Tim Lavers - From the Basics to Projects with Text and Image Processing

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This book is for anyone who wants to learn computer programming.

Whether you are an absolute beginner, or you have experience with JavaScript, R, Python, or another programming language, this is your path to developing a clear understanding of important fundamental concepts used by software engineering professionals and gaining the skills to implement those concepts in interesting and realistic projects.

I learned programming in my mid-20s, more than 25 years ago, and have worked as a software engineer since then. My opinion, based on this experience, is that the very best way to learn coding is by doing lots of it.

This book gives you the opportunity to get that essential practice. At the same time, you will be working on fascinating programs such as text analysis, image manipulation, and computer vision. These programs progress in a series of small steps that you, the reader, implement. Each step is a simple change to a working program, so that you are never outside your comfort zone and learning becomes a pleasure. Fully worked solutions are provided for each step.

The book is organized into four parts, as follows: In Part I, you will set up the tools needed, get a first program running, and then learn just enough syntax that you can start working on the projects. Part II concentrates on software for text analysis and word games. This introduces the concepts of Object-Oriented Programming and Unit Testing, which are two cornerstones of modern software engineering. Part III is about image processing and concludes with a CGI (computer-generated imagery) program. By doing this project, you will learn Functional Programming, which is an extremely important feature of modern computer languages. Finally, in Part IV, you will consolidate your skills by developing a computer vision system that reads speed signs.

Throughout the book, you will use the same language and tools that are used by professional software engineers worldwide. The language, Kotlin, is very modern and has a simpler syntax than almost any other language used today. Not only is Kotlin a beautiful and powerful language, but it is employed in a wide variety of situations, from hugely complex business software to web programming, to data science, to Android apps. The skills that you learn here will be applicable in any of these areas.

Kotlin programs are written with an editor that highlights errors and offers genuinely useful corrections in most cases. By using professional-grade tools, you should feel the excitement of knowing that the programs that you are working on are of industry standard. If you get stuck, the large and active community of Kotlin users can help you out.

When you finish the projects in this book and move on to your own programs, you will have all the skills required for success and will have a working knowledge of one of the best programming languages that I have used in my 25 years of professional software engineering. Happy coding!

January 2021

Tim Lavers

In Part I, we set up Kotlin and learn the most important features of the language.