12.
010 Computational
Methods of Scientific
Programming 2023
Tom Herring, tah@[Link]
Chris Hill, cnh@[Link]
Lec 01: Getting started and setup
About 12.010 - I
• Introduces programming from perspective of physical science use.
Programming examples are taken from simple physics and mathematics
problems.
• Classes introduces programming languages a researcher in a lab might
encounter – Python, Julia, R, Matlab/Octave, C, C++, Fortran.
• Two main parts to class
• Homeworks – 3 (due Fridays, at least 3+ weeks apart).
• Project and presentation - individual or group (due end of class).
• Goal is that by end of class you will feel more confident that
• you could work in a research project involving programming
• you would know where to start to try and understand an unfamiliar program
• you know how to write, tested and run some interesting scientific computing
programs by yourself
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About 12.010 - II
• Homeworks
• Each has 2-3 parts, involve writing some code, based on some example covered in
class and available online.
• Graded on written answer and working code.
• Projects
• Topic can be related to any science/math problem of interest.
• Can be based in major, another domain research course etc…
• Usually involve writing new code from scratch, including find and understanding
algorithm, developing some core compute piece, developing some input and output
piece.
• Graded on presentation, working and documented code.
• Group projects, with work divided across several people, or individual projects are
fine.
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About computers
A modern computer
contains a CPU with
Number of transistors in CPU x 105 in
multiple cores and
30 years. Increases projects and fields
billions of that can make useful use of software
transistors.
in all walks of life, including science
Programming is and engineering.
about getting those
billions of
transistors to act in
some way to solve a
11x109 transistors,
problem.
up to 3x109 Hz
Programming switching
languages like frequency.
Python, Julia, R,
Matlab, C, Fortran
etc… provide high- Image courtesy of Hannah Ritchie and Max
level “abstractions” Roser on Our World in Data. License: CC BY.
that mask the
underlying
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complexity.
Programming languages
• In scientific computing/computational science there are multiple
programming languages
• Some of the most common ones include
• Python, R, Julia, Matlab/Octave, C, C++, Fortran
• The languages have different strengths, but also have a lot of ideas and
concepts in common.
• Practices around how to develop programs, how to test and check, how to
formulate problems are similar too.
• In 12.010 we introduce programming in Python, but then
• explore how basic programs look in all the languages listed
• illustrate different features that are found in different languages
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Getting started
• Programming can only be learned hands-on experience
• Computers are not that smart
• Programming involves puzzling
• over how to express a problem in a way a computer can solve it,
• following rules about how to instruct the computer,
• methodically trying to understand whether program is behaving as expected,
• building up more complete and complex programs step-by-step.
• The first “puzzle” is configuring a ”programming environment” to work in.
• In this class we will begin by using Jupyter Notebooks as our common programming
environment
• Jupyter Notebooks are widely used in teaching programming and data science
• They are not the only programming environment, and have some limitations, but
they are very useful and common starting point.
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First notebooks
• Start by trying cloud resource – see ”Launch Jupyterhub Class
Exercise” in Assignments
• Then install locally – see “Install Jupyter Notebook Locally Class
Exercise” in Assignments.
• There are example Notebooks in the Week 1 section we will try. Not
all of these cases will be covered today.
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MIT OpenCourseWare
[Link]
12.010 Computational Methods of Scientific Programming, Fall 2024
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