University of Oregon

Explorations in Computing

An Introduction to Computer Science

by John S. Conery

Explorations in Computing is an introduction to computer science for non-majors and pre-majors. The book is a general overview of the field, introducing students to key concepts in computing and "computational thinking."

The distinguishing feature of this book is its active learning approach. Each chapter includes a step by step tutorial project that guides students through an interactive exercise to explore computation by running programs and trying them out on different inputs.

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The exercises in the original version are all based on Ruby. Students develop a basic "literacy" so they can understand programs that have already been written.

Ruby Edition

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The Python version is based on the same projects used in the original text. It also provides an introduction to programming and includes several new programming projects.

Python Edition