The aim of this book is to introduce the concepts and ideas involved in problem solving with Fortran 77 using an interactive timesharing computer system. The book tries to achieve this using the established practices of structured and modular programming. Two techniques of problem solving, so-called top-down and bottom-up are also introduced.

The book has been developed from a one week full-time course on program ming, given several times a year at Imperial College to a variety of students, both undergraduate and postgraduate. The course itself is a mixture of:

• Lectures
• Tutorials
• Terminal sessions
• Reading

All work on the course is done in small groups, and the students have the option of working in pairs. Initially, students are shy about showing their igno rance, but quickly overcome this and learn a lot by helping one another out and articulating their problems. This is regarded as an essential part of the course.

The student is assumed to complete a minimum number of the problems. Expe rience on courses over several years has shown the authors that only by completing problems fully does the student get a realistic idea of the process of problem solving using a programming language. It is therefore recommended that all problems attempted are completed. Certain of the problems are used as a basis for further development in the course. This helps to reinforce the ideas of problem solving introduced earlier.