Master the fundamentals of Gradle using real-world projects with this quick and easy-to-read guide About This Book Write beautiful build *s for various types of projects effortlessly Become more productive by harnessing the power and elegance of the Gradle DSL Learn how to use Gradle quickly and effectively with this step-by-step guide Who This Book Is For This book is for Java and other JVM-based language developers who want to use Gradle or are already using Gradle on their projects. No prior knowledge of Gradle is required, but some familiarity with build-related terminologies and an understanding of the Java language would help. What You Will Learn Master the Gradle DSL by identifying the building blocks Learn just enough Groovy for Gradle Set up tests and reports for your projects to make them CI ready Create library, stand-alone, and web projects Craft multi-module projects quickly and efficiently Migrate existing projects to a modern Gradle build Extract common build logic into plugins Write builds for languages like Java, Groovy, and Scala In Detail Gradle is an advanced and modern build automation tool. It inherits the best elements of the past generation of build tools, but it also differs and innovates to bring terseness, elegance, simplicity, and the flexibility to build. Right from installing Gradle and writing your first build file to creating a fully-fledged multi-module project build, this book will guide you through its topics in a step-by-step fashion. You will get your hands dirty with a simple Java project built with Gradle and go on to build web applications that are run with Jetty or Tomcat. We take a unique approach towards explaining the DSL using the Gradle API, which makes the DSL more accessible and intuitive. All in all, this book is a concise guide to help you decipher the Gradle build files, covering the essential topics that are most useful in real-world projects. With every chapter, you will learn a new topic and be able to readily implement your build files. Style and approach This step-by-step guide focuses on being productive with every chapter. When required, topics are explained in-depth to give you a good foundation of the Gradle fundamentals. The book covers most aspects of builds required for conventional JVM-based projects, and when necessary, points you towards the right resources.

Get a complete walkthrough of the many interfaces available in Jenkins with the help of real-world examples to take you to the next level with Jenkins About This Book Find out how to interact with Jenkins from within Eclipse, NetBeans, and IntelliJ IDEA Develop custom solutions that act upon Jenkins information in real time A step-by-step, practical guide to help you learn about extension points in existing plugins and how to build your own plugin Who This Book Is For This book is aimed primarily at developers and administrators who are interested in taking their interaction and usage of Jenkins to the next level. The book assumes you have a working knowledge of Jenkins and programming in general, and an interest in learning about the different approaches to customizing and extending Jenkins so it fits your requirements and your environment perfectly. What You Will Learn Retrieve and act upon Jenkins information in real time Find out how to interact with Jenkins through a variety of IDEs Develop your own Form and Input validation and customization Explore how Extension points work, and develop your own Jenkins plugin See how to use the Jenkins API and command-line interface Get to know how to remotely update your Jenkins configuration Design and develop your own Information Radiator Discover how Jenkins customization can help improve quality and reduce costs In Detail Jenkins CI is the leading open source continuous integration server. It is written in Java and has a wealth of plugins to support the building and testing of virtually any project. Jenkins supports multiple Software Configuration Management tools such as Git, Subversion, and Mercurial. This book explores and explains the many extension points and customizations that Jenkins offers its users, and teaches you how to develop your own Jenkins extensions and plugins. First, you will learn how to adapt Jenkins and leverage its abilities to empower DevOps, Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, and Agile projects. Next, you will find out how to reduce the cost of modern software development, increase the quality of deliveries, and thereby reduce the time to market. We will also teach you how to create your own custom plugins using Extension points. Finally, we will show you how to combine everything you learned over the course of the book into one real-world scenario. Style and approach Extending Jenkins explores and explains advanced Jenkins functionality from a practical point of view, teaching you real-world skills that will help you get more from this powerful software. Each key topic is explained clearly with a practical example, and in sufficient detail so you understand the concepts and can then develop your own solutions using your preferred software and languages.

Master the development of 2D games by learning to use the powerful GameMaker Language and tools provided by the GameMaker: Studio workspace and engine! About This Book Rapidly develop games using the powerful yet easy easy-to to-use GameMaker: Studio engine Comprehensive: This is a comprehensive guide to help you learn and implement GameMaker’s features. Go through step-by-step tutorials to design and develop unique games Who This Book Is For If you have at least some basic programming experience of JavaScript or any other C-like languages, then this book will be great for you. No experience beyond that is assumed. If you have no game development experience and are looking for a hobby, are an experienced game developer looking to master some advanced features, or fit anywhere in that spectrum, then you will find GameMaker: Studio and this book to be very useful in helping you create exciting games. What You Will Learn Understand the GameMaker: Studio interface and tools to quickly create the various assets used in your games Translate some of the GameMaker: Studio drag and drop functions to the GameMaker language Create games with random elements for exciting gameplay Use the basic GameMaker file I/O and encryption systems Utilize the GameMaker networking functions to create multiplayer games Give AI routines to your enemies to make challenging gameplay Create particle systems to give your game exciting graphics Understand the various debugging techniques available in GameMaker: Studio In Detail This book is excellent resource for developers with any level of experience of GameMaker. At the start, we’ll provide an overview of the basic use of GameMaker: Studio, and show you how to set up a basic game where you handle input and collisions in a top-down perspective game. We continue on to showcase its more advanced features via six different example projects. The first example game demonstrates platforming with file I/O, followed by animation, views, and multiplayer networking. The next game illustrates AI and particle systems, while the final one will get you started with the built-in Box2D physics engine. By the end of this book, you have mastered lots of powerful techniques that can be utilized in various 2D games. Style and approach A This step-by-step guide that follows and with details ons different topics throughout the creation of various examples.

Over 60 recipes that will tailor and customize your experience with Magento 2 About This Book Solve common problems encountered while extending your Magento 2 store to fit your business needs Delve into the exciting and enhanced features of Magento 2 such as customizing security permissions, intelligent filtered search options, easy third-party integration, among others Learn to build and maintain a Magento 2 shop via a visual-based page editor and customize the look and feel using Magento 2’s offerings on the go Who This Book Is For This book is for every developer who has knowledge of PHP and wants to extend or customize the functionality of their Magento 2 system. If you have prior experience of the Magento platform, you will find this book useful in exploring the advanced features. What You Will Learn Install a Magento 2 shop with sample data Upgrade the data in a Magento 1 shop to a Magento 2 shop Manage the look and feel of the shop with custom themes Extend the shop with custom functionality such as forms, grids, and more Accelerate your store with some performance tool Build and structure your own shipping module Test your shop with automated tests and manage your product display In Detail With the challenges of growing an online business, Magento 2 is an open source e-commerce platform with innumerable functionalities that gives you the freedom to make on-the-fly decisions. It allows you to customize multiple levels of security permissions and enhance the look and feel of your website, and thus gives you a personalized experience in promoting your business. Style and approach This book is packed with a wide range of techniques to modify and extend the functionality of your online store. It contains easy-to-understand recipes starting with the basics and moving on to cover advanced topics. Many recipes work with code examples that can be downloaded from the book’s website.

Improve search experiences with ElasticSearch’s powerful indexing functionality – learn how with this practical ElasticSearch tutorial, packed with tips! About This Book Improve user’s search experience with the correct configuration Deliver relevant search results – fast! Save time and system resources by creating stable clusters Who This Book Is For If you understand the importance of a great search experience this book will show you exactly how to build one with ElasticSearch, one of the world’s leading search servers. What You Will Learn Learn how ElasticSearch efficiently stores data – and find out how it can reduce costs Control document metadata with the correct mapping strategies and by configuring indices Use ElasticSearch analysis and analyzers to incorporate greater intelligence and organization across your documents and data Find out how an ElasticSearch cluster works – and learn the best way to configure it Perform high-speed indexing with low system resource cost Improve query relevance with appropriate mapping, suggest API, and other ElasticSearch functionalities In Detail Beginning with an overview of the way ElasticSearch stores data, you’ll begin to extend your knowledge to tackle indexing and mapping, and learn how to configure ElasticSearch to meet your users’ needs. You’ll then find out how to use analysis and analyzers for greater intelligence in how you organize and pull up search results – to guarantee that every search query is met with the relevant results! You’ll explore the anatomy of an ElasticSearch cluster, and learn how to set up configurations that give you optimum availability as well as scalability. Once you’ve learned how these elements work, you’ll find real-world solutions to help you improve indexing performance, as well as tips and guidance on safety so you can back up and restore data. Once you’ve learned each component outlined throughout, you will be confident that you can help to deliver an improved search experience – exactly what modern users demand and expect. Style and approach This is a comprehensive guide to performing efficient indexing and providing relevant search results using mapping, analyzers, and other ElasticSearch functionalities.

Deliver a better mobile user experience by improving and optimizing your website – follow these practical steps for cutting-edge application development About This Book Optimize your website or application for an improved mobile performance Learn how to create lightweight, intuitive mobile UI and make sure it's supported by a robust application architecture Find out how to improve the performance of your applications by asking the right design questions at each stage in the development workflow Who This Book Is For This book has been created for web developers who want to optimize their website for today’s mobile users. If you understand just how important user experience is, this book is for you – it will help you throughout the entire optimization process. What You Will Learn Learn the three pillars of mobile performance Find out how to ask – and answer – crucial design questions such as ‘mobile or responsive?’ Learn how to minify CSS and JavaScript for improved performance Monitor and debug your website with the leading browser testing tools Explore the impact of caching on performance – and improve it using JavaScript and CSS frameworks Make third-party plugins your friend – avoid common issues and pitfalls In Detail With users increasingly accessing the web on mobile devices, it’s crucial to make sure your website is built to seamlessly fit this radical change in user behavior. Mobile Web Performance Optimization is designed to help you do exactly that – it’s been created to help you build fast, and mobile-user-friendly websites and applications. Featuring guidance through a range of techniques and tools essential to modern mobile development, this accessible guide will make sure you’re delivering a seamless and intuitive experience for your website’s users. Begin by exploring the fundamental components of mobile web design and website optimization, before learning how to put the concepts into practice. Featuring cross-platform solutions, insights on developing lightweight yet robust UI, and insights on how to successfully manage data, this application development book takes you through every stage in the development process – so you can be confident that you’re asking the right questions and using the best tools in the most effective way. By the end, you’ll understand implicitly what it means to ‘build for performance’- you’ll be a more confident developer, capable of building projects that adapt to a changing world. Style and approach This book takes a step-by-step approach to mobile web optimization, explaining the topics in a conversational and easy-to-follow style. Each topic includes detailed explanations of the basic and advanced features of mobile web optimization.

Over 50 recipes to learn how to use Pentaho Analytics and MongoDB to create powerful analysis and reporting solutions About This Book Create reports and stunning dashboards with MongoDB data Accelerate data access and maximize productivity with unique features of Pentaho for MongoDB A step-by-step recipe-based guide for making full use of Pentaho suite tools with MongoDB Who This Book Is For This book is intended for data architects and developers with a basic level of knowledge of MongoDB. Familiarity with Pentaho is not expected. What You Will Learn Extract, load, and transform data from MongoDB collections to other datasources Design Pentaho Reports using different types of connections for MongoDB Create a OLAP mondrian schema for MongoDB Explore your MongoDB data using Pentaho Analyzer Utilize the drag and drop web interface to create dashboards Use Kettle Thin JDBC with MongoDB for analysis Integrate advanced dashboards with MondoDB using different types of connections Publish and run a report on Pentaho BI server using a web interface In Detail MongoDB is an open source, schemaless NoSQL database system. Pentaho as a famous open source Analysis tool provides high performance, high availability, and easy scalability for large sets of data. The variant features in Pentaho for MongoDB are designed to empower organizations to be more agile and scalable and also enables applications to have better flexibility, faster performance, and lower costs. Whether you are brand new to online learning or a seasoned expert, this book will provide you with the skills you need to create turnkey analytic solutions that deliver insight and drive value for your organization. The book will begin by taking you through Pentaho Data Integration and how it works with MongoDB. You will then be taken through the Kettle Thin JDBC Driver for enabling a Java application to interact with a database. This will be followed by exploration of a MongoDB collection using Pentaho Instant view and creating reports with MongoDB as a datasource using Pentaho Report Designer. The book will then teach you how to explore and visualize your data in Pentaho BI Server using Pentaho Analyzer. You will then learn how to create advanced dashboards with your data. The book concludes by highlighting contributions of the Pentaho Community. Style and approach A comprehensive, recipe-based guide to take complete advantage of the Pentaho Analytics for MongoDB.

Create and develop exciting games from start to finish using SFML About This Book Familiarize yourself with the SFML library and explore additional game development techniques Craft, shape, and improve your games with SFML and common game design elements A practical guide that will teach you how to use utilize the SFML library to build your own, fully functional applications Who This Book Is For This book is intended for game development enthusiasts with at least decent knowledge of the C++ programming language and an optional background in game design. What You Will Learn Create and open a window by using SFML Utilize, manage, and apply all of the features and properties of the SFML library Employ some basic game development techniques to make your game tick Build your own code base to make your game more robust and flexible Apply common game development and programming patterns to solve design problems Handle your visual and auditory resources properly Construct a robust system for user input and interfacing Develop and provide networking capabilities to your game< In Detail Simple and Fast Multimedia Library (SFML) is a simple interface comprising five modules, namely, the audio, graphics, network, system, and window modules, which help to develop cross-platform media applications. By utilizing the SFML library, you are provided with the ability to craft games quickly and easily, without going through an extensive learning curve. This effectively serves as a confidence booster, as well as a way to delve into the game development process itself, before having to worry about more advanced topics such as “rendering pipelines” or “shaders.” With just an investment of moderate C++ knowledge, this book will guide you all the way through the journey of game development. The book starts by building a clone of the classical snake game where you will learn how to open a window and render a basic sprite, write well-structured code to implement the design of the game, and use the AABB bounding box collision concept. The next game is a simple platformer with enemies, obstacles and a few different stages. Here, we will be creating states that will provide custom application flow and explore the most common yet often overlooked design patterns used in game development. Last but not the least, we will create a small RPG game where we will be using common game design patterns, multiple GUI. elements, advanced graphical features, and sounds and music features. We will also be implementing networking features that will allow other players to join and play together. By the end of the book, you will be an expert in using the SFML library to its full potential. Style and approach An elaborate take on the game development process in a way that compliments the reader’s existing knowledge, this book provides plenty of examples and is kind to the uninitiated. Each chapter builds upon the knowledge gained from the previous one and offers clarifications on common issues while still remaining within the scope of its own subject and retaining clarity.

Harness the power of Linux to create versatile and robust embedded solutions About This Book Create efficient and secure embedded devices using Linux Minimize project costs by using open source tools and programs Explore each component technology in depth, using sample implementations as a guide Who This Book Is For This book is ideal for Linux developers and system programmers who are already familiar with embedded systems and who want to know how to create best-in-class devices. A basic understanding of C programming and experience with systems programming is needed. What You Will Learn Understand the role of the Linux kernel and select an appropriate role for your application Use Buildroot and Yocto to create embedded Linux systems quickly and efficiently Create customized bootloaders using U-Boot Employ perf and ftrace to identify performance bottlenecks Understand device trees and make changes to accommodate new hardware on your device Write applications that interact with Linux device drivers Design and write multi-threaded applications using POSIX threads Measure real-time latencies and tune the Linux kernel to minimize them In Detail Mastering Embedded Linux Programming takes you through the product cycle and gives you an in-depth de*ion of the components and options that are available at each stage. You will begin by learning about toolchains, bootloaders, the Linux kernel, and how to configure a root filesystem to create a basic working device. You will then learn how to use the two most commonly used build systems, Buildroot and Yocto, to speed up and simplify the development process. Building on this solid base, the next section considers how to make best use of raw NAND/NOR flash memory and managed flash eMMC chips, including mechanisms for increasing the lifetime of the devices and to perform reliable in-field updates. Next, you need to consider what techniques are best suited to writing applications for your device. We will then see how functions are split between processes and the usage of POSIX threads, which have a big impact on the responsiveness and performance of the final device The closing sections look at the techniques available to developers for profiling and tracing applications and kernel code using perf and ftrace. Style and approach This book is an easy-to-follow and pragmatic guide consisting of an in-depth analysis of the implementation of embedded devices. Each topic has a logical approach to it; this coupled with hints and best practices helps you understand embedded Linux better.

Visualize and analyze your Hadoop data using Hunk About This Book Explore your data in Hadoop and NoSQL data stores Create and optimize your reporting experience with advanced data visualizations and data analytics A comprehensive developer's guide that helps you create outstanding analytical solutions efficiently Who This Book Is For If you are Hadoop developers who want to build efficient real-time Operation Intelligence Solutions based on Hadoop deployments or various NoSQL data stores using Hunk, this book is for you. Some familiarity with Splunk is assumed. What You Will Learn Deploy and configure Hunk on top of Cloudera Hadoop Create and configure Virtual Indexes for datasets Make your data presentable using the wide variety of data visualization components and knowledge objects Design a data model using Hunk best practices Add more flexibility to your analytics solution via extended SDK and custom visualizations Discover data using MongoDB as a data source Integrate Hunk with AWS Elastic MapReduce to improve scalability In Detail Hunk is the big data analytics platform that lets you rapidly explore, analyse, and visualize data in Hadoop and NoSQL data stores. It provides a single, fluid user experience, designed to show you insights from your big data without the need for specialized skills, fixed schemas, or months of development. Hunk goes beyond typical data analysis methods and gives you the power to rapidly detect patterns and find anomalies across petabytes of raw data. This book focuses on exploring, analysing, and visualizing big data in Hadoop and NoSQL data stores with this powerful full-featured big data analytics platform. You will begin by learning the Hunk architecture and Hunk Virtual Index before moving on to how to easily analyze and visualize data using Splunk Search Language (SPL). Next you will meet Hunk Apps which can easy integrate with NoSQL data stores such as MongoDB or Sqqrl. You will also discover Hunk knowledge objects, build a semantic layer on top of Hadoop, and explore data using the friendly user-interface of Hunk Pivot. You will connect MongoDB and explore data in the data store. Finally, you will go through report acceleration techniques and analyze data in the AWS Cloud. Style and approach A step-by-step guide starting right from the basics and deep diving into the more advanced and technical aspects of Hunk.

Master Material Design and create beautiful, animated interfaces for mobile and web applications About This Book Master the highly acclaimed Material Design paradigm and give your apps and pages the look that everyone is talking about Get a mix of key theoretical concepts combined with enough practical examples to put each theory into practice so you can create elegant material interfaces with Android Studio and Polymer Written by Kyle Mew, successful author with over a decade of mobile and web development experience, this book has both the touch of a developer as well as an experienced writer Who This Book Is For This book is ideal for web developers and designers who are interested in implementing Material Design in their mobile and web apps. No prior knowledge or experience of Material Design is required, but some familiarity with procedural languages such as Java and markup languages such as HTML will provide an advantage. What You Will Learn Implement Material Design on both mobile and web platforms that work on older handsets and browsers Design stylish layouts with the Material Theme Create and manage cards, lists, and grids Design and implement sliding drawers for seamless navigation Coordinate components to work together Animate widgets and create transitions and animation program flow Use Polymer to bring Material Design to your web pages In Detail Google's Material Design language has taken the web development and design worlds by storm. Now available on many more platforms than Android, Material Design uses color, light, and movements to not only generate beautiful interfaces, but to provide intuitive navigation for the user. Learning Material Design will teach you the fundamental theories of Material Design using code samples to put these theories into practice. Focusing primarily on Android Studio, you’ll create mobile interfaces using the most widely used and powerful material components, such as sliding drawers and floating action buttons. Each section will introduce the relevant Java classes and APIs required to implement these components. With the rules regarding structure, layout, iconography, and typography covered, we then move into animation and transition, possibly Material Design's most powerful concept, allowing complex hierarchies to be displayed simply and stylishly. With all the basic technologies and concepts mastered, the book concludes by showing you how these skills can be applied to other platforms, in particular web apps, using the powerful Polymer library. Style and approach Learning Material Design combines the theories behind material design with practical examples of how these can be implemented and further reinforcing the guidelines covering style, layout and structure.

Transform your WordPress website into a fully-featured e-commerce store with the power of WooCommerce About This Book Offers do-it-yourself e-commerce solution using WordPress and WooCommerce Discover the new Onboarding wizard that makes complex processes user-friendly Manage your online store and expand its functions using plugins Who This Book Is For This book is suitable for everybody running their own WordPress website, such as small business owners and marketers. It has been written for users, not for programmers, who want to add e-commerce functionality to their existing WordPress website. The book will also appeal to Web design agencies working with WordPress and looking for ways to improve their services for clients working with WordPress. What You Will Learn Use WooCommerce settings to set up the behavior of the online store Get familiar with the downloadable and variable products Set up shipping and payment methods Use discount coupons for marketing purposes Choose the right WooCommerce theme for your online store Customize your website using the Storefront theme as a base Handle orders, payments, and emails on a daily basis with ease Work with WooCommerce reporting possibilities Expanding your online store with the functionalities offered by WooCommerce In Detail Building an online store is often considered to be a difficult, complex task. Using the combination of WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin, this is no longer the case. WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce platform for WordPress and is being rapidly developed by WooThemes. It provides a strong e-commerce solution to set up your own online store in just a couple of hours. This easy and practical book will help you make the most of WooCommerce to be able to set up and run your online store yourself. Installing WooCommerce is an easy task, but this book will explain in detail all the possible settings. After that you'll be adding products, different payment methods, and shipping solutions to your store. You will then customize your store by adding themes to change the look and feel. Once your store is running, you'll learn how to use discount coupons, process your orders, look at reports, and even expand the functionality further with additional plugins. By the end of the book, you will learn everything you need to add a fully functional online store to you WordPress website and start running an online business. Style and approach This book is a practical, step-by-step guide that will help you manage your online store easily and efficiently, and expand its functions using the WooCommerce plug-in

Harness the power of VMware vRealize Operations to efficiently manage your IT infrastructure About This Book Extract the optimum performance, availability, and capacity of your IT infrastructure with the help of vRealise Operations Manager Leverage the power of strategic reports to drive tactful decision-making within the IT department A pragmatic guide to proficiently manage your applications and storage Who This Book Is For If you are a vSphere administrator and wish to optimize your virtual environment, this book is your go-to guide on vRealize Operations. As a vSphere administrator, it is assumed that you have a good understanding of both physical and virtual infrastructure. A basic knowledge of application monitoring and log analysis would be useful when we dive into the capabilities of the solution. What You Will Learn Architect, design, and install vRealize Operations Migrate from the previous vCenter Operations Manager 5.x version, configure vR Ops policies, and create custom groups Use out-of-the-box Dashboards, Views, and Reports and create your own customized Dashboards, Views, and Reports Apply the Alerting framework of Symptoms, Recommendations, and Actions, and create your own Alerting content Leverage the power of Capacity Planning to maximize the utilization of your virtual infrastructure Manage the rest of your infrastructure, including storage and applications, with vRealize Operations Management Packs Extend the solution with vRealize Hyperic and Log Insight In Detail This book will enable you to deliver on the operational disciplines of Performance, Health, Capacity, Configuration, and Compliance by making the best use of solutions provided by vRealize Operations. Starting with architecture, design, and sizing, we will ensure your implementation of vRealize Operations is a success. We will dive into the utilization of a solution to manage your vSphere infrastructure. Then, we will employ out-of-the-box Dashboards and the very powerful Views and Reporting functionality of vRealize Operations to create your custom dashboards and address your reporting requirements. Next, we go through the Alerting framework and how Symptoms, Recommendations, and Actions are used to achieve efficient operations. Later you will master the topic of Capacity Planning, where we look at how important it is to craft appropriate policies to match your requirements, and we’ll consider attitude toward capacity risk, which will aid you to build future project requirements into your capacity plans. Finally, we will look at extending the solution to manage Storage, Applications, and other IT infrastructures using Management Packs from Solution Exchange, as well as how the solution can be enhanced with the integration of Log Insight. Style and approach This book is a pragmatic, step-by-step guide that will quickly build your knowledge of the key capabilities of vRealize Operations. As well as learning about the solution, we will provide you with real-world examples that will help you customize and enhance your virtual environment.

Learn all the Java and Android skills you need to start making powerful mobile applications About This Book Kick-start your Android programming career, or just have fun publishing apps to the Google Play marketplace A first-principles introduction to Java, via Android, which means you’ll be able to start building your own applications from scratch Learn by example and build three real-world apps and over 40 mini apps throughout the book Who This Book Is For Are you trying to start a career in programming, but haven’t found the right way inDo you have a great idea for an app, but don’t know how to make it a realityOr maybe you’re just frustrated that “to learn Android, you must know java.” If so, Android Programming for Beginners is for you. You don’t need any programming experience to follow along with this book, just a computer and a sense of adventure. What You Will Learn Master the fundamentals of coding Java for Android Install and set up your Android development environment Build functional user interfaces with the Android Studio visual designer Add user interaction, data captures, sound, and animation to your apps Manage your apps’ data using the built-in Android SQLite database Find out about the design patterns used by professionals to make top-grade applications Build, deploy, and publish real Android applications to the Google Play marketplace In Detail Android is the most popular OS in the world. There are millions of devices accessing tens of thousands of applications. It is many people's entry point into the world of technology; it is an operating system for everyone. Despite this, the entry-fee to actually make Android applications is usually a computer science degree, or five years’ worth of Java experience. Android Programming for Beginners will be your companion to create Android applications from scratch—whether you’re looking to start your programming career, make an application for work, be reintroduced to mobile development, or are just looking to program for fun. We will introduce you to all the fundamental concepts of programming in an Android context, from the Java basics to working with the Android API. All examples are created from within Android Studio, the official Android development environment that helps supercharge your application development process. After this crash-course, we’ll dive deeper into Android programming and you’ll learn how to create applications with a professional-standard UI through fragments, make location-aware apps with Google Maps integration, and store your user’s data with SQLite. In addition, you’ll see how to make your apps multilingual, capture images from a device’s camera, and work with graphics, sound, and animations too. By the end of this book, you’ll be ready to start building your own custom applications in Android and Java. Style and approach With more than 40 mini apps to code and run, Android Programming for Beginners is a hands-on guide to learning Android and Java. Each example application demonstrates a different aspect of Android programming. Alongside these mini apps, we push your abilities by building three larger applications to demonstrate Android application development in context.

Leverage the capability of Banana Pi with exciting real-world projects About This Book Delve into the expanse of Banana Pi’s self-managing functionalities and develop real-world projects Gain hands-on experience of developing various wireless, multimedia, robotic, and sensor-based applications with Banana Pi Develop your applications using Banana Pi through a project-based approach Who This Book Is For This book is designed for those who are interested in exploring the capabilities of Banana Pro. Basic know-how of Linux and embedded systems would be an added advantage. What You Will Learn Remotely connect to Banana Pro and program the embedded board Use Banana Pro as a hotspot or provide an AirPlay server for wireless audio transmission Find out about the different programming languages that can be used with Banana Pro Build and program your own multimedia centre in order to watch television and movies Connect peripherals such as a camera, LCD, or hard disk to Banana Pro Manage and regulate your Linux system with Banana Pro Stream music wirelessly from your mobile phone to Banana Pro In Detail This book follows a tactical plan that will guide you through the implementation of Banana Pro and its configurations. You will then learn the various programming languages used with Banana Pi with the help of examples. In no time at all, you’ll be working on a wireless project that implements AirPlay servers, hotspots, and so on. Following this, you’ll develop a retro-style arcade kiosk game. Then we’ll move on to explore the multimedia features of Banana Pro by designing and building an enclosure for it. After this, you’ll learn to build a remote-controlled smart car and we’ll examine how to control a robotic arm. The book will conclude with the creation of a home sensor system that has the ability to expand or shrink to suit any home. Style and approach This book follows a project-based approach that covers the most important features of Banana Pro. Every chapter dives into the practical side of the implementation.

Over 60 hands-on recipes to help you master the power of Delphi for cross-platform and mobile development on multiple platforms About This Book Get to grips with Delphi to build and deploy various cross-platform applications Design, develop, and deploy real-world applications by implementing a single source codebase This swift guide will increase your productivity to develop applications with Delphi Who This Book Is For If you are an intermediate developer with a basic knowledge of Delphi and you want to develop cross-platform applications, then this book is for you. Familiarity with the fundamentals of RAD (Rapid Application Development) Studio is expected. What You Will Learn Develop visually stunning applications using FireMonkey Deploy LiveBinding effectively with the right OOP approach Create server-side programs to serve RESTful web services and provide data to your mobile apps Use well-defined GUI design patterns to build mobile applications that provide a great user experience Build mobile apps that read data from a remote server efficiently Call the platform native API on Android and iOS even for an unpublished API Manage software customization for your customer by making better use of an extended RTTI Implement the most popular design pattern without wasting too much time on debugging and bug fixing In Detail Delphi is a cross-platform Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that supports rapid application development for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, Google Android, and Apple iOS. It helps you to concentrate on the real business and save yourself the pain of wandering amid GUI widget details, or having to tackle inter-platform incompatibilities. It also has a wide range of drag-and-drop controls, helping you code your business logic into your business model, and it compiles natively for desktop and mobile platforms. This book will teach you how to design and develop applications, deploy them on the cloud platform, and distribute them within an organization via Google Play and other similar platforms. You will begin with the basics of Delphi and get acquainted with JSON format strings, XSLT transformations, unicode encodings and various types of streams. We then move on to more advanced topics such as developing higher-order functions and using enumerators and RTTI. You will get an understanding of how Delphi RTL functions and how to use FireMonkey in a VCL application. We will then cover topics such as multithreading, using the parallel programming library and putting Delphi on a server. We will also take a look at the new feature of WebBroker Apache modules and then ride the mobile revolution with FireMonkey. By the end of the book, you will be able to develop and deploy cross-platform applications using Delphi. Style and approach Delphi Cookbook is an easy-to-follow guide, rich with hands-on examples of real-world programming tasks in Delphi.

Turn your Raspberry Pi into a secret agent toolbox with this set of exciting projects About This Book Turn your Raspberry Pi into a multi-purpose secret agent gadget for audio and video surveillance, Wi-Fi exploration, or playing pranks on your friends Detect an intruder on camera or with sensors and set off an alarm or receive messages to your phone Find out what the other computers on your network are up to and make yourself anonymous on the Internet This book has been updated for new additions to your toolkit featuring the tiny, recently released Raspberry Pi Zero board Who This Book Is For This book is for those who are new to the Raspberry Pi Zero ,Raspberry Pi 2 or Raspberry Pi 3 and have some experience with the original Raspberry Pi models, and even for those budding secret agents who would like to use Pi Zero as a secret agent toolbox. No programming experience is assumed. Suitable for the novice and expert alike, each topic provides a fast and easy way to get started with exciting applications, with practical examples in every chapter. What You Will Learn Install and configure the Raspbian Jessie operating system for maximum mischief Detect an intruder with motion detection or a laser trip wire and set off an alarm Listen in to conversations from a distance over Bluetooth Distort your voice in weird and wonderful ways Track the Pi's whereabouts using GPS Connect your Pi to the mobile Internet using a 3G dongle and make yourself anonymous on the net Display secret messages and codes to fellow agents on a LED display In Detail This book is for all mischievous Raspberry Pi owners who’d like to see their computer transform into a neat spy gadget to be used in a series of practical pranks and projects. No previous skills are required to follow along, and if you’re completely new to Linux, you’ll pick up much of the basics for free. We’ll help you set up your Raspberry Pi Zero , Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 and guide you through a number of pranks and secret agent techniques that are so inconspicuous yet high on mischief. You’ll learn how to configure your operating system for maximum mischief and start exploring audio, video, or Wi-Fi techniques. We’ll show you how to record, listen, or talk to people from a distance and how to set up your own phone network. Then, you’ll plug in your webcam and set up a motion detector with an alarm and find out what the other computers on your Wi-Fi network are up to. Once you've mastered the techniques, we’ll combine them with a battery pack and GPS for the ultimate off-road spy kit. Style and Approach This easy-to-follow guide is for budding secret agents who want to create tools for mischief, stealth, and reconnaissance. It’s full of fun, practical examples and easy-to-follow recipes, guaranteeing maximum mischief for all skill levels.

Utilize R to uncover hidden patterns in your Big Data About This Book Perform computational analyses on Big Data to generate meaningful results Get a practical knowledge of R programming language while working on Big Data platforms like Hadoop, Spark, H2O and SQL/NoSQL databases, Explore fast, streaming, and scalable data analysis with the most cutting-edge technologies in the market Who This Book Is For This book is intended for Data Analysts, Scientists, Data Engineers, Statisticians, Researchers, who want to integrate R with their current or future Big Data workflows. It is assumed that readers have some experience in data analysis and understanding of data management and algorithmic processing of large quantities of data, however they may lack specific skills related to R. What You Will Learn Learn about current state of Big Data processing using R programming language and its powerful statistical capabilities Deploy Big Data analytics platforms with selected Big Data tools supported by R in a cost-effective and time-saving manner Apply the R language to real-world Big Data problems on a multi-node Hadoop cluster, e.g. electricity consumption across various socio-demographic indicators and bike share scheme usage Explore the compatibility of R with Hadoop, Spark, SQL and NoSQL databases, and H2O platform In Detail Big Data analytics is the process of examining large and complex data sets that often exceed the computational capabilities. R is a leading programming language of data science, consisting of powerful functions to tackle all problems related to Big Data processing. The book will begin with a brief introduction to the Big Data world and its current industry standards. With introduction to the R language and presenting its development, structure, applications in real world, and its shortcomings. Book will progress towards revision of major R functions for data management and transformations. Readers will be introduce to Cloud based Big Data solutions (e.g. Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon RDS, Microsoft Azure and its HDInsight clusters) and also provide guidance on R connectivity with relational and non-relational databases such as MongoDB and HBase etc. It will further expand to include Big Data tools such as Apache Hadoop ecosystem, HDFS and MapReduce frameworks. Also other R compatible tools such as Apache Spark, its machine learning library Spark MLlib, as well as H2O. Style and approach This book will serve as a practical guide to tackling Big Data problems using R programming language and its statistical environment. Each section of the book will present you with concise and easy-to-follow steps on how to process, transform and analyse large data sets.

Acquire and analyze data from all corners of the social web with Python About This Book Make sense of highly unstructured social media data with the help of the insightful use cases provided in this guide Use this easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to apply analytics to complicated and messy social data This is your one-stop solution to fetching, storing, analyzing, and visualizing social media data Who This Book Is For This book is for intermediate Python developers who want to engage with the use of public APIs to collect data from social media platforms and perform statistical analysis in order to produce useful insights from data. The book assumes a basic understanding of the Python Standard Library and provides practical examples to guide you toward the creation of your data analysis project based on social data. What You Will Learn Interact with a social media platform via their public API with Python Store social data in a convenient format for data analysis Slice and dice social data using Python tools for data science Apply text analytics techniques to understand what people are talking about on social media Apply advanced statistical and analytical techniques to produce useful insights from data Build beautiful visualizations with web technologies to explore data and present data products In Detail Your social media is filled with a wealth of hidden data – unlock it with the power of Python. Transform your understanding of your clients and customers when you use Python to solve the problems of understanding consumer behavior and turning raw data into actionable customer insights. This book will help you acquire and analyze data from leading social media sites. It will show you how to employ scientific Python tools to mine popular social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Quora, and more. Explore the Python libraries used for social media mining, and get the tips, tricks, and insider insight you need to make the most of them. Discover how to develop data mining tools that use a social media API, and how to create your own data analysis projects using Python for clear insight from your social data. Style and approach This practical, hands-on guide will help you learn everything you need to perform data mining for social media. Throughout the book, we take an example-oriented approach to use Python for data analysis and provide useful tips and tricks that you can use in day-to-day tasks.

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.