Julia as a Second Language

Learn the awesome Julia programming language by building fun projects like a rocket launcher, a password keeper, and a battle simulator. Julia as a Second Language covers: Data types like numbers, strings, arrays, and dictionaries Immediate feedback with Julia’s read-evaluate-print-loop (REPL) Simplify code interactions with multiple dispatch Sharing code using modules and packages Object-oriented and functional programming styles Julia as a Second Language introduces Julia to readers with a beginning-level knowledge of another language like Python or JavaScript. You’ll learn by coding engaging hands-on projects that encourage you to apply what you’re learning immediately. Don’t be put off by Julia’s reputation as a scientific programming language—there’s no data science or numerical computing knowledge required. You can get started with what you learned in high school math classes. About the Technology Originally designed for high-performance data science, Julia has become an awesome general purpose programming language. It offers developer-friendly features like garbage collection, dynamic typing, and a flexible approach to concurrency and distributed computing. It is the perfect mix of simplicity, flexibility and performance. About the Book Julia as a Second Language introduces Julia by building on your existing programming knowledge. You’ll see Julia in action as you create a series of interesting projects that guide you from Julia’s basic syntax through its advanced features. Master types and data structures as you model a rocket launch. Use dictionaries to interpret Roman numerals. Use Julia’s unique multiple dispatch feature to send knights and archers into a simulated battle. Along the way, you’ll even compare the object-oriented and functional programming styles–Julia supports both! What’s Inside Data types like numbers, strings, arrays, and dictionaries Immediate feedback with Julia’s read-evaluate-print-loop (REPL) Simplify code interactions with multiple dispatch Share code using modules and packages About the Reader For readers comfortable with another programming language like Python, JavaScript, or C#. About the Author Erik Engheim is a writer, conference speaker, video course author, and software developer. Table of Contents PART 1 - BASICS 1 Why Julia? 2 Julia as a calculator 3 Control flow 4 Julia as a spreadsheet 5 Working with text 6 Storing data in dictionaries PART 2 - TYPES 7 Understanding types 8 Building a rocket 9 Conversion and promotion 10 Representing unknown values PART 3 - COLLECTIONS 11 Working with strings 12 Understanding Julia collections 13 Working with sets 14 Working with vectors and matrices PART 4 - SOFTWARE ENGINEERING 15 Functional programming in Julia 16 Organizing and modularizing your code PART 5 - GOING IN DEPTH 17 Input and output 18 Defining parametric types

Julia as a Second Language makes it easy to add Julia to your programming toolbox. Ideal for readers who already have basic skills with another programming language like Python, JavaScript, or C#, this textbook provides the foundation for you to dive into a specialised field like machine learning or data science. Julia as a Second Language makes it easy to add Julia to your programming toolbox. You will learn about Julia's type system and data structures by modeling the launch of a space rocket, use dictionaries to parse Roman numerals, and discover tuples and arrays through tracking pizza sales. You will even use Julia's unique multiple dispatch feature to send knights and archers into a simulated battle. By the time you are finished, you will be confident in the foundations of Julia and ready to dive into a specialised field like machine learning or data science. Don't be put off by Julia's reputation as a scientific programming language. There's no data science or numerical computing knowledge required. You can get started with what you learned in high school math classes. Research scientists, data analysts and machine learning professionals will appreciate how easy Julia makes it to handle and explore data sets. Experienced programmers will love to learn about Julia's interesting metaprogramming capabilities and the exciting possibilities of the language. Learn Julia programming by building fun projects, like launching rockets, building password keepers, and even coding battle simulations. Julia as a Second Language covers: How Julia implements data types such as numbers, strings, arrays, and dictionaries Solving problems with both object-oriented and functional programming Getting immediate feedback with Julia's read-evaluate-print-loop (REPL) Taking advantage of Julia's powerful multiple dispatch system Sharing code using modules and packages Julia as a Second Language introduces Julia to readers with a beginning-level knowledge of another language like Python or JavaScript. It skips programming basics and dives straight into Julia's unique features. You'll learn by coding engaging hands-on projects that encourage you to apply what you are learning immediately. About the technology Julia is a powerful high-performance programming language with many developer-friendly features like garbage collection, dynamic typing, just-in-time compilation, and a flexible approach to concurrent, parallel, and distributed computing. Although Julia's strong numerical programming features make it a favorite of data scientists, it is also an awesome general purpose programming language. Julia's users call it the "goldilocks language", with a "just right" balance of performance and productivity. About the reader Readers need basic skills with another programming language like Python, JavaScript, or C#.