Unlock the power of multi-core mobile devices to build responsive and reactive Android applications About This Book Construct scalable and performant applications to take advantage of multi-thread asynchronous techniques Explore the high-level Android asynchronous constructs available on the Android SDK Choose the most appropriate asynchronous technique to implement your next outstanding feature Who This Book Is For This book is for Android developers who want to learn how to build multithreaded and reliable Android applications using high-level and advanced asynchronous techniques and concepts. No prior knowledge of concurrent and asynchronous programming is required. This book will also be great for Java experts who are new to Android. Whether you are a beginner at Android development or a seasoned Android programmer, this book will guide you through the most basic and advanced asynchronous constructs used in Android programming. What You Will Learn Get familiar with the android process model and low-level concurrent constructs delivered by the Android SDK Use AsyncTask and loader framework to load data in the background, delivering progress results in the meantime Create services that interact with your activity without compromising the UI rendering Learn the working of Android concurrency on the Native Layer Interact with nearby devices over Bluetooth and WiFi communications channels Create and compose tasks with RxJava to execute complex asynchronous work in a predictable way Get accustomed to the use of the Android Loader construct to deliver up-to-date results In Detail Asynchronous programming has acquired immense importance in Android programming, especially when we want to make use of the number of independent processing units (cores) available on the most recent Android devices. With this guide in your hands you’ll be able to bring the power of Asynchronous programming to your own projects, and make your Android apps more powerful than ever before! To start with, we will discuss the details of the Android Process model and the Java Low Level Concurrent Framework, delivered by Android SDK. We will also guide you through the high-level Android-specific constructs available on the SDK: Handler, AsyncTask, and Loader. Next, we will discuss the creation of IntentServices, Bound Services and External Services, which can run in the background even when the user is not interacting with it. You will also discover AlarmManager and JobScheduler APIs, which are used to schedule and defer work without sacrificing the battery life. In a more advanced phase, you will create background tasks that are able to execute CPU-intensive tasks in a native code-making use of the Android NDK. You will be then guided through the process of interacting with remote services asynchronously using the HTTP protocol or Google GCM Platform. Using the EventBus library, we will also show how to use the Publish-Subscribe software pattern to simplify communication between the different Android application components by decoupling the event producer from event consumer. Finally, we will introduce RxJava, a popular asynchronous Java framework used to compose work in a concise and reactive way. Asynchronous Android will help you to build well-behaved applications with smooth responsive user interfaces that delight the users with speedy results and data that’s always fresh. Style and approach This easy-to-follow guide is full of code examples of real-world use cases. Each asynchronous topic is explained sequentially, from the most basic and low-level to the more advanced, using concise and effective language. Some lifecycle flows and concepts feature illustrations to help you understand the complex interactions between Android entities.

Over 100 hands-on recipes to effectively solve real-world data problems using the most popular R packages and techniques About This Book Gain insight into how data scientists collect, process, analyze, and visualize data using some of the most popular R packages Understand how to apply useful data analysis techniques in R for real-world applications An easy-to-follow guide to make the life of data scientist easier with the problems faced while performing data analysis Who This Book Is For This book is for those who are already familiar with the basic operation of R, but want to learn how to efficiently and effectively analyze real-world data problems using practical R packages. What You Will Learn Get to know the functional characteristics of R language Extract, transform, and load data from heterogeneous sources Understand how easily R can confront probability and statistics problems Get simple R instructions to quickly organize and manipulate large datasets Create professional data visualizations and interactive reports Predict user purchase behavior by adopting a classification approach Implement data mining techniques to discover items that are frequently purchased together Group similar text documents by using various clustering methods In Detail This cookbook offers a range of data analysis samples in simple and straightforward R code, providing step-by-step resources and time-saving methods to help you solve data problems efficiently. The first section deals with how to create R functions to avoid the unnecessary duplication of code. You will learn how to prepare, process, and perform sophisticated ETL for heterogeneous data sources with R packages. An example of data manipulation is provided, illustrating how to use the “dplyr” and “data.table” packages to efficiently process larger data structures. We also focus on “ggplot2” and show you how to create advanced figures for data exploration. In addition, you will learn how to build an interactive report using the “ggvis” package. Later chapters offer insight into time series analysis on financial data, while there is detailed information on the hot topic of machine learning, including data classification, regression, clustering, association rule mining, and dimension reduction. By the end of this book, you will understand how to resolve issues and will be able to comfortably offer solutions to problems encountered while performing data analysis. Style and approach This easy-to-follow guide is full of hands-on examples of data analysis with R. Each topic is fully explained beginning with the core concept, followed by step-by-step practical examples, and concluding with detailed explanations of each concept used.

Learn to build powerful machine learning models quickly and deploy large-scale predictive applications About This Book Design, engineer and deploy scalable machine learning solutions with the power of Python Take command of Hadoop and Spark with Python for effective machine learning on a map reduce framework Build state-of-the-art models and develop personalized recommendations to perform machine learning at scale Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who intends to work with large and complex data sets. Familiarity with basic Python and machine learning concepts is recommended. Working knowledge in statistics and computational mathematics would also be helpful. What You Will Learn Apply the most scalable machine learning algorithms Work with modern state-of-the-art large-scale machine learning techniques Increase predictive accuracy with deep learning and scalable data-handling techniques Improve your work by combining the MapReduce framework with Spark Build powerful ensembles at scale Use data streams to train linear and non-linear predictive models from extremely large datasets using a single machine In Detail Large Python machine learning projects involve new problems associated with specialized machine learning architectures and designs that many data scientists have yet to tackle. But finding algorithms and designing and building platforms that deal with large sets of data is a growing need. Data scientists have to manage and maintain increasingly complex data projects, and with the rise of big data comes an increasing demand for computational and algorithmic efficiency. Large Scale Machine Learning with Python uncovers a new wave of machine learning algorithms that meet scalability demands together with a high predictive accuracy. Dive into scalable machine learning and the three forms of scalability. Speed up algorithms that can be used on a desktop computer with tips on parallelization and memory allocation. Get to grips with new algorithms that are specifically designed for large projects and can handle bigger files, and learn about machine learning in big data environments. We will also cover the most effective machine learning techniques on a map reduce framework in Hadoop and Spark in Python. Style and approach This efficient and practical title is stuffed full of the techniques, tips and tools you need to ensure your large scale Python machine learning runs swiftly and seamlessly. Large-scale machine learning tackles a different issue to what is currently on the market. Those working with Hadoop clusters and in data intensive environments can now learn effective ways of building powerful machine learning models from prototype to production. This book is written in a style that programmers from other languages (R, Julia, Java, Matlab) can follow.

Master complex workflows and conquer the world with Python and Maya About This Book Improve your modelling skills and reduce your *ing problems using Python in Maya Learn to communicate with web applications using Python for easier team development A quick and practical answer to every problem you can have whilst *ing in Maya with Python Who This Book Is For This book is for Python developers who have just started *ing with Maya. What You Will Learn Find out how to use Python *ing to automate tedious tasks Create functional user interfaces to make *s easy to share with others Add new functionality to Maya via the power of *ing Import and export arbitrary data into and out of Maya Improve your workflow, and that of your team Create custom create custom controls to make rigs that are easy to work with Implement a system to render 3D assets for isometric games Use * jobs to trigger actions automatically in response to user interaction Open a command port to allow other applications to communicate with Maya In Detail Maya is a 3D graphics and animation software, used to develop interactive 3D applications and games with stupendous visual effects. The Maya Programming with Python Cookbook is all about creating fast, powerful automation systems with minimum coding using Maya Python. With the help of insightful and essential recipes, this book will help you improve your modelling skills. Expand your development options and overcome *ing problems encountered whilst developing code in Maya. Right from the beginning, get solutions to complex development concerns faced when implementing as parts of build. Style and approach This book is comprised of a set of practical recipes, grouped under specific topics, which can be referred to independently or in sequence. These recipes provide quick solutions to common problems, and cover most of the real-world scenarios that developers are likely to face when working with Maya.

Develop skills to build powerful plug-ins with Eclipse IDE through examples About This Book Create useful plug-ins to make Eclipse work for you Learn how to migrate Eclipse 3.x plug-ins to Eclipse 4.x From automation to testing, find out how to get your IDE performing at an impressive standard Who This Book Is For This book is for Java developers familiar with Eclipse who need more from the IDE. This book will sharpen your confidence and make you a more productive developer with a tool that supports rather than limits you. What You Will Learn Create plug-ins for Eclipse 4.x Test plug-ins automatically with JUnit Display tree and table information in views Upgrade Eclipse 3.x plug-ins to Eclipse 4.x Find out how to build user interfaces from SWT and JFace Run tasks in the background and update the user interface asynchronously Automate builds of plug-ins and features Automate user interface tests with SWTBot In Detail Eclipse is used by everyone from indie devs to NASA engineers. Its popularity is underpinned by its impressive plug-in ecosystem, which allows it to be extended to meet the needs of whoever is using it. This book shows you how to take full advantage of the Eclipse IDE by building your own useful plug-ins from start to finish. Taking you through the complete process of plug-in development, from packaging to automated testing and deployment, this book is a direct route to quicker, cleaner Java development. It may be for beginners, but we're confident that you'll develop new skills quickly. Pretty soon you'll feel like an expert, in complete control of your IDE. Don't let Eclipse define you - extend it with the plug-ins you need today for smarter, happier, and more effective development. Style and approach Packed with plenty of examples so you're never stuck, or never left simply reading instructions, this book encourages you to get started immediately. This book is for developers who want to develop, not just learn.

Learn how to leverage the power of R for Business Intelligence About This Book Use this easy-to-follow guide to leverage the power of R analytics and make your business data more insightful. This highly practical guide teaches you how to develop dashboards that help you make informed decisions using R. Learn the A to Z of working with data for Business Intelligence with the help of this comprehensive guide. Who This Book Is For This book is for data analysts, business analysts, data science professionals or anyone who wants to learn analytic approaches to business problems. Basic familiarity with R is expected. What You Will Learn Extract, clean, and transform data Validate the quality of the data and variables in datasets Learn exploratory data analysis Build regression models Implement popular data-mining algorithms Visualize results using popular graphs Publish the results as a dashboard through Interactive Web Application frameworks In Detail Explore the world of Business Intelligence through the eyes of an analyst working in a successful and growing company. Learn R through use cases supporting different functions within that company. This book provides data-driven and analytically focused approaches to help you answer questions in operations, marketing, and finance. In Part 1, you will learn about extracting data from different sources, cleaning that data, and exploring its structure. In Part 2, you will explore predictive models and cluster analysis for Business Intelligence and analyze financial times series. Finally, in Part 3, you will learn to communicate results with sharp visualizations and interactive, web-based dashboards. After completing the use cases, you will be able to work with business data in the R programming environment and realize how data science helps make informed decisions and develops business strategy. Along the way, you will find helpful tips about R and Business Intelligence. Style and approach This book will take a step-by-step approach and instruct you in how you can achieve Business Intelligence from scratch using R. We will start with extracting data and then move towards exploring, analyzing, and visualizing it. Eventually, you will learn how to create insightful dashboards that help you make informed decisions—and all of this with the help of real-life examples.

Hone your skills by learning classic data structures and algorithms in JavaScript About This Book Understand common data structures and the associated algorithms, as well as the context in which they are used. Master existing JavaScript data structures such as array, set and map and learn how to implement new ones such as stacks, linked lists, trees and graphs. All concepts are explained in an easy way, followed by examples. Who This Book Is For If you are a student of Computer Science or are at the start of your technology career and want to explore JavaScript’s optimum ability, this book is for you. You need a basic knowledge of JavaScript and programming logic to start having fun with algorithms. What You Will Learn Declare, initialize, add, and remove items from arrays, stacks, and queues Get the knack of using algorithms such as DFS (Depth-first Search) and BFS (Breadth-First Search) for the most complex data structures Harness the power of creating linked lists, doubly linked lists, and circular linked lists Store unique elements with hash tables, dictionaries, and sets Use binary trees and binary search trees Sort data structures using a range of algorithms such as bubble sort, insertion sort, and quick sort In Detail This book begins by covering basics of the JavaScript language and introducing ECMAScript 7, before gradually moving on to the current implementations of ECMAScript 6. You will gain an in-depth knowledge of how hash tables and set data structure functions, as well as how trees and hash maps can be used to search files in a HD or represent a database. This book is an accessible route deeper into JavaScript. Graphs being one of the most complex data structures you’ll encounter, we’ll also give you a better understanding of why and how graphs are largely used in GPS navigation systems in social networks. Toward the end of the book, you’ll discover how all the theories presented by this book can be applied in real-world solutions while working on your own computer networks and Facebook searches. Style and approach This book gets straight to the point, providing you with examples of how a data structure or algorithm can be used and giving you real-world applications of the algorithm in JavaScript. With real-world use cases associated with each data structure, the book explains which data structure should be used to achieve the desired results in the real world.

Create real-time server-side applications with this practical, step-by-step guide About This Book Learn about server-side JavaScript with Node.js and Node modules through the most up-to-date book on Node.js web development Understand website development both with and without the Connect/Express web application framework Develop both HTTP server and client applications Who This Book Is For This book is for anybody looking for an alternative to the "P" languages (Perl, PHP, and Python), or anyone looking for a new paradigm of server-side application development. You should have at least a rudimentary understanding of JavaScript and web application development. What You Will Learn Install and use Node.js for both development and deployment Use the Express application framework Configure Bootstrap for mobile-first theming Use data storage engines such as MySQL, SQLITE3, and MongoDB Understand user authentication methods, including OAuth, with third-party services Deploy Node.js to live servers, including microservice development with Docker Perform unit testing with Mocha Perform functional testing of the web application with CasperJS In Detail Node.js is a server-side JavaScript platform using an event driven, non-blocking I/O model allowing users to build fast and scalable data-intensive applications running in real time. Node.js Web Development shows JavaScript is not just for browser-side applications. It can be used for server-side web application development, real-time applications, microservices, and much more. This book gives you an excellent starting point, bringing you straight to the heart of developing web applications with Node.js. You will progress from a rudimentary knowledge of JavaScript and server-side development to being able to create and maintain your own Node.js application. With this book you'll learn how to use the HTTP Server and Client objects, data storage with both SQL and MongoDB databases, real-time applications with Socket.IO, mobile-first theming with Bootstrap, microservice deployment with Docker, authenticating against third-party services using OAuth, and much more. Style and Approach This book is a practical guide for anyone looking to develop striking and robust web applications using Node.js.

Master the art of efficiently composing Azure services and implement them in real-world scenarios About This Book Build an effective development environment in Azure using the right set of technologies. Architect a full-stack solution in the cloud to choose the best service set A comprehensive guide full of real-life examples to help you take your developer skills up a notch Who This Book Is For If you are a developer, a full-stack developer, or an architect with an intermediate level understanding of cloud computing and Microsoft Azure, and you want to take your skills up a notch, this book is for you. Prior knowledge and understanding of cloud development strategies is assumed. What You Will Learn Set up a development environment with VMs, ARM, and RemoteApp Connect with VPNs to manage security and backups Establish a front-end architecture with AppService, storage, search, and caching Implement identity solutions, integrate applications, and use data Integrate cross-platform mobile applications with the cloud Consistently build and manage an API layer for millions of users Work with messages in the enterprise Deploy your services as an IT expert with ARM templates In Detail Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform that supports many different programming languages, tools, and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems. This book starts by helping you set up a professional development environments in the cloud and integrating them with your local environment to achieve improved efficiency. You will move on to create front-end and back-end services, and then build cross-platform applications using Azure. Next you’ll get to grips with advanced techniques used to analyze usage data and automate billing operations. Following on from that, you will gain knowledge of how you can extend your on-premise solution to the cloud and move data in a pipeline. In a nutshell, this book will show you how to build high-quality, end-to-end services using Microsoft Azure. By the end of this book, you will have the skillset needed to successfully set up, develop, and manage a full-stack Azure infrastructure. Style and Approach This comprehensive guide to Azure has both explorative parts and step-by-step ones. Each chapter defines a learning path to a specific scenario, mixing the appropriate technologies and building blocks efficiently.

Maximize the power of Magento 2 to create productive online stores About This Book Updated for Magento 2, this book offers a comprehensive coverage of all the new features of Magento to build modern online stores Exploit little-known techniques to extend, tune, and manage your Magento installation Detailed coverage to make your store run faster, better, and more productively Who This Book Is For This book is for web designers, developers, or e-commerce store-owners who design or manage Magento stores for their clients and want to gain an in-depth understanding of the various features of Magento 2. What You Will Learn Discover what makes Magento 2 different — and even more powerful Develop strategies to create multi-store environments Find out how to create themes and extend the functionality of Magento 2 Create sound development practices to insure code integrity and security Know the why, as well as the how, behind using Magento 2 In Detail The long-awaited release of the world's most popular online solution, Magento 2, is now out with an all new interface and several enhancements. This book offers you advanced guidance on managing, optimizing, and extending your store while taking advantage of the new features of Magento 2. This is a comprehensive guide to using the all new features and interface of Magento 2 to build, extend, and design online stores. From planning your Magento installation through to advanced techniques designed to make your store as successful as possible, this book is your roadmap to managing your Magento store. Focusing on Magento's Community version, the book covers everything from creating and managing multiple stores to fine-tuning Magento for speed and performance. You’ll learn how to manage categories, products, design themes, extensions, and more. Style and Approach This book will be a straightforward guide that will dive deep into both aspects of developing and administering beautiful and secure stores. Get a firm idea of the different tools that the latest version has to offer to ensure the best customer experience.

Over 70 practical recipes to gain operational data intelligence with Splunk Enterprise About This Book This is the most up-to-date book on Splunk 6.3 and teaches you how to tackle real-world operational intelligence scenarios efficiently Get business insights using machine data using this easy-to-follow guide Search, monitor, and analyze your operational data skillfully using this recipe-based, practical guide Who This Book Is For This book is intended for users of all levels who are looking to leverage the Splunk Enterprise platform as a valuable operational intelligence tool. The recipes provided in this book will appeal to individuals from all facets of business, IT, security, product, marketing, and many more! Also, existing users of Splunk who want to upgrade and get up and running with Splunk 6.3 will find this book invaluable. What You Will Learn Use Splunk to gather, analyze, and report on data Create dashboards and visualizations that make data meaningful Build an operational intelligence application with extensive features and functionality Enrich operational data with lookups and workflows Model and accelerate data and perform pivot-based reporting Build real-time, *ed, and other intelligence-driven alerts Summarize data for longer term trending, reporting, and analysis Integrate advanced JavaScript charts and leverage Splunk's API In Detail Splunk makes it easy for you to take control of your data, and with Splunk Operational Cookbook, you can be confident that you are taking advantage of the Big Data revolution and driving your business with the cutting edge of operational intelligence and business analytics. With more than 70 recipes that demonstrate all of Splunk’s features, not only will you find quick solutions to common problems, but you’ll also learn a wide range of strategies and uncover new ideas that will make you rethink what operational intelligence means to you and your organization. You’ll discover recipes on data processing, searching and reporting, dashboards, and visualizations to make data shareable, communicable, and most importantly meaningful. You’ll also find step-by-step demonstrations that walk you through building an operational intelligence application containing vital features essential to understanding data and to help you successfully integrate a data-driven way of thinking in your organization. Throughout the book, you’ll dive deeper into Splunk, explore data models and pivots to extend your intelligence capabilities, and perform advanced searching to explore your data in even more sophisticated ways. Splunk is changing the business landscape, so make sure you’re taking advantage of it. Style and approach Splunk is an excellent platform that allows you to make sense of machine data with ease. The adoption of Splunk has been huge and everyone who has gone beyond installing Splunk wants to know how to make most of it. This book will not only teach you how to use Splunk in real-world scenarios to get business insights, but will also get existing Splunk users up to date with the latest Splunk 6.3 release.

100 recipes that teach you how to perform various machine learning tasks in the real world About This Book Understand which algorithms to use in a given context with the help of this exciting recipe-based guide Learn about perceptrons and see how they are used to build neural networks Stuck while making sense of images, text, speech, and real estateThis guide will come to your rescue, showing you how to perform machine learning for each one of these using various techniques Who This Book Is For This book is for Python programmers who are looking to use machine-learning algorithms to create real-world applications. This book is friendly to Python beginners, but familiarity with Python programming would certainly be useful to play around with the code. What You Will Learn Explore classification algorithms and apply them to the income bracket estimation problem Use predictive modeling and apply it to real-world problems Understand how to perform market segmentation using unsupervised learning Explore data visualization techniques to interact with your data in diverse ways Find out how to build a recommendation engine Understand how to interact with text data and build models to analyze it Work with speech data and recognize spoken words using Hidden Markov Models Analyze stock market data using Conditional Random Fields Work with image data and build systems for image recognition and biometric face recognition Grasp how to use deep neural networks to build an optical character recognition system In Detail Machine learning is becoming increasingly pervasive in the modern data-driven world. It is used extensively across many fields such as search engines, robotics, self-driving cars, and more. With this book, you will learn how to perform various machine learning tasks in different environments. We’ll start by exploring a range of real-life scenarios where machine learning can be used, and look at various building blocks. Throughout the book, you’ll use a wide variety of machine learning algorithms to solve real-world problems and use Python to implement these algorithms. You’ll discover how to deal with various types of data and explore the differences between machine learning paradigms such as supervised and unsupervised learning. We also cover a range of regression techniques, classification algorithms, predictive modeling, data visualization techniques, recommendation engines, and more with the help of real-world examples. Style and approach You will explore various real-life scenarios in this book where machine learning can be used, and learn about different building blocks of machine learning using independent recipes in the book.

Start pulling the strings of your infrastructure with Puppet – learn how to configure, customize, and manage your systems more intelligently About This Book Explore the wider Puppet ecosystem of useful tools Design and manage your Puppet architecture for optimum performance Write more efficient code that keeps your infrastructure more robust Who This Book Is For If you are a Puppet user, this book will help you on different levels. If you a beginner, we summarize the key Puppet components and give you the elements to have a broader vision. For more experienced users, you will be surprised by with topics on designing, implementing, adapting, and deploying Puppet architectures. If you are expert, you will find topics and information that is rarely exposed in other books, giving you an insight into Puppet's future and its usage on alternative devices. What You Will Learn Learn the principles of Puppet language and ecosystem Extract the features of Hiera and PuppetDB’s power usage Explore the different approaches to Puppet architecture design Use Puppet to manage network, cloud, and virtualization devices Manage and test the Puppet code workflow Tweak, hack, and adapt the Puppet extension points Get a run through of the strategies and patterns to introduce Puppet automation Master the art of writing reusable modules In Detail Puppet has changed the way we manage our systems, but Puppet itself is changing and evolving, and so are the ways we are using it. To tackle our IT infrastructure challenges and avoid common errors when designing our architectures, an up-to-date, practical, and focused view of the current and future Puppet evolution is what we need. With Puppet, you define the state of your IT infrastructure, and it automatically enforces the desired state. This book will be your guide to designing and deploying your Puppet architecture. It will help you utilize Puppet to manage your IT infrastructure. Get to grips with Hiera and learn how to install and configure it, before learning best practices for writing reusable and maintainable code. You will also be able to explore the latest features of Puppet 4, before executing, testing, and deploying Puppet across your systems. As you progress, Extending Puppet takes you through higher abstraction modules, along with tips for effective code workflow management. Finally, you will learn how to develop plugins for Puppet - as well as some useful techniques that can help you to avoid common errors and overcome everyday challenges. Style and approach This is a collection of specific information about multiple topics related to Puppet and its ecosystem. Starting from a review of the very basics to more advanced topics, mixing practical advice with important theory and broader perspective, along with implementation details.

A fast-paced guide to get you up and running with Android application development using Android Studio 2 About This Book Configure, build, and run Android projects with Android Studio 2 Test your apps using the Android emulator and learn how to manage virtual devices Explore how Android Studio 2 can be made a part of your workflow to reduce the overall development time Who This Book Is For If you are an Android developer looking to quickly take advantage of Android Studio 2 and add it to your workflow, then this book is for you. It is assumed that you are familiar with the OOP paradigm and Java. You are recommended to have prior knowledge of the main characteristics of the Android mobile system to get the most out of this book. What You Will Learn Install Android Studio on your system and configure the Android Software Development Kit Create your first project and explore its structure Manage a project in Android Studio 2 with Gradle Improve your productivity while programming by getting the best of the code editor Design the user interface using layouts and see how to handle various user events Integrate Google Play services into your project efficiently Monitor your app while it's running and constantly improve its performance In Detail Android Studio 2, the official IDE for Android application development, dramatically improves your workflow by letting you quickly see changes running on your device or emulator. It gives developers a unique platform by making app builds and deployment faster. This book will get you up and running with all the essential features of Android Studio 2 to optimize your development workflow. Starting off with the basic installation and configuration of Android Studio 2, this book will help you build a new project by showing you how to create a custom launcher icon and guiding you to choose your project. You will then gain an insight into the additional tools provided in Android Studio, namely the Software Development Kit (SDK) Manager, Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager, and Javadoc. You’ll also see how to integrate Google Play Services in an Android project. Finally, you’ll become familiar with the Help section in Android Studio, which will enable you to search for support you might require in different scenarios. Style and approach A comprehensive and practical guide that will give you the essential skills required to develop Android applications quickly using Android Studio. With the help of a real-world project, this book will show how to make Android Studio a part of your development process and optimize it.

Build up your e-learning development skills with Articulate Storyline About This Book Develop interactive e-learning projects using advanced techniques Impress your clients and/or audience with out-of-the-box interactions Step-by-step walkthroughs provide practical solutions Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone experienced in using the basic functions of Articulate Storyline who are yearning to learn more. It’s designed to provide a brief overview of key concepts, to help you refresh your knowledge of common functions, and teach you how to push Storyline to the limit! What You Will Learn Familiarize yourself with best practices for e-learning development Review key Storyline concepts before diving in deep with development Discover new ways of working within Storyline to extend slide content and enhance interactivity Personalize your story with advanced variable-based interactions See how JavaScript can be used in your stories to do some really neat things Assess your learners using customized assessment options and find out how to troubleshoot common issues Customize the learning experience by modifying the player properties and publishing settings Customize your story and prepare it for publishing In Detail Storyline is a powerful e-learning authoring tool that allows you to take your creativity to the next level. However, more often than not, projects don't require such complex interactions, leaving Storyline's full capabilities untapped. This book will provide you with the information you need to take your Storyline development up a notch by leveraging the full suite of possibilities Storyline has to offer. You will be provided with a refresher of the key concepts before we take you deep into the exciting world of enhanced interactivity, variables, and even some JavaScript—oh my! With downloadable activities, you can either follow along and compare your output, use the activities as they are, modify the activities to suit your own needs, or reverse-engineer the activities to better understand how they were developed. Style and approach You’ll get hands-on working with project files that were created with you in mind. As you move through each chapters, the practical, step-by-step approach will get you using some of the more advanced features of Storyline to create polished and snazzy interactions.

Kali Linux: a complete pentesting toolkit facilitating smooth backtracking for working hackers About This Book Conduct network testing, surveillance, pen testing and forensics on MS Windows using Kali Linux Footprint, monitor, and audit your network and investigate any ongoing infestations Customize Kali Linux with this professional guide so it becomes your pen testing toolkit Who This Book Is For If you are a working ethical hacker who is looking to expand the offensive skillset with a thorough understanding of Kali Linux, then this is the book for you. Prior knowledge about Linux operating systems and the BASH terminal emulator along with Windows desktop and command line would be highly beneficial. What You Will Learn Set up Kali Linux for pen testing Map and enumerate your Windows network Exploit several common Windows network vulnerabilities Attack and defeat password schemes on Windows Debug and reverse-engineer Windows programs Recover lost files, investigate successful hacks and discover hidden data in innocent-looking files Catch and hold admin rights on the network, and maintain backdoors on the network after your initial testing is done In Detail Microsoft Windows is one of the two most common OS and managing its security has spawned the discipline of IT security. Kali Linux is the premier platform for testing and maintaining Windows security. Kali is built on the Debian distribution of Linux and shares the legendary stability of that OS. This lets you focus on using the network penetration, password cracking, forensics tools and not the OS. This book has the most advanced tools and techniques to reproduce the methods used by sophisticated hackers to make you an expert in Kali Linux penetration testing. First, you are introduced to Kali's top ten tools and other useful reporting tools. Then, you will find your way around your target network and determine known vulnerabilities to be able to exploit a system remotely. Next, you will prove that the vulnerabilities you have found are real and exploitable. You will learn to use tools in seven categories of exploitation tools. Further, you perform web access exploits using tools like websploit and more. Security is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. Passwords are often that weak link. Thus, you learn about password attacks that can be used in concert with other approaches to break into and own a network. Moreover, you come to terms with network sniffing, which helps you understand which users are using services you can exploit, and IP spoofing, which can be used to poison a system's DNS cache. Once you gain access to a machine or network, maintaining access is important. Thus, you not only learn penetrating in the machine you also learn Windows privilege’s escalations. With easy to follow step-by-step instructions and support images, you will be able to quickly pen test your system and network. Style and approach This book is a hands-on guide for Kali Linux pen testing. This book will provide all the practical knowledge needed to test your network's security using a proven hacker's methodology. The book uses easy-to-understand yet professional language for explaining concepts.

Leverage the power of digital forensics for Windows systems About This Book Build your own lab environment to analyze forensic data and practice techniques. This book offers meticulous coverage with an example-driven approach and helps you build the key skills of performing forensics on Windows-based systems using digital artifacts. It uses specific open source and Linux-based tools so you can become proficient at analyzing forensic data and upgrade your existing knowledge. Who This Book Is For This book targets forensic analysts and professionals who would like to develop skills in digital forensic analysis for the Windows platform. You will acquire proficiency, knowledge, and core skills to undertake forensic analysis of digital data. Prior experience of information security and forensic analysis would be helpful. You will gain knowledge and an understanding of performing forensic analysis with tools especially built for the Windows platform. What You Will Learn Perform live analysis on victim or suspect Windows systems locally or remotely Understand the different natures and acquisition techniques of volatile and non-volatile data. Create a timeline of all the system actions to restore the history of an incident. Recover and analyze data from FAT and NTFS file systems. Make use of various tools to perform registry analysis. Track a system user's browser and e-mail activities to prove or refute some hypotheses. Get to know how to dump and analyze computer memory. In Detail Over the last few years, the wave of the cybercrime has risen rapidly. We have witnessed many major attacks on the governmental, military, financial, and media sectors. Tracking all these attacks and crimes requires a deep understanding of operating system operations, how to extract evident data from digital evidence, and the best usage of the digital forensic tools and techniques. Regardless of your level of experience in the field of information security in general, this book will fully introduce you to digital forensics. It will provide you with the knowledge needed to assemble different types of evidence effectively, and walk you through the various stages of the analysis process. We start by discussing the principles of the digital forensics process and move on to show you the approaches that are used to conduct analysis. We will then study various tools to perform live analysis, and go through different techniques to analyze volatile and non-volatile data. Style and approach This is a step-by-step guide that delivers knowledge about different Windows artifacts. Each topic is explained sequentially, including artifact analysis using different tools and techniques. These techniques make use of the evidence extracted from infected machines, and are accompanied by real-life examples.

Combine the powerful UE4 with Blender to create visually appealing and comprehensive game environments About This Book The only resource that shows how you can incorporate Blender into your Unreal Engine 4 Game environment Create amazing 3D game environments by leveraging the power of Blender and Unreal Engine 4 Practical step-by-step approach with plenty of illustrative examples to get you started immediately Who This Book Is For This book would be ideal for 3D artists and game designers who want to create amazing 3D game environments and leverage the power of Blender with Unreal Engine 4. 3D design basics would be necessary to get the most out of this book. Some previous experience with Blender would be helpful but not essential What You Will Learn Create a fully functioning game level of your own design using Blender and Unreal Engine 4 Customize your level with detailed 3D assets created with Blender Import assets into Unreal Engine 4 to create an amazing finished product Build a detailed dynamic environment with goals and an ending Explore Blender’s incredible animation tools to animate elements of your game Create great environments using sound effects, particle effects, and class blueprints In Detail Unreal Engine 4 now has support for Blender, which was not available in earlier versions. This has opened up new possibilities and that is where this book comes in. This is the first book in the market combining these two powerful game and graphic engines. Readers will build an amazing high-level game environment with UE4 and will show them how to use the power of Blender 3D to create stunning animations and 3D effects for their game. This book will start with creating levels, 3D assets for the game, game progression, light and environment control, animation, and so on. Then it will teach readers to add amazing visual effects to their game by applying rendering, lighting, rigging, and compositing techniques in Blender. Finally, readers will learn how to smoothly transfer blender files to UE4 and animate the game assets. Each chapter will add complexities to the game environment. Style and approach This will have a clear, step-by-step approach to creating game assets in Blender and then importing them to UE4 to create stunning game environments. All asset creation techniques are explained in detail along with tips on how to use them to create your own game environments. The book offers end-to-end coverage of how to design a game level from scratch.

Over insightful 90 recipes to get lightning-fast analytics with Apache Spark About This Book Use Apache Spark for data processing with these hands-on recipes Implement end-to-end, large-scale data analysis better than ever before Work with powerful libraries such as MLLib, SciPy, NumPy, and Pandas to gain insights from your data Who This Book Is For This book is for novice and intermediate level data science professionals and data analysts who want to solve data science problems with a distributed computing framework. Basic experience with data science implementation tasks is expected. Data science professionals looking to skill up and gain an edge in the field will find this book helpful. What You Will Learn Explore the topics of data mining, text mining, Natural Language Processing, information retrieval, and machine learning. Solve real-world analytical problems with large data sets. Address data science challenges with analytical tools on a distributed system like Spark (apt for iterative algorithms), which offers in-memory processing and more flexibility for data analysis at scale. Get hands-on experience with algorithms like Classification, regression, and recommendation on real datasets using Spark MLLib package. Learn about numerical and scientific computing using NumPy and SciPy on Spark. Use Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML) in Spark for statistical data mining models. In Detail Spark has emerged as the most promising big data analytics engine for data science professionals. The true power and value of Apache Spark lies in its ability to execute data science tasks with speed and accuracy. Spark’s selling point is that it combines ETL, batch analytics, real-time stream analysis, machine learning, graph processing, and visualizations. It lets you tackle the complexities that come with raw unstructured data sets with ease. This guide will get you comfortable and confident performing data science tasks with Spark. You will learn about implementations including distributed deep learning, numerical computing, and scalable machine learning. You will be shown effective solutions to problematic concepts in data science using Spark’s data science libraries such as MLLib, Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, and more. These simple and efficient recipes will show you how to implement algorithms and optimize your work. Style and approach This book contains a comprehensive range of recipes designed to help you learn the fundamentals and tackle the difficulties of data science. This book outlines practical steps to produce powerful insights into Big Data through a recipe-based approach.

Begin your iOS mobile application development journey with this accessible, practical guide About This Book Use Swift 3 and latest iOS 10 features to build awesome apps for iPhone and iPad Explore and use a wide range of Apple development tools to become a confident iOS developer From prototype to App Store—find out how to build an app from start to finish! Who This Book Is For This book is for beginners who want to be able to create iOS applications. If you have some programming experience, this book is a great way to get a full understanding of how to create an iOS application from scratch and submit it to the App Store. You do not need any knowledge of Swift or any prior programming experience. What You Will Learn Get to grips with Swift 3 and Xcode, the building blocks of Apple development Get to know the fundamentals of Swift, including variables, constants, and control flow Discover the distinctive design principles that define the iOS user experience See how to prototype your app with Swift’s Playgrounds feature Build a responsive UI that looks great on a range of devices Find out how to use CoreLocation to add location services to your app Add push notifications to your app Make your app able to be used on both iPhone and iPad In Detail You want to build iOS applications for iPhone and iPad—but where do you startForget sifting through tutorials and blog posts, this is a direct route into iOS development, taking you through the basics and showing you how to put the principles into practice. With every update, iOS has become more and more developer-friendly, so take advantage of it and begin building applications that might just take the App Store by storm! Whether you’re an experienced programmer or a complete novice, this book guides you through every facet of iOS development. From Xcode and Swift—the building blocks of modern Apple development—and Playgrounds for beginners, one of the most popular features of the iOS development experience, you’ll quickly gain a solid foundation to begin venturing deeper into your development journey. For the experienced programmer, jump right in and learn the latest iOS 10 features. You’ll also learn the core elements of iOS design, from tables to tab bars, as well as more advanced topics such as gestures and animations that can give your app the edge. Find out how to manage databases, as well as integrating standard elements such as photos, GPS into your app. With further guidance on beta testing with TestFlight, you’ll quickly learn everything you need to get your project on the App Store! Style and approach Created for anyone that wants to build their first iOS application, this book offers practical, actionable guidance through iOS development. Combining engaging visuals with accessible, step-by-step instructiona and explanation, this book will not only develop the your understanding, but also show you how to put your knowledge to work.

Orchestrate and automate your OpenStack cloud operator tasks with Ansible 2.0 About This Book Automate real-world OpenStack cloud operator administrative tasks Construct a collection of the latest automation code to save time on managing your OpenStack cloud Manage containers on your cloud and check the health of your cloud using Nagios Who This Book Is For This book is aimed at OpenStack-based cloud operators and infrastructure and sys administrators who have some knowledge of OpenStack and are seeking to automate taxing and manual tasks. This book is also for people new to automating cloud operations in general and the DevOps practice in particular. What You Will Learn Efficiently execute OpenStack administrative tasks Familiarize yourself with how Ansible 2 works and assess the defined best practices Create Ansible 2 playbooks and roles Automate tasks to customize your OpenStack cloud Review OpenStack automation considerations when automating administrative tasks Examine and automate advanced OpenStack tasks and designated use cases Get a high-level overview of OpenStack and current production-ready projects Explore OpenStack CLI tools and learn how to use them In Detail Most organizations are seeking methods to improve business agility because they have realized just having a cloud is not enough. Being able to improve application deployments, reduce infrastructure downtime, and eliminate daily manual tasks can only be accomplished through some sort of automation. We start with a brief overview of OpenStack and Ansible 2 and highlight some best practices. Each chapter will provide an introduction to handling various Cloud Operator administration tasks such as managing containers within your cloud; setting up/utilizing open source packages for monitoring; creating multiple users/tenants; taking instance snapshots; and customizing your cloud to run multiple active regions. Each chapter will also supply a step-by-step tutorial on how to automate these tasks with Ansible 2. Packed with real-world OpenStack administrative tasks, this book will walk you through working examples and explain how these tasks can be automated using one of the most popular open source automation tools on the market today. Style and approach This book is a concise, fast-paced guide filled with real-world scenarios that will execute OpenStack administrative tasks efficiently. It serves as a quick reference guide for not just OpenStack functions, but also for creating future Ansible code.