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Publisher: Newnes
Author: Alf Yarwood
ISBN: 0750685123
Release Date: 25 June 2007

eBook Description
Taking the reader step-by-step through the features of AutoCAD, Alf Yarwood provides a practical, structured course of work matched to the latest release of this software. After introducing first principles and the creation of 2D technical drawings, he goes on to demonstrate the construction of 3D solid and surface model drawings and rendering in the second part. All the new features of the 2008 software release are taken into account, in particular the new workspace for 2D drafting, faster rendering, new rendering methods, more materials, and improved lighting methods. The 2D chapters are also suitable for those learning how to use AutoCAD LT 2008.

Introduction to AutoCAD 2008 includes:

Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
Author: Katherine Isbister
ISBN: 1558609210
Release Date: 05 June 2006

eBook Description
Games are poised for a major evolution, driven by growth in technical sophistication and audience reach. Characters that create powerful social and emotional connections with players throughout the game-play itself (not just in cut scenes) will be essential to next-generation games. However, the principles of sophisticated character design and interaction are not widely understood within the game development community. Further complicating the situation are powerful gender and cultural issues that can influence perception of characters. Katherine Isbister has spent the last 10 years examining what makes interactions with computer characters useful and engaging to different audiences. This work has revealed that the key to good design is leveraging player psychology: understanding what’s memorable, exciting, and useful to a person about real-life social interactions, and applying those insights to character design. Game designers who create great characters often make use of these psychological principles without realizing it. Better Game Characters by Design gives game design professionals and other interactive media designers a framework for understanding how social roles and perceptions affect players’ reactions to characters, helping produce stronger designs and better results.

* Includes extensive illustrations, game examples, interviews with game designers, and clips from popular games on the DVD to illustrate concepts and best practices
* Uses a non-technical approach appropriate for artists and designers as well as developers
* Introduces and explains key concepts from psychology and social science, including cultural and gender specific roles and perceptions, and includes design exercises to explore ideas further

Amazon.com

Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology)

Publisher: O’Reilly
Author: Priscilla Walmsley
ISBN: 0596006349
Release Date: 30 March 2007

eBook Description

With the XQuery 1.0 standard, you finally have a tool that will make it much easier to search, extract and manipulate information from XML content stored in databases. This in-depth tutorial not only walks you through the XQuery specification, but also teaches you how to program with this widely anticipated query language.

XQuery is for query writers who have some knowledge of XML basics, but not necessarily advanced knowledge of XML-related technologies. It can be used both as a tutorial, by reading cover to cover, and as a reference, by using the comprehensive index and appendixes. Either way, you will find the background knowledge in namespaces, schemas, built-in types and regular expressions that is relevant to writing XML queries. This book provides:

• A high-level overview and quick tour of XQuery
• Information to write sophisticated queries, without being bogged down by the details of types, namespaces, and schemas
• Advanced concepts for users who want to take advantage of modularity, namespaces, typing and schemas
• Guidelines for working with specific types of data, such as numbers, strings, dates, URIs and processing instructions
• A complete alphabetical reference to the built-in functions and types

You will also learn about XQuery’s support for filtering, sorting, and grouping data, as well as how to use FLWOR expressions, XPath, and XQuery tools for extracting and combining information. With this book, you will discover how to apply all of these tools to a wide variety of data sources, and how to recombine information from multiple sources into a single final output result.

Whether you’re coming from SQL, XSLT, or starting from scratch, this carefully paced tutorial takes you through the final 1.0 standard in detail.

Amazon.com

XQuery

Publisher: O’Reilly
Author: Raina Hawley
ISBN: 0596528345
Release Date: 20 June 2007

eBook Description
Millions of users create and share Excel spreadsheets every day, but few go deeply enough to learn the techniques that will make their work much easier. There are many ways to take advantage of Excel’s advanced capabilities without spending hours on advanced study. Excel Hacks provides more than 130 hacks — clever tools, tips and techniques — that will leapfrog your work beyond the ordinary.

Now expanded to include Excel 2007, this resourceful, roll-up-your-sleeves guide gives you little known “backdoor” tricks for several Excel versions using different platforms and external applications. Think of this book as a toolbox. When a need arises or a problem occurs, you can simply use the right tool for the job. Hacks are grouped into chapters so you can find what you need quickly, including ways to:

• Reduce workbook and worksheet frustration — manage how users interact with worksheets, find and highlight information, and deal with debris and corruption.
• Analyze and manage data — extend and automate these features, moving beyond the limited tasks they were designed to perform.
• Hack names — learn not only how to name cells and ranges, but also how to create names that adapt to the data in your spreadsheet.
• Get the most out of PivotTables — avoid the problems that make them frustrating and learn how to extend them.
• Create customized charts — tweak and combine Excel’s built-in charting capabilities.
• Hack formulas and functions — subjects range from moving formulas around to dealing with datatype issues to improving recalculation time.
• Make the most of macros — including ways to manage them and use them to extend other features.
• Use the enhanced capabilities of Microsoft Office 2007 to combine Excel with Word, Access, and Outlook.

You can either browse through the book or read it from cover to cover, studying the procedures and scripts to learn more about Excel. However you use it, Excel Hacks will help you increase productivity and give you hours of “hacking” enjoyment along the way.

Amazon.com

Excel Hacks: Tips & Tools for Streamlining Your Spreadsheets (Hacks)

Publisher: O’Reilly
Author: Raina Hawley
ISBN: 0596528345
Release Date: 20 June 2007

eBook Description
Millions of users create and share Excel spreadsheets every day, but few go deeply enough to learn the techniques that will make their work much easier. There are many ways to take advantage of Excel’s advanced capabilities without spending hours on advanced study. Excel Hacks provides more than 130 hacks — clever tools, tips and techniques — that will leapfrog your work beyond the ordinary.

Now expanded to include Excel 2007, this resourceful, roll-up-your-sleeves guide gives you little known “backdoor” tricks for several Excel versions using different platforms and external applications. Think of this book as a toolbox. When a need arises or a problem occurs, you can simply use the right tool for the job. Hacks are grouped into chapters so you can find what you need quickly, including ways to:

• Reduce workbook and worksheet frustration — manage how users interact with worksheets, find and highlight information, and deal with debris and corruption.
• Analyze and manage data — extend and automate these features, moving beyond the limited tasks they were designed to perform.
• Hack names — learn not only how to name cells and ranges, but also how to create names that adapt to the data in your spreadsheet.
• Get the most out of PivotTables — avoid the problems that make them frustrating and learn how to extend them.
• Create customized charts — tweak and combine Excel’s built-in charting capabilities.
• Hack formulas and functions — subjects range from moving formulas around to dealing with datatype issues to improving recalculation time.
• Make the most of macros — including ways to manage them and use them to extend other features.
• Use the enhanced capabilities of Microsoft Office 2007 to combine Excel with Word, Access, and Outlook.

You can either browse through the book or read it from cover to cover, studying the procedures and scripts to learn more about Excel. However you use it, Excel Hacks will help you increase productivity and give you hours of “hacking” enjoyment along the way.

Amazon.com

Excel Hacks: Tips & Tools for Streamlining Your Spreadsheets (Hacks)

Publisher: Manning Publications Company
Author: Lasse Koskela
ISBN: 1932394850
Release Date: 15 October 2007

eBook Description
In test driven development, you first write an executable test of what your application code must do. Only then do you write the code itself and, with the test spurring you on, you improve your design. In acceptance test driven development (ATDD), you use the same technique to implement product features, benefiting from iterative development, rapid feedback cycles, and better-defined requirements. TDD and its supporting tools and techniques lead to better software faster.

Test Driven brings under one cover practical TDD techniques distilled from several years of community experience. With examples in Java and the Java EE environment, it explores both the techniques and the mindset of TDD and ATDD. It uses carefully chosen examples to illustrate TDD tools and design patterns, not in the abstract but concretely in the context of the technologies you face at work. It is accessible to TDD beginners, and it offers effective and less well known techniques to older TDD hands.

What’s Inside

Publisher: Apress
Author: Matthew MacDonald
ISBN: 1590597826
Release Date: 21 May 2007

eBook Description

The Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named “Avalon”) is a key part of .NET 3.0 and provides the foundation for building applications and high-quality user experiences in Windows Vista. WPF blends together application user interface, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer.

WPF functionality extends support for Tablet PCs and other forms of input device, and provides a more modern imaging and printing pipeline. It also provides accessibility and UI automation infrastructure, data-driven UI and visualization, and even integration points for weaving the application experience into the Windows shell.

Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0 covers WPF from installation to application design and implementation to deployment. One of the most detailed books on new WPF technology, it provides you with the no-nonsense, practical advice you need in order to build high-quality WPF applications quickly and easily. It also digs into the more advance aspects of WPF and how they relate to the other elements of the WinFX stack and the .NET Framework 2.0.

Topics covered include

• WPF basics: XAML, layout, control essentials, and data flow
• WPF applications: navigation, commands, localization, and deployment
• Advanced controls: custom controls, menus, toolbars, and trees
• WPF documents: text layout, printing, and document packaging
• Graphics and multimedia: drawing shapes, sound and video, animation, geometric transformations, and imaging

Amazon.com

Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0

Publisher: Apress
Author: Matthew MacDonald
ISBN: 1590597826
Release Date: 21 May 2007

eBook Description

The Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named “Avalon”) is a key part of .NET 3.0 and provides the foundation for building applications and high-quality user experiences in Windows Vista. WPF blends together application user interface, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer.

WPF functionality extends support for Tablet PCs and other forms of input device, and provides a more modern imaging and printing pipeline. It also provides accessibility and UI automation infrastructure, data-driven UI and visualization, and even integration points for weaving the application experience into the Windows shell.

Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0 covers WPF from installation to application design and implementation to deployment. One of the most detailed books on new WPF technology, it provides you with the no-nonsense, practical advice you need in order to build high-quality WPF applications quickly and easily. It also digs into the more advance aspects of WPF and how they relate to the other elements of the WinFX stack and the .NET Framework 2.0.

Topics covered include

• WPF basics: XAML, layout, control essentials, and data flow
• WPF applications: navigation, commands, localization, and deployment
• Advanced controls: custom controls, menus, toolbars, and trees
• WPF documents: text layout, printing, and document packaging
• Graphics and multimedia: drawing shapes, sound and video, animation, geometric transformations, and imaging

Amazon.com

Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0

Publisher: Digital Press
Author: Murali Vallath
ISBN: 1555583210
Release Date: 25 May 2006

eBook Description
Grid architecture is Oracles strategy for high-end computing and RAC is the stepping stone into this arena. This book focuses on current technology including all valid RAC features up through Oracle Database 10g Release 2, with a primary focus on deploying it in a high-end grid environment. The book discusses this technology at length which users will find beneficial when researching, implementing or monitoring a RAC environment. The author covers workshop implementation of services and the distribution of workload across instances, with threshold definitions and the new load balancing algorithms. In addition it includes detailed discussions on ASM that complements the implementation of RAC in Oracle Grid strategy. The book also includes discussions on new Oracle Clusterware, its components and its integration with RAC.

Oracle 10g RAC focuses on RAC-specific topics including ASM, operating system configuration, installation and configuration of RAC and much more. Coverage includes network configuration for high availability, FAN, TAF, ONS, implementation of maximum availability architecture (MAA), EM Grid Control, AWR, ADDM and other performance-related tools. The author includes several scripts for performance tuning and implementation that the reader can use to configure a RAC environment either on a 2, 4, 8, 60 or 99 node configuration.

* Focuses on implementing, testing and tuning features of Real Application Clusters (RAC) database
version 10g Release 2
* Provides extensive coverage of usage, day-to-day functions and operations
* Includes tips and techniques such as script samples
to illustrate various features of RAC
* A jumpstart into all the key features of 10g R2 RAC

Amazon.com

Oracle 10g RAC Grid, Services & Clustering

Publisher: O’Reilly
Author: Bert Bates
ISBN: 0596005407
Release Date: 01 July 2004

eBook Description
Imagine a world without eBay…unthinkable! How would you get that Farrah Fawcett poster, retired Beanie Baby, or first-edition pet rock? Handling over a gazillion (OK, we exaggerate–it’s actually only 1 billion) page views each day, server-side Java makes eBay work.

Isn’t it time you learned the latest (J2EE 1.4) versions of Servlets & JSPs? This book will get you way up to speed on the technology you’ll know it so well, in fact, that you can pass the Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD) 1.4 exam. If that’s what you want to do, that is. Maybe you don’t care about the exam, but need to use Servlets & JSPs in your next project. You’re working on a deadline. You’re over the legal limit for caffeine. You can’t waste your time with a book that makes sense only AFTER you’re an expert (or worse one that puts you to sleep).

No problem. Head First Servlets and JSP’s brain-friendly approach drives the knowledge straight into your head (without sharp instruments). You’ll interact with servlets and JSPs in ways that help you learn quickly and deeply. It may not be The Da Vinci Code, but quickly see why so many reviewers call it “a page turner”. Most importantly, this book will help you use what you learn. It won’t get you through the exam only to have you forget everything the next day.

Learn to write servlets and JSPs, what makes the Container tick (and what ticks it off), how to use the new JSP Expression Language (EL), what you should NOT write in a JSP, how to write deployment descriptors, secure applications, and even use some server-side design patterns. Can’t talk about Struts at a cocktail party? That’ll change. You won’t just pass the exam, you will truly understand this stuff, and you’ll be able to put it to work right away.

This new exam is tough–much tougher than the previous version of the SCWCD. The authors of Head First Servlets and JSP know: they created it. (Not that it EVER occurred to them that if they made the exam really hard you’d have to buy a study guide to pass it.) The least they could do is give you a stimulating, fun way to pass the thing. If you’re one of the thousands who used Head First EJB to pass the SCWCD exam, you know what to expect!

Amazon.com

Head First Servlets and JSP: Passing the Sun Certified Web Component Developer Exam (SCWCD)