Advanced Introduction to Concurrent and Parallel Programming

This first chapter of Mastering Concurrency in Python will provide an overview of what concurrent programming is (in contrast to sequential programming). We will briefly discuss the differences between a program that can be made concurrent and one that cannot. We will go over the history of concurrent engineering and programming, and we will provide a number of examples of how concurrent programming is used in the present day. Finally, we will give a brief introduction to the approach that will be taken in this book, including an outline of the chapter structure and detailed instructions for how to download the code and create a working Python environment.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• The concept of concurrency
• Why some programs cannot be made concurrent, and how to differentiate them from programs that can
• The history of concurrency in computer science: how it is used in the industry today, and what can be expected in the future
• The specific topics that will be covered in each section/chapter of the book
• How to set up a Python environment, and how to check out/download code from GitHub