A Practical Guide to Developing Computational Software

While recruiting college graduates, the author was surprised to find that many candidates who were working toward their master's degrees in computer science were unable to demonstrate the desired programming skills, though they all indicated in their resumes that they are proficient in C/C++ and objected oriented programming. It appears to the author that there is a gap between academic training and real world computing. As a veteran software developer with an interdisciplinary education background in engineering and applied mathematics, the author was determined to write a book for those who want to pursue a career in developing computational software for engineering and scientific applications. Readers will learn not only a disciplined way to implement numerical methods but also the software development process as a whole. In reading this book and completing all of the hands-on programming exercises, readers will gain an assured confidence and the sound programming skills needed to work in a software house or to develop their own computational software.Numerical methods in this book include evaluation of polynomial and series, root-finding, linear and nonlinear systems, inverse of a matrix, eigenvalues and eigenvector, integration, and least squares approximation. These methods are grouped and presented based on their implementation styles rather than their relevance. This book is organized as follows:Chapter 1 is a fast-paced brief introduction to C/C++ programming under Microsoft Visual Studio to familiarize readers with basic C/C++ syntax and debugging tools.Chapter 2 discusses floating-point notation, comparison, and arithmetic. Rudimentary understanding of floating-point is a pre-requisite for programmers. Failure to understand it is often the source of…