A Comprehensive Introduction to Computational Science [Book review].

Daniel Teske reviews the, "Introduction to Computational Science: Modeling and Simulation for the Sciences, 2nd ed. (Shiflet, A.B. and Shiflet, G.W.; 2014). This second edition covers agent-based simulations and modeling with matrices in addition to the three methods covered in the first edition: system dynamics models, empirical modeling, and cellular automaton simulations. The agent-based models are an impressive addition, with user-friendly choices for the necessary software. The text uses a pseudocode approach, offering several possible software choices for each of the five modeling methods. It?s possible for an instructor to cover the entire text using open source software supplemented with the authors? own software-specific tutorials. For example, if you use R for matrix models, an extensive set of tutorials on R can be downloaded from the text?s website. The coverage spans the hard sciences, with applications and a large number of programming projects from physics, engineering, chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. Most of the models cover biological systems, and the text does a good job introducing biology students to scientific computing. Students with neither programming nor modeling experience are likely to be challenged, but with some care given to pace and topic selection, biology students with no prior programming experience could learn to numerically model some complex biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]