Based on the author‎'‎s introductory course at the university of oregon‎,‎ explorations in computing‎:‎ an introduction to computer science focuses on the fundamental idea of computation and offers insight into how computation is used to solve a variety of interesting and important real‎-world problems‎.‎ Taking an active learning approach‎,‎ the text encourages students to explore computing ideas by running programs and testing them on different inputs‎.‎ It also features illustrations by phil foglio‎,‎ winner of the 2009 and 2010 hugo award for best graphic novel‎.‎ Classroom‎-tested material the first four chapters introduce key concepts‎,‎ such as algorithms and scalability‎,‎ and hone practical lab skills for creating and using objects‎.‎ In the remaining chapters‎,‎ the author covers ‎"‎Divide and conquer‎"‎ as a problem solving strategy‎,‎ the role of data structures‎,‎ issues related to encoding data‎,‎ computer architecture‎,‎ random numbers‎,‎ challenges for natural language processing‎,‎ computer simulation‎,‎ and genetic algorithms‎.‎ Through a series of interactive projects in each chapter‎,‎ students can experiment with one or more algorithms that illustrate the main topic‎.‎ Requiring no prior experience with programming‎,‎ these projects show students how algorithms provide computational solutions to real‎-world problems‎.‎ Web resource the book‎'‎s website at www‎.‎Cs‎.‎Uoregon‎.‎Edu/eic presents numerous ancillaries‎.‎ The lab manual offers step‎-by‎-step instructions for installing ruby and the rubylabs gem with windows xp‎,‎ mac os x‎,‎ and linux‎.‎ The manual includes tips for editing programs and running commands in a terminal emulator‎.‎ The site also provides online documentation of all the modules in the rubylabs gem‎.‎ Once the gem is installed‎,‎ the documentation can be read locally by a web browser‎.‎ After working through the in‎-depth examples in this textbook‎,‎ students will gain a better overall understanding of what computer science is about and how computer scientists think about problems‎.‎