Since the publication of the first edition of the book, I have received numerous comments and suggestions on the book from all over the world and from a far wider range of readers than anticipated. This is a firm testament of what I claimed in the Preface to the first edition that computational physics is truly the foundation of computational science.

The Internet, which connects all computerized parts of the world, has made it possible to communicate with students who are striving to learn modern science in distant places that I have never even heard of. The main drive for having a second edition of the book is to provide a new generation of science and engineering students with an up-to-date presentation to the subject.

In the last decade, we have witnessed steady progress in computational studies of scientific problems. Many complex issues are now analyzed and solved on computers. New paradigms of global-scale computing have emerged, such as the Grid and web computing. Computers are faster and come with more functions and capacity. There has never been a better time to study computational physics.

For this new edition, I have revised each chapter in the book thoroughly, incorporating many suggestions made by the readers of the first edition. There are more examples given with more sample programs and figures to make the explanation of the material easier to follow.