This book is designed to be used as a primary textbook in a college-level first course in computing. It takes a fairly traditional approach, emphasizing problem solving, design, and programming as the core skills of computer science. However, these ideas are illustrated using a non-traditional language, namely Python. This textbook was written with a single overarching goal: to introduce fundamental computer science concepts as simply as possible without being simplistic. Using Python is central to this goal.

Traditional systems languages such as C++, Ada, and Java evolved to solve problems in large-scale programming, where the primary emphasis is on structure and discipline. They were not designed to make writing small- or medium-scale programs easy. The recent rise in popularity of scripting