The Self-Taught Computer Scientist

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942313
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Cover design: Wiley

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I dedicate this book to my wife, Bobbi, and my daughter, Luca. I love you both so much!

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About the Author
Cory Althoff is an author, programmer, and speaker. His first book, 
The Self- Taught Programmer, has 
been published in seven languages and introduced the term 
self- taught programmer into the common 
lexicon. Book Authority named 
The Self- Taught Programmer one of the greatest programming books 
of all time, and 
The Next Web listed it as one of the 10 books that will help you become a better
software engineer. More than 200,000 developers are part of the self- taught programmer community 
he created through his popular Facebook group, blog, newsletter, and Udemy course. Cory lives in 
California with his wife and daughter.

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About the Technical Editor
Dr. Hannu Parviainen is an astrophysicist researching extrasolar planets at the Instituto de Astrofisica 
de Canarias, one of the world’s leading astrophysics institutes and host of the largest optical telescope 
currently in existence. He previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford 
for several years. His core topics include scientific computing and modern numerical methods, and 
he has more than 20 years of experience in the Python programming language.

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Acknowledgments
I want to give a huge thank- you to all the wonderful people who made this book possible. First up 
is my wife, Bobbi, the love of my life who has always supported me. I want to thank my dad, James 
Althoff, who has spent an enormous amount of time helping me with this book. Next up is Steve Bush: 
thank you so much for reading my book and giving me feedback. I also want to thank my project 
editor, Robyn Alvarez, and technical editor, Hannu Parviainen. Finally, I also would like to thank my 
editor, Devon Lewis, for making this project happen and for being incredibly flexible. Finally, I want 
to thank my daughter, Luca, for being the best daughter in the world and inspiring me to work as 
hard as I can. I love you, Luca! I couldn’t have done it without all of your support. Thanks so much!

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Contents at a Glance
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiv