Computer Science From Scratch: Building Interpreters, Art, Emulators and ML in Python

by David Kopec

Overview

Test and sharpen your Python skills with seven guided projects that explore popular computer science challenges.

Computer science can feel unapproachable for those without a formal CS education. Fun Computer Science Projects in Python pulls back that curtain, illuminating several foundational CS concepts through creative, hands-on projects.

Each of the 7 projects is presented in a code-centric tutorial that gently introduces topics like interpreters, emulators, and machine learning without getting bogged down by complex theory. The projects showcase advanced Python language features and clean code principles while exploring interesting algorithms.

Chapters conclude with discussions of real-world applications of the topic and proposed exercises to extend the reader’s skills. Covers Python 3.x

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781718504318
Publisher:	No Starch Press
Publication date:	09/30/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304

About the Author

David Kopec is an associate professor of computer science at Champlain College. He is the author of five programming books, including the Classic Computer Science Problems series, and spent several years as an iOS developer for startups. In addition to his teaching work, David is an avid podcaster and indie app developer with an MS in Computer Science from Dartmouth and an EMBA from Quantic.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Interpreters
Chapter 1: The Smallest Possible Programming Language
Chapter 2: Writing a BASIC Interpreter

Part II: Computational Art
Chapter 3: Retro Image Processing
Chapter 4: A Stochastic Painting Algorithm

Part III: Emulators
Chapter 5: Building a CHIP-8 Virtual Machine
Chapter 6: Emulating the NES Game Console

Part IV: Super Simple Machine Learning
Chapter 7: Classification with K-Nearest Neighbors
Chapter 8: Regression with K-Nearest Neighbors

Afterword
Appendix: Bitwise Operations