Perkovic's Introduction to Programming Using Python provides an imperative-first introduction to Python focusing on computer applications and the process of developing them. The text helps develop computational thinking skills by covering patterns of how problems can be broken down and constructively solved to produce an algorithmic solution. The approach is hands-on and problem oriented. The book also introduces a subset of the Python language early on to help write small functions. Chapters include an introduction to problem solving techniques and classical algorithms, problem-solving and programming and ways to apply core skills to application development.
Ljubomir Perkovic joined the CDM School of Computing faculty in September of 2000, after two years on the faculty of the Mathematics and Computer Science department at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Dr. Perkovic obtained his Ph.D. in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and he holds a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Hunter College of the City University of New York. His research interests include distributed and wireless computing, computational geometry, graph theory and algorithms, probabilistic analysis of algorithms, and computational thinking. He is Co-PI on an NSF funded project to expand Computational Thinking across the Liberal Studies curriculum. He is also the coach of the DePaul Programming teams.