Guzdial introduces programming as a way of creating and manipulating media–a context familiar and intriguing to today's readers. Starts readers with actual programming early on. Puts programming in a relevant context (Computing for Communications). Includes implementing Photoshop-like effects, reversing/splicing sounds, creating animations. Acknowledges that readers in this audience care about the Web; introduces HTML and covers writing programs that generate HTML. Uses the Web as a Data Source; shows readers how to read from files, but also how to write programs to directly read Web pages and distill information from there for use in other calculations, other Web pages, etc. (examples include temperature from a weather page, stock prices from a financials page). A comprehensive guide for anyone interested in learning the basics of programming with one of the best web languages, Python.
