Learning – serie

 

Develop State-of-the-Art iPhone/iPad Apps with MonoTouch and .NET!

 

Are you an experienced C#/.NET developer who wants to reach the huge iPhone/iPad market? Now, you can create great iOS apps without first mastering Objective-C and Apple’s development toolset. With MonoTouch, you can leverage the skills you already have to create powerful apps that can be sold in Apple’s App Store or deployed throughout your organization. In Learning MonoTouch, Michael Bluestein helps you get started with MonoTouch fast and make the most of its remarkably robust capabilities.

 

The book first walks you through setting up your MonoTouch development environment, explaining how MonoTouch abstracts the iOS SDK to permit development against native iOS classes from C#. Through simple examples, you’ll start building working apps, establishing a firm foundation for more advanced coding. One step at a time, you’ll master increasingly sophisticated cases through practical examples. Bluestein even shows you how to leverage powerful .NET tools in your iOS apps, including LINQ.

 

Coverage includes

• Applying common iOS development patterns and techniques in C#

• Using MonoTouch to handle memory management and garbage collection

• Structuring MonoTouch apps for the MVC design pattern

• Making the most of iOS user interface classes

• Leveraging the address book, camera access, email, and iOS media features

• Customizing tables and navigation for richer experiences and better performance

• Accessing the iOS Core Graphics and Core Animation subsystems

• Building iOS location-based applications with Core Location and MapKit

• Consuming web services from MonoTouch

• Integrating iOS and .NET networking capabilities

• Saving data with the ADO.NET provider to SQLite, .NET serialization, and NSUserDefaults

 

All code samples are available for download at github.com/mikebluestein.

“This book contains everything you need to know to create awesome, life-altering applications. . . . I pride myself on knowing a lot about design, but when reading this book, I probably didn’t encounter a single page that didn’t offer at least one interesting idea, new concept, or clever design technique. It’s also written in a way that prevents you from putting it down. . . . You’re in for a treat.”

–From the Foreword by LUKAS MATHIS, author of ignorethecode.net

Transform Your Ideas into Intuitive, Delightful iOS Apps!

 

As an app developer, you know design is important. But where do you start? Learning iOS Design will help you think systematically about the art and science of design, and consistently design apps that users will appreciate–and love.

 

Pioneering Omni Group user experience expert William Van Hecke first explains what design really means, and why effective app design matters so much. Next, using a sample concept, he walks through transforming a vague idea into a fleshed-out design, moving from outlines to sketches, wireframes to mockups, prototypes to finished apps.

 

Building on universal design principles, he offers practical advice for thinking carefully, critically, and cleverly about your own projects, and provides exercises to guide you step-by-step through planning your own app’s design. An accompanying website (learningiosdesign.com) provides professional-grade sketches, wireframes, and mockups you can study and play with to inspire your own new project.

 

Coverage includes

Planning and making sense of your app idea Exploring potential approaches, styles, and strategies Creating more forgiving, helpful, and effective interactions Managing the constraints of the iOS platform (or any platform) Crafting interfaces that are graceful, gracious, and consistently enjoyable to use Balancing concerns such as “focus versus versatility” and “friction versus guidance” Understanding why all designs are compromises–and how to find the best path for your own app

Register your book at informit.com/register to gain access to a supplemental chapter in which Bill Van Hecke discusses the design changes made in iOS 7.

“This book contains everything you need to know to create awesome, life-altering applications. . . . I pride myself on knowing a lot about design, but when reading this book, I probably didn’t encounter a single page that didn’t offer at least one interesting idea, new concept, or clever design technique. It’s also written in a way that prevents you from putting it down. . . . You’re in for a treat.”

–From the Foreword by LUKAS MATHIS, author of ignorethecode.net

Transform Your Ideas into Intuitive, Delightful iOS Apps!

 

As an app developer, you know design is important. But where do you start? Learning iOS Design will help you think systematically about the art and science of design, and consistently design apps that users will appreciate–and love.

 

Pioneering Omni Group user experience expert William Van Hecke first explains what design really means, and why effective app design matters so much. Next, using a sample concept, he walks through transforming a vague idea into a fleshed-out design, moving from outlines to sketches, wireframes to mockups, prototypes to finished apps.

 

Building on universal design principles, he offers practical advice for thinking carefully, critically, and cleverly about your own projects, and provides exercises to guide you step-by-step through planning your own app’s design. An accompanying website (learningiosdesign.com) provides professional-grade sketches, wireframes, and mockups you can study and play with to inspire your own new project.

 

Coverage includes

Planning and making sense of your app idea Exploring potential approaches, styles, and strategies Creating more forgiving, helpful, and effective interactions Managing the constraints of the iOS platform (or any platform) Crafting interfaces that are graceful, gracious, and consistently enjoyable to use Balancing concerns such as “focus versus versatility” and “friction versus guidance” Understanding why all designs are compromises–and how to find the best path for your own app

Register your book at informit.com/register to gain access to a supplemental chapter in which Bill Van Hecke discusses the design changes made in iOS 7.

Learning Angular teaches modern application development with Angular 2 and Angular 4. It begins with the basics of Angular and the technologies and techniques used throughout the book, such as key features of TypeScript, newer ES6 syntax and concepts, and details about the tools needed to write professional Angular applications.

The Language of SQL, Second Edition Many SQL texts attempt to serve as an encyclopedic reference on SQL syntax -- an approach that is often counterproductive, because that information is readily available in online references published by the major database vendors.  For SQL beginners, it’s more important for a book to focus on general concepts and to offer clear explanations and examples of what various SQL statements can accomplish. This is that book. A number of features make  The Language of SQL unique among introductory SQL books. First, you will not be required to download software or sit with a computer as you read the text. The intent of this book is to provide examples of SQL usage that can be understood simply by reading. Second, topics are organized in an intuitive and logical sequence. SQL keywords are introduced one at a time, allowing you to grow your understanding as you encounter new terms and concepts.  Finally, this book covers the syntax of three widely used databases: Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and Oracle. Special “Database Differences” sidebars clearly show you any differences in syntax among these three databases, and instructions are included on how to obtain and install free versions of the databases.  This is the only book you need to gain a quick working knowledge of SQL and relational databases. Learn How To... Use SQL to retrieve data from relational databases Apply functions and calculations to data Group and summarize data in a variety of useful ways Use complex logic to retrieve only the data you need Update data and create new tables Design relational databases so that data retrieval is easy and intuitive Use spreadsheets to transform your data into meaningful displays Retrieve data from multiple tables via joins, subqueries, views, and set logic  Create, modify, and execute stored procedures Install Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, or Oracle Contents at a Glance 1  Relational Databases and SQL 2  Basic Data Retrieval 3  Calculated Fields and Aliases 4  Using Functions 5  Sorting Data 6  Selection Criteria 7  Boolean Logic 8  Conditional Logic 9  Summarizing Data 10 Subtotals and Crosstabs 11 Inner Joins 12 Outer Joins 13 Self Joins and Views 14 Subqueries 15 Set Logic 16 Stored Procedures and Parameters 17 Modifying Data 18 Maintaining Tables 19 Principles of Database Design 20 Strategies for Displaying Data A Getting Started with Microsoft SQL Server B Getting Started with MySQL C Getting Started with Oracle

Learn to use one of the most powerful text processing and manipulation tools available

Regular expression experts have long been armed with an incredibly powerful tool, one that can be used to perform all sorts of sophisticated text processing and manipulation in just about every language and on every platform. That’s the good news. The bad news is that for too long, regular expressions have been the exclusive property of only the most tech savvy. Until now.

Ben Forta's Learning Regular Expressions teaches you the regular expressions that you really need to know, starting with simple text matches and working up to more complex topics, including the use of backreferences, conditional evaluation, and look-ahead processing. You’ll learn what you can use, and you’ll learn it methodically, systematically, and simply.

Regular expressions are nowhere near as complex as they appear to be at first glance. All it takes is a clear understanding of the problem being solved and how to leverage regular expressions to solve them.

Read and understand regular expressions Use literal text and metacharacters to build powerful search patterns Take advantage of advanced regular expression features, including lookahead and backreferences Perform powerful search-and-replace operations in all major professional editing tools Add sophisticated form and text processing to web applications Search for files using command-line tools like grep and egrep Use regular expressions in programming languages like JavaScript, Java, PHP, Python, Microsoft .NET, and C#, as well as in DBMSs including MySQL and Oracle Work with phone numbers, postal codes, social security numbers, IP addresses, URLs, email addresses, and credit card numbers Contents at a Glance 1 Introducing Regular Expressions 2 Matching Single Characters 3 Matching Sets of Characters 4 Using Metacharacters 5 Repeating Matches 6 Position Matching 7 Using Subexpressions 8 Using Backreferences 9 Looking Ahead and Behind 10 Embedding Conditions 11 Regular Expression Solutions to Common Problems Appendix A Regular Expressions in Popular Applications and Languages

Learning React

A hands-on guide to building web applications using React and Redux As far as new web frameworks and libraries go, React is quite the runaway success. It not only deals with the most common problems developers face when building complex apps, it throws in a few additional tricks that make building the visuals for such apps much, much easier. What React isn’t, though, is beginner-friendly and approachable. Until now. In Learning React, author Kirupa Chinnathambi brings his fresh, clear, and very personable writing style to help web developers new to React understand its fundamentals and how to use it to build really performant (and awesome) apps. The only book on the market that helps you get your first React app up and running in just minutes, Learning React is chock-full of colorful illustrations to help you visualize difficult concepts and practical step-by-step examples to show you how to apply what you learn.

Build your first React app Create components to define parts of your UI Combine components into other components to build more complex UIs Use JSX to specify visuals without writing full-fledged JavaScript Deal with maintaining state Work with React’s way of styling content Make sense of the mysterious component lifecycle Build multi-page apps using routing and views Optimize your React workflow using tools such as Node, Babel, webpack, and others Use Redux to make managing your app data and state easy Contents at a Glance 1 Introducing React 2 Building Your First React App 3 Components in React 4 Styling in React 5 Creating Complex Components 6 Transferring Properties 7 Meet JSX... Again! 8 Dealing with State in React 9 Going from Data to UI in React 10 Events in React 11 The Component Lifecycle 12 Accessing DOM Elements in React 13 Setting Up Your React Dev Environment 14 Working with External Data in React 15 Building an Awesome Todo List App in React 16 Creating a Sliding Menu in React 17 Avoiding Unnecessary Renders in React 18 Creating a Single-Page App in React Using React Router 19 Introduction to Redux 20 Using Redux with React

Learning Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a clear, complete, practical, and hands-on introduction to the world’s leading cloud platform -- a perfect resource for everyone who needs to understand AWS, whatever their previous IT background.

 

Top cloud trainer and evangelist Mark Wilkins covers all you need to know to succeed with AWS, introducing each key concept in the context of a book-length case study. He teaches best practices that fully align with Amazon’s Well Architected Framework, the basis of all AWS certifications -- making this guide a valuable learning tool for those seeking to demonstrate their expertise by pursuing formal certification. Wilkins introduces new concepts based on how they are presented in the AWS self-service portal, making his coverage even easier to learn from and practice with.

 

Coverage includes:

The big picture: What AWS is, how it has evolved, and how it can help you Foundation Core Services: compute, network, storage, and databases Implementing AWS Compute Services and EC2 instances (and understanding their pricing) Enforcing AWS security, compliance, and control Leveraging AWS Networking Services, including VPC, CIDR, DHCP, NAT, Internet gateways, endpoints, and VPNs Utilizing AWS cloud storage and databases Efficiently administering and managing AWS

Master the Newest Blender Techniques for Creating Amazing 3D Characters: From Design and Modeling to Video Compositing Now fully updated for Blender 2.83 LTS (Long-Term Support) and beyond, Learning Blender, Third Edition, walks you through every step of creating an outstanding 3D animated character with Blender, and then compositing it in a real video using a professional workflow. This edition covers the extensive interface changes of the software, as well as many improvements and some almost fully rewritten chapters to showcase more modern workflows. Still the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, this guide is perfect for both novices and those moving from other software to Blender (open source and free software). Author Oliver Villar provides full-color, hands-on chapters that cover every aspect of character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, animation, and rendering. He also walks you through integrating your animated character into a real-world video, using professional camera tracking, lighting, and compositing techniques. The rich companion website ( blendtuts.com/learning-blender-files) will help you quickly master even the most complex techniques with bonus contents like video tutorials. By the time you're done, you'll be ready to create outstanding characters for all media -- and you'll have up-to-date skills for any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not. Learn Blender's updated user interface and navigation Create your first scene with Blender and the Blender Render and Cycles render engines Organize an efficient, step-by-step pipeline to streamline workflow in any project Master modeling, unwrapping, and texturing Bring your character to life with materials and shading in both Cycles and EEVEE (the new real-time render engine included in Blender) Create your character's skeleton and make it walk Use Camera Tracking to mix 3D objects into a real-world video Transform a raw rendered scene into the final result using Blender's compositing nodes Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Create Amazing Real-Time Motion Graphics with Quartz Composer!

 

Apple’s Quartz Composer makes it amazingly easy to create real-time graphics of all kinds: for screensavers, animations, kiosk art, film effects, Dashboard Widgets, graphically-rich apps, and more. But few content creators use QC, because they’ve had practically no useful help–until now. In this book/DVD bundle, two renowned VJs who’ve pushed this tool to the limit show you how to do it, too!

 

You needn't be a technical expert: Graham Robinson and Surya Buchwald introduce each concept through a hands-on project, with videos demonstrating every step. They start extremely simple, offering beautiful visual feedback and encouraging you to freely explore. The video and text work together to help you build mastery fast, as you create everything from data-driven effects to compelling live performance visuals!

 

Coverage includes

 

Mastering Quartz Composer’s powerful interface Grabbing live inputs from music or cameras for unique interaction and improvisation Outputting video files for everything from smartphone screens to HD video edits Using built-in image filters to add visual effects Creating organic motion with LFOs, interpolation, and trackballs Fixing problems and figuring out what you did wrong Making rain, fire, and other cool stuff with particles Integrating MIDI musical instruments and other audio resources Mastering lighting and timelines Building richer environments with replication, iteration, and 3D modeling Pushing the boundaries with secret patches, CoreImage filters, and GLSL

 If you're a motion graphics designer, filmmaker, VJ, artist, interactive programmer, Cocoa developer, or any other type of "Maker," this book will guide you from acolyte to wizard in no time… and it just might be the most fun instructional you'll ever read!

 

0321636945 / 9780321636942 Learning Quartz Composer: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Motion Graphics with Quartz Composer

Package consists of:   

013308776X / 9780133087765 Learning Quartz Composer: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Motion Graphics with Quartz Composer

0321857577 / 9780321857576 Learning Quartz Composer, DVD: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Motion Graphics with Quartz Composer

0321857585 / 9780321857583 Learning Quartz Composer, Book Component: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Motion Graphics with Quartz Composer

 

Get Started Fast with Objective-C 2.0 Programming for OS X, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

 

If you want to learn Objective-C 2.0 to write programs for Mac OS X, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you’ve come to the right place! Concise, readable, and friendly, Learning Objective-C 2.0 is the perfect beginner’s guide to the latest version of Objective-C.

 

Longtime Mac OS X and iPhone developer Robert Clair covers everything from the absolute basics to Objective-C 2.0’s newest innovations. Clair begins with a practical refresher on C and object-oriented programming and walks you through creating your first Objective-C program with Xcode. Next, you’ll master each core language feature, from objects and classes to messaging, frameworks, and protocols. Every concept is illustrated with simple examples, and many chapters contain hands-on practice exercises.

 

Throughout, Learning Objective-C 2.0 focuses on the features, concepts, and techniques that matter most day to day. The result is an outstanding first book for everyone who wants to begin programming for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac OS X.

 

COVERAGE INCLUDES

 

Understanding methods, messages, and the Objective-C messaging system Defining classes, creating object instances, and using class objects Using categories to extend classes without subclassing Simplifying development with Objective-C 2.0 declared properties Using protocols to emphasize behavior rather than class Working with common Foundation classes for strings, arrays, dictionaries, sets, and number objects Using Objective-C control structures, including Objective-C 2.0’s new fast enumeration construct Understanding application security and hiding the declaration of methods that should stay private Using the new blocks feature provided in Objective-C 2.0

XSLT is a powerful language for transforming XML documents into something else. That something else can be an HTML document, another XML document, a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file, a Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) file, Java code, or a number of other things. You write an XSLT stylesheet to define the rules for transforming an XML document, and the XSLT processor does the work. As useful as XSLT is, its peculiar characteristics make it a difficult language in which to get started. In fact, newcomers are often a little dazed on first contact. Learning XSLT offers a hands-on introduction to help them get up to speed with XSLT quickly. The book will help web developers and designers understand this powerful but often mystifying template-driven and functional-styled language, getting them over the many differences between XSLT and the more conventional programming languages. Learning XSLT moves smoothly from the simple to complex, illustrating all aspects of XSLT 1.0 through step-by-step examples that you'll practice as you work through the book.Thorough in its coverage of the language, the book makes few assumptions about what you may already know. You'll learn about XSLT's template-based syntax, how XSLT templates work with each other, and gain an understanding of XSLT variables. Learning XSLT also explains how the XML Path Language (XPath) is used by XSLT and provides a glimpse of what the future holds for XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0. The ability to transform one XML vocabulary to another is fundamental to exploiting the power of XML. Learning XSLT is a carefully paced, example-rich introduction to XSLT that will have you understanding and using XSLT on your own in no time.

This second edition of the bestselling Learning XML provides web developers with a concise but grounded understanding of XML (the Extensible Markup Language) and its potential-- not just a whirlwind tour of XML. The author explains the important and relevant XML technologies and their capabilities clearly and succinctly with plenty of real-life projects and useful examples. He outlines the elements of markup--demystifying concepts such as attributes, entities, and namespaces--and provides enough depth and examples to get started. Learning XML is a reliable source for anyone who needs to know XML, but doesn't want to waste time wading through hundreds of web sites or 800 pages of bloated text. For writers producing XML documents, this book clarifies files and the process of creating them with the appropriate structure and format. Designers will learn what parts of XML are most helpful to their team and will get started on creating Document Type Definitions. For programmers, the book makes syntax and structures clear. Learning XML also discusses the stylesheets needed for viewing documents in the next generation of browsers, databases, and other devices.Learning XML illustrates the core XML concepts and language syntax, in addition to important related tools such as the CSS and XSL styling languages and the XLink and XPointer specifications for creating rich link structures. It includes information about three schema languages for validation: W3C Schema, Schematron, and RELAX-NG, which are gaining widespread support from people who need to validate documents but aren't satisfied with DTDs. Also new in this edition is a chapter on XSL-FO, a powerful formatting language for XML. If you need to wade through the acronym soup of XML and start to really use this powerful tool, Learning XML, will give you the roadmap you need.

A Pragmatic Introduction to UML