Algorithms For Dummies

  Using Python to Work with Algorithms 

     43

IN THIS CHAPTER

 

» Using Python to discover how 

algorithms work

 

» Considering the various Python 

distributions

 

» Performing a Python installation on 

Linux

 

» Performing a Python installation on 

OS X

 

» Performing a Python installation on 

Windows

 

» Obtaining and installing the datasets 

used in this book

Using Python to Work 

with Algorithms

Y

ou have many good choices when it comes to using computer assistance to 

discover the wonders of algorithms. For example, apart from Python, many 

people rely on MATLAB and many others use R. In fact, some people use all 

three and then compare the sorts of outputs they get (see one such comparison at 

https://www.r-bloggers.com/evaluating-optimization-algorithms-in- 

matlab-python-and-r/

).  If  you  just  had  the  three  choices,  you’d  still  need  to 

think about them for a while and might choose to learn more than one language, 

but you actually have more than three choices, and this book can’t begin to cover 

them all. If you get deep into the world of algorithms, you discover that you can 

use all programming languages to write algorithms and that some are appreciated 

because they boil everything down to simple operations, such as the RAM simula-

tion  described  in  Chapter  2.  For  instance,  Donald  Knuth,  winner  of  the  Turing 

Award, wrote examples in Assembly language in his book The Art of Computer 

Programming (Addison-Wesley). Assembly language is a programming language 

Chapter 

3

---

44