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PREFACE








            As we are in an age of digital transformations and technological innovations, you have made the right choice to study Computer
            Science as part of the CBSE curriculum. This book will introduce you to the fascinating world of computers. It comprises two
            volumes, one for the students in class XI and the other for the students in class XII.
            In class XI, we will begin by learning what makes the computer so useful that it impacts all aspects of our lives. In the first unit,
            we will learn about the computer hardware and software components of a computer and how they combine to make such a
            formidable combination. This unit also includes an evolutionary perspective of computers.
            As the primary purpose of studying Computer Science is to learn to solve our problems using a computer, we will devote the
            second unit, which forms a considerable part of the book, to problem-solving using a computer. The task of solving problems
            using a computer is often called programming. Although computer only understands the language of 1’s and 0’s, humans find
            it inconvenient to give instructions to a computer as sequences of 1’s and 0’s. So, computer scientists have developed several
            programming languages, called high-level languages, that are quite close to natural languages. Ultimately, the instructions in a
            programming language are translated as binary sequences using either a compiler or an interpreter.  In this book, we will learn
            Python - a programming language that supports a simple and organised approach to problem-solving.
            As old habits die hard, the book encourages the reader to follow good programming practices right from the beginning. We have
            made an effort to introduce the programming constructs in the context of the examples that justify the use of those constructs.
            We have devoted seven chapters of the book to introduce the fundamental programming concepts (Chapters 2-8). Chapters
            2-4 cover the basic building blocks of the Python language. As good documentation is crucial to the success of any software
            engineering project, we introduce sound practice code documentation early in the book (Chapter 5) and consistently document
            the code throughout the book, describing the objective of each piece of the code and how it interfaces with the rest of the code
            under discussion so that it gets integrated with the student’s approach to problem-solving. In the same spirit, we emphasise
            using the named objects in preference to the ones hard-coded.
            As real-life problems usually require non-sequential and repetitive execution of instructions, Chapters 5 and 6 are devoted to
            a detailed study of control structures. Complex problems require structuring the data in the form of lists and dictionaries, as
            discussed in Chapters 7 and 8.
            Real-life IT applications must necessarily deal with managing huge volumes of data. Database Management Systems (DBMS)
            enable  the  sharing  of  data  amongst  different  users  (database  managers,  application  developers,  and  end  users)  while  also
            addressing the users’ security and privacy concerns of tusers. Thus, DBMS becomes a crucial component of IT applications, and it
            is discussed in Chapter 9. We will begin by introducing key database concepts like the relational data model, keys, and constraints.
            Next, we will learn Structured Query Language (SQL) to define the relevant constraints on data and store and retrieve it.

            Finally, the book provides a bird’s eye view of the emerging trends in IT, including topics like Artificial Intelligence, Machine
            Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Robotics, Big Data, the Internet of
            Things (IoT), and Cloud Computing offer endless opportunities.

            ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
            We are grateful to Drashti Varshney and Nimish Kumar, undergraduate students at Dyal Singh College of the University of Delhi,
            Mr. P.K. Hazra, Dr. Manoj Agarwal and Dr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, colleagues at the University of Delhi for reviewing different
            sections of the book.

            We are grateful to the Orange Book team, especially Ms. Nidhi Gupta, who was readily available for help during the book’s
            preparation. Last but not least, we would like to express our gratitude to our family members for their support and patience.

                                                                                                     Naveen Kumar
                                                                                                       Ankit Rajpal
                                                                                                     Sheetal Rajpal
                                                                                                      Mohini Arora


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