumps or biscuits behaved liked people and wondered, “How do they do that?”, then you’ve experienced the magic of 3D worlds generated by a computer. 3D in computers began as a way to represent automotive designs and illustrate the construction of molecules. 3D graphics use evolved to visualizations of simulated data and artistic representations of imaginary worlds. In order to overcome the processing limitations of the computer, graphics had to exploit the characteristics of the eye and brain, and develop visual tricks to simulate realism. The goal is to create graphics images that will overcome the visual cues that cause disbelief and tell the viewer this is not real. Thousands of people over thousands of years have developed the building blocks and made the discoveries in mathematics and science to make such 3D magic possible, and The History of Visual Magic in Computers is dedicated to all of them and tells a little of their story. It traces the earliest understanding of 3D and then foundational mathematics to explain and construct 3D; from mechanical computers up to today’s tablets. Several of the amazing computer graphics algorithms and tricks came of periods where eruptions of new ideas and techniques seem to occur all at once. Applications emerged as the fundamentals of how to draw lines and create realistic images were better understood, leading to hardware 3D controllers that drive the display all the way to stereovision and virtual reality.

In Gaming Matters, McAllister and Ruggill turn from the broader discussion of video game rhetoric to study the video game itself as a medium and the specific features that give rise to games as similar and yet diverse as Pong, Tomb Raider, and Halo.

Nine revolutionary algorithms that power our computers and smartphones Every day, we use our computers to perform remarkable feats. A simple web search picks out a handful of relevant needles from the world's biggest haystack. Uploading a photo to Facebook transmits millions of pieces of information over numerous error-prone network links, yet somehow a perfect copy of the photo arrives intact. Without even knowing it, we use public-key cryptography to transmit secret information like credit card numbers, and we use digital signatures to verify the identity of the websites we visit. How do our computers perform these tasks with such ease? John MacCormick answers this question in language anyone can understand, using vivid examples to explain the fundamental tricks behind nine computer algorithms that power our PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

"Havill's problem-driven approach introduces algorithmic concepts in context and motivates students with a wide range of interests and backgrounds." -- Janet Davis, Associate Professor and Microsoft Chair of Computer Science, Whitman College "This book looks really great and takes exactly the approach I think should be used for a CS 1 course. I think it really fills a need in the textbook landscape." -- Marie desJardins, Dean of the College of Organizational, Computational, and Information Sciences, Simmons University "Discovering Computer Science is a refreshing departure from introductory programming texts, offering students a much more sincere introduction to the breadth and complexity of this ever-growing field." -- James Deverick, Senior Lecturer, The College of William and Mary "This unique introduction to the science of computing guides students through broad and universal approaches to problem solving in a variety of contexts and their ultimate implementation as computer programs." -- Daniel Kaplan, DeWitt Wallace Professor, Macalester College Discovering Computer Science: Interdisciplinary Problems, Principles, and Python Programming is a problem-oriented introduction to computational problem solving and programming in Python, appropriate for a first course for computer science majors, a more targeted disciplinary computing course or, at a slower pace, any introductory computer science course for a general audience. Realizing that an organization around language features only resonates with a narrow audience, this textbook instead connects programming to students’ prior interests using a range of authentic problems from the natural and social sciences and the digital humanities. The presentation begins with an introduction to the problem-solving process, contextualizing programming as an essential component. Then, as the book progresses, each chapter guides students through solutions to increasingly complex problems, using a spiral approach to introduce Python language features. The text also places programming in the context of fundamental computer science principles, such as abstraction, efficiency, testing, and algorithmic techniques, offering glimpses of topics that are traditionally put off until later courses. This book contains 30 well-developed independent projects that encourage students to explore questions across disciplinary boundaries, over 750 homework exercises, and 300 integrated reflection questions engage students in problem solving and active reading. The accompanying website — https://www.discoveringcs.net — includes more advanced content, solutions to selected exercises, sample code and data files, and pointers for further exploration.

Houdini is one of the premier 3D animation software packages on the market, used by top post-production studios in Hollywood. With the introduction of Apprentice, the free learning edition of Houdini, more and more people are experiencing Houdini and looking for an accurate and complete reference guide to the software. The Magic of Houdini teaches readers all of the skills and information necessary to be proficient in this application. Upon completion of the book, readers will be able to understand and utilize the interdependency of the various Houdini contexts and tackle a project using all of the techniques available including modeling, character animation, particle effects animation, dynamic simulation animation, shading, simple shader creation, lighting, rendering, and compositing. Integrated exercises, tips, illustrations, and end-of-chapter quizzes help readers feel confident with the new skills they are learning. Written by an experienced 3D animator and teacher, the book provides an approachable and accurate introduction to Houdini.

A new version of the classic and widely used text adapted for the JavaScript programming language. Since the publication of its first edition in 1984 and its second edition in 1996, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) has influenced computer science curricula around the world. Widely adopted as a textbook, the book has its origins in a popular entry-level computer science course taught by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman at MIT. SICP introduces the reader to central ideas of computation by establishing a series of mental models for computation. Earlier editions used the programming language Scheme in their program examples. This new version of the second edition has been adapted for JavaScript. The first three chapters of SICP cover programming concepts that are common to all modern high-level programming languages. Chapters four and five, which used Scheme to formulate language processors for Scheme, required significant revision. Chapter four offers new material, in particular an introduction to the notion of program parsing. The evaluator and compiler in chapter five introduce a subtle stack discipline to support return statements (a prominent feature of statement-oriented languages) without sacrificing tail recursion. The JavaScript programs included in the book run in any implementation of the language that complies with the ECMAScript 2020 specification, using the JavaScript package sicp provided by the MIT Press website.