Physics 381C: Computational Physics: Suggested References
Note: Books which have been placed on reserve in the PMA library
are generally on two-hour reserve. If you show up within two hours of
closing time, you'll be able to take the books home overnight, but then
they will be due back in the library first thing in the morning. In
addition, I have copies of most of the sources listed below: you
are welcome to borrow them under the same provisions as reserve
materials from the library.
This document will be updated throughout the course
Index
UNIX and General Information
There are many available Unix books representing a wide range in levels of
presentation. If this is your first experience with the operating system,
I suggest that you first browse the computer section of the University Coop
Bookstore (or any other bookstore with a computer section), to find something
which appears suited to you. If you are unfamiliar with the standard
Unix editors ('vi' or 'emacs') you may want to select a reference which
contains a description of one or both. Note, however, that separate
references exist for the editors and, particularly if you plan to
do a lot of computational work, may be worth picking up. The following
Unix books are fairly representative and should be widely available:
- Learning the Unix Operating System; Todino, Strang and Peek,
O'Reilly & Associates. (92 pages, $9.95 at the Coop). This is a good, quick
introduction to Unix, but it doesn't cover any of the popular editors.
- Unix for the Impatient, 2nd ed.; Abrahams and Larson,
Addison-Wesley, (824 pages, $29.25 at the Coop). Quite comprehensive;
covers both 'vi' and 'emacs' and will provide more than enough
information for this course.
- The Unix Programming Environment; Kernighan and Pike, Prentice-Hall
(350 pages, $34.95 at the Coop). A classic Unix reference which, although old,
is still well worth studying for those of you interested in becoming
Unix experts.
Maple (Symbolic Manipulation)
The Coop also has several books on Maple; including
- Maple V Learning Guide, Heal et al Springer-Verlag
(270 pages, $24.00 at the Coop)
- Maple V Programming Guide, Monagan et al Springer-Verlag
(380 pages, $34.00 at the Coop)
I will be referring to the above sources in the lectures on Maple.
In addition, I have placed the following Maple books on two hour
reserve in the PMA library:
- First leaves: a tutorial introduction to Maple V, Char, Springer-Verlag
- Maple V language reference manual, Char, Springer-Verlag
- Introduction to Maple, Heck, Springer-Verlag
- The Maple handbook: Maple V release 3, Redfern, Springer-Verlag
LaTeX and TeX
I recommend that you have both of the following in your personal
library. Note that LaTeX is a system built on top of TeX: the
TeXbook goes into substantially more detail, particularly regarding
the fine-points of typesetting complex mathematics. Most of this
detail is still relevant in the context of LaTeX.
- LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, Lamport, Addison-Wesley
- The TeXbook, Knuth, Addison-Wesley
Fortran 77 Programming
- Effective Fortran 77, Metcalf, Oxford University Press.
An excellent reference but somewhat lacking in sample programs.
C Programming
- The C Programming Language, 2nd Edition, Kernighan and
Ritchie, Prentice-Hall. An excellent, concise reference for ANSI-C.
Linear Systems