Learn how you can control LEDs, make music, and read sensor data using popular microcontrollers such as Adafruit Circuit Playground, ESP8266, and the BBC micro:bit Key Features * Load and execute your first program with MicroPython * Program an IoT device to retrieve weather data using a RESTful API * Get to grips with integrating hardware, programming, and networking concepts with MicroPython Book Description MicroPython is an open source implementation of Python 3 that runs in embedded environments. With MicroPython, you can write clean and simple Python code to control hardware instead of using complex low-level languages like C and C++. This book guides you through all the major applications of the MicroPython platform to build and program projects that use microcontrollers. The MicroPython book covers recipes that’ll help you experiment with the programming environment and hardware programmed in MicroPython. You’ll find tips and techniques for building a variety of objects and prototypes that can sense and respond to touch, sound, position, heat, and light. This book will take you through the uses of MicroPython with a variety of popular input devices and sensors. You’ll learn techniques for handling time delays and sensor readings, and apply advanced coding techniques to create complex projects. As you advance, you’ll get to deal with Internet of Things (IoT) devices and integration with other online web services. Furthermore, you'll also use MicroPython to make music with bananas and create portable multiplayer video games that incorporate sound and light animations into the game play. By the end of the book, you'll have mastered tips and tricks to troubleshoot your development problems and push your MicroPython project to the next level! What you will learn * Execute code without any need for compiling or uploading using REPL (read-evaluate-print-loop) * Program and control LED matrix and NeoPixel drivers to display patterns and colors * Build projects that make use of light, temperature, and touch sensors * Configure devices to create Wi-Fi access points and use network modules to scan and connect to existing networks * Use Pulse Width Modulation to control DC motors and servos * Build an IoT device to display live weather data from the Internet at the touch of a button Who this book is for If you want to build and program projects that use microcontrollers, this book will offer you dozens of recipes to guide you through all the major applications of the MicroPython platform. Although no knowledge of MicroPython or microcontrollers is expected, a general understanding of Python is necessary to get started with this book.

A practical guide to building high performance systems for object detection, segmentation, video processing, smartphone applications, and more. This book is based on the alpha version of TensorFlow 2. Key Features * Discover how to build, train, and serve your own deep neural networks with TensorFlow 2 and Keras * Apply modern solutions to a wide range of applications such as object detection and video analysis * Learn how to run your models on mobile devices and webpages and improve their performance Book Description Computer vision solutions are becoming increasingly common, making their way in fields such as health, automobile, social media, and robotics. This book will help you explore TensorFlow 2, the brand new version of Google's open source framework for machine learning. You will understand how to benefit from using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for visual tasks. Hands-On Computer Vision with TensorFlow 2 starts with the fundamentals of computer vision and deep learning, teaching you how to build a neural network from scratch. You will discover the features that have made TensorFlow the most widely used AI library, along with its intuitive Keras interface, and move on to building, training, and deploying CNNs efficiently. Complete with concrete code examples, the book demonstrates how to classify images with modern solutions, such as Inception and ResNet, and extract specific content using You Only Look Once (YOLO), Mask R-CNN, and U-Net. You will also build Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Variational Auto-Encoders (VAEs) to create and edit images, and LSTMs to analyze videos. In the process, you will acquire advanced insights into transfer learning, data augmentation, domain adaptation, and mobile and web deployment, among other key concepts. By the end of the book, you will have both the theoretical understanding and practical skills to solve advanced computer vision problems with TensorFlow 2.0. What you will learn * Create your own neural networks from scratch * Classify images with modern architectures including Inception and ResNet * Detect and segment objects in images with YOLO, Mask R-CNN, and U-Net * Tackle problems in developing self-driving cars and facial emotion recognition systems * Boost your application’s performance with transfer learning, GANs, and domain adaptation * Use recurrent neural networks for video analysis * Optimize and deploy your networks on mobile devices and in the browser Who this book is for If you’re new to deep learning and have some background in Python programming and image processing, like reading/writing image files and editing pixels, this book is for you. Even if you’re an expert curious about the new TensorFlow 2 features, you’ll find this book useful. While some theoretical explanations require knowledge in algebra and calculus, the book covers concrete examples for learners focused on practical applications such as visual recognition for self-driving cars and smartphone apps.

A comprehensive guide to understanding network architecture, communication protocols, and network analysis to build secure applications compatible with the latest versions of C# 8 and .NET Core 3.0 Key Features * Explore various network architectures that make distributed programming possible * Learn how to make reliable software by writing secure interactions between clients and servers * Use .NET Core for network device automation, DevOps, and software-defined networking Book Description The C# language and the .NET Core application framework provide the tools and patterns required to make the discipline of network programming as intuitive and enjoyable as any other aspect of C# programming. With the help of this book, you will discover how the C# language and the .NET Core framework make this possible. The book begins by introducing the core concepts of network programming, and what distinguishes this field of programming from other disciplines. After this, you will gain insights into concepts such as transport protocols, sockets and ports, and remote data streams, which will provide you with a holistic understanding of how network software fits into larger distributed systems. The book will also explore the intricacies of how network software is implemented in a more explicit context, by covering sockets, connection strategies such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP), asynchronous processing, and threads. You will then be able to work through code examples for TCP servers, web APIs served over HTTP, and a Secure Shell (SSH) client. By the end of this book, you will have a good understanding of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network stack, the various communication protocols for that stack, and the skills that are essential to implement those protocols using the C# programming language and the .NET Core framework. What you will learn * Understand the breadth of C#'s network programming utility classes * Utilize network-layer architecture and organizational strategies * Implement various communication and transport protocols within C# * Discover hands-on examples of distributed application development * Gain hands-on experience with asynchronous socket programming and streams * Learn how C# and the .NET Core runtime interact with a hosting network * Understand a full suite of network programming tools and features Who this book is for If you're a .NET developer or a system administrator with .NET experience and are looking to get started with network programming, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of C# and .NET is assumed, in addition to a basic understanding of common web protocols and some high-level distributed system designs.

Solve real-world statistical problems using the most popular R packages and techniques Key Features * Learn how to apply statistical methods to your everyday research with handy recipes * Foster your analytical skills and interpret research across industries and business verticals * Perform t-tests, chi-squared tests, and regression analysis using modern statistical techniques Book Description R is a popular programming language for developing statistical software. This book will be a useful guide to solving common and not-so-common challenges in statistics. With this book, you'll be equipped to confidently perform essential statistical procedures across your organization with the help of cutting-edge statistical tools. You'll start by implementing data modeling, data analysis, and machine learning to solve real-world problems. You'll then understand how to work with nonparametric methods, mixed effects models, and hidden Markov models. This book contains recipes that will guide you in performing univariate and multivariate hypothesis tests, several regression techniques, and using robust techniques to minimize the impact of outliers in data.You'll also learn how to use the caret package for performing machine learning in R. Furthermore, this book will help you understand how to interpret charts and plots to get insights for better decision making. By the end of this book, you will be able to apply your skills to statistical computations using R 3.5. You will also become well-versed with a wide array of statistical techniques in R that are extensively used in the data science industry. What you will learn * Become well versed with recipes that will help you interpret plots with R * Formulate advanced statistical models in R to understand its concepts * Perform Bayesian regression to predict models and input missing data * Use time series analysis for modelling and forecasting temporal data * Implement a range of regression techniques for efficient data modelling * Get to grips with robust statistics and hidden Markov models * Explore ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and perform hypothesis testing Who this book is for If you are a quantitative researcher, statistician, data analyst, or data scientist looking to tackle various challenges in statistics, this book is what you need! Proficiency in R programming and basic knowledge of linear algebra is necessary to follow along the recipes covered in this book.

Efficiently deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters on a cloud Key Features * Deploy highly scalable applications with Kubernetes on Azure * Leverage AKS to deploy, manage, and operations of Kubernetes * Gain best practices from this guide to increase efficiency of container orchestration service on Cloud Book Description Microsoft is now one of the most significant contributors to Kubernetes open source projects. Kubernetes helps to create, configure, and manage a cluster of virtual machines that are preconfigured to run containerized applications. This book will be your resource for achieving successful container orchestration and deployment of Kubernetes clusters on Azure. You will learn how to deploy and manage highly scalable applications, along with how to set up a production-ready Kubernetes cluster on Azure. With this book, you will be able to reduce the complexity and operational overheads of managing a Kubernetes cluster on Azure. By the end of this book, you will not only be capable of deploying and managing Kubernetes clusters on Azure with ease, but also have the knowledge of industry best practices to work with advanced Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) concepts for complex systems. What you will learn * Get to grips with Microsoft AKS deployment, management, and operations * Learn about the benefits of using Microsoft AKS, as well as the limitations, and avoid potential problems * Integrate Microsoft toolchains such as Visual Studio Code, and Git * Implement simple and advanced AKS solutions * Implement the automated scalability and high reliability of secure deployments with Microsoft AKS * Use kubectl commands to monitor applications Who this book is for If you’re a cloud engineer, cloud solution provider, sysadmin, site reliability engineer, or a developer interested in DevOps and are looking for an extensive guide to running Kubernetes in the Azure environment then, this book is for you. Though any previous knowledge of Kubernetes is not expected, some experience with Linux and Docker containers would be beneficial.

Optimize your marketing strategies through analytics and machine learning Key Features * Understand how data science drives successful marketing campaigns * Use machine learning for better customer engagement, retention, and product recommendations * Extract insights from your data to optimize marketing strategies and increase profitability Book Description Regardless of company size, the adoption of data science and machine learning for marketing has been rising in the industry. With this book, you will learn to implement data science techniques to understand the drivers behind the successes and failures of marketing campaigns. This book is a comprehensive guide to help you understand and predict customer behaviors and create more effectively targeted and personalized marketing strategies. This is a practical guide to performing simple-to-advanced tasks, to extract hidden insights from the data and use them to make smart business decisions. You will understand what drives sales and increases customer engagements for your products. You will learn to implement machine learning to forecast which customers are more likely to engage with the products and have high lifetime value. This book will also show you how to use machine learning techniques to understand different customer segments and recommend the right products for each customer. Apart from learning to gain insights into consumer behavior using exploratory analysis, you will also learn the concept of A/B testing and implement it using Python and R. By the end of this book, you will be experienced enough with various data science and machine learning techniques to run and manage successful marketing campaigns for your business. What you will learn * Learn how to compute and visualize marketing KPIs in Python and R * Master what drives successful marketing campaigns with data science * Use machine learning to predict customer engagement and lifetime value * Make product recommendations that customers are most likely to buy * Learn how to use A/B testing for better marketing decision making * Implement machine learning to understand different customer segments Who this book is for If you are a marketing professional, data scientist, engineer, or a student keen to learn how to apply data science to marketing, this book is what you need! It will be beneficial to have some basic knowledge of either Python or R to work through the examples. This book will also be beneficial for beginners as it covers basic-to-advanced data science concepts and applications in marketing with real-life examples.

Learn how to use R to apply powerful machine learning methods and gain insight into real-world applications using clustering, logistic regressions, random forests, support vector machine, and more. Key Features * Use R 3.5 to implement real-world examples in machine learning * Implement key machine learning algorithms to understand the working mechanism of smart models * Create end-to-end machine learning pipelines using modern libraries from the R ecosystem Book Description Machine Learning with R Quick Start Guide takes you on a data-driven journey that starts with the very basics of R and machine learning. It gradually builds upon core concepts so you can handle the varied complexities of data and understand each stage of the machine learning pipeline. From data collection to implementing Natural Language Processing (NLP), this book covers it all. You will implement key machine learning algorithms to understand how they are used to build smart models. You will cover tasks such as clustering, logistic regressions, random forests, support vector machines, and more. Furthermore, you will also look at more advanced aspects such as training neural networks and topic modeling. By the end of the book, you will be able to apply the concepts of machine learning, deal with data-related problems, and solve them using the powerful yet simple language that is R. What you will learn * Introduce yourself to the basics of machine learning with R 3.5 * Get to grips with R techniques for cleaning and preparing your data for analysis and visualize your results * Learn to build predictive models with the help of various machine learning techniques * Use R to visualize data spread across multiple dimensions and extract useful features * Use interactive data analysis with R to get insights into data * Implement supervised and unsupervised learning, and NLP using R libraries Who this book is for This book is for graduate students, aspiring data scientists, and data analysts who wish to enter the field of machine learning and are looking to implement machine learning techniques and methodologies from scratch using R 3.5. A working knowledge of the R programming language is expected.

Get to grips with processing large volumes of data and presenting it as engaging, interactive insights using Spark and Python. Key Features * Get a hands-on, fast-paced introduction to the Python data science stack * Explore ways to create useful metrics and statistics from large datasets * Create detailed analysis reports with real-world data Book Description Processing big data in real time is challenging due to scalability, information inconsistency, and fault tolerance. Big Data Analysis with Python teaches you how to use tools that can control this data avalanche for you. With this book, you'll learn practical techniques to aggregate data into useful dimensions for posterior analysis, extract statistical measurements, and transform datasets into features for other systems. The book begins with an introduction to data manipulation in Python using pandas. You'll then get familiar with statistical analysis and plotting techniques. With multiple hands-on activities in store, you'll be able to analyze data that is distributed on several computers by using Dask. As you progress, you'll study how to aggregate data for plots when the entire data cannot be accommodated in memory. You'll also explore Hadoop (HDFS and YARN), which will help you tackle larger datasets. The book also covers Spark and explains how it interacts with other tools. By the end of this book, you'll be able to bootstrap your own Python environment, process large files, and manipulate data to generate statistics, metrics, and graphs. What you will learn * Use Python to read and transform data into different formats * Generate basic statistics and metrics using data on disk * Work with computing tasks distributed over a cluster * Convert data from various sources into storage or querying formats * Prepare data for statistical analysis, visualization, and machine learning * Present data in the form of effective visuals Who this book is for Big Data Analysis with Python is designed for Python developers, data analysts, and data scientists who want to get hands-on with methods to control data and transform it into impactful insights. Basic knowledge of statistical measurements and relational databases will help you to understand various concepts explained in this book.

Learn to create and customize impressive Drupal 8 modules to extend your website's functionalities Key Features * Explore a plethora of Drupal 8 APIs and get the best out of them using the power of PHP coding * Learn to implement efficient data management and data security by creating dedicated modules for it. * Stay up to date with the changes introduced in the new Drupal 8 releases Book Description Drupal 8 comes with a release cycle that allows for new functionality to be added at a much faster pace. However, this also means code deprecations and changing architecture that you need to stay on top of. This book updates the first edition and includes the new functionality introduced in versions up to, and including 8.7. The book will first introduce you to the Drupal 8 architecture and its subsystems before diving into creating your first module with basic functionality. You will work with the Drupal logging and mailing systems, learn how to output data using the theme layer and work with menus and links programmatically. Then, you will learn how to work with different kinds of data storages, create custom entities, field types and leverage the Database API for lower level database queries. You will further see how to introduce JavaScript into your module, work with the various file systems and ensure the code you write works on multilingual sites. Finally, you will learn how to programmatically work with Views, write automated tests for your functionality and also write secure code in general. By the end, you will have learned how to develop your own custom module that can provide complex business solutions. And who knows, maybe you’ll even contribute it back to the Drupal community. What you will learn * Develop Drupal 8 modules that do all the things you want * Master numerous Drupal 8 sub-systems and APIs in the process * Model, store, manipulate and process data to serve your purposes * Display data and content in a clean and secure way using the Drupal 8 theme system * Test your business logic to prevent regressions * Stay ahead of the curve and write code following the current best practices Who this book is for The primary target of this book is Drupal developers who want to learn how to write modules and develop in Drupal 8. It is also intended for Drupal site builders and PHP developers who have basic Object Oriented Programming skills. A little bit of Symfony experience is helpful but not mandatory.

Discover advanced virtualization techniques and strategies to deliver centralized desktop and application services Key Features * Leverage advanced desktop virtualization techniques and strategies to transform your organization * Build better virtualized services for your users with VMware Horizon 7.8 * Develop and deploy end-to-end virtualized solutions Book Description Desktop virtualization can be tough, but VMware Horizon 7.8 changes all that. With a rich and adaptive UX, improved security,and a range of useful features for storage and networking optimization, there's plenty to love. But to properly fall in love with it, you need to know how to use it, and that means venturing deeper into the software and taking advantage of its extensive range of features, many of which are underused and underpromoted. This guide will take you through everything you need to know to not only successfully virtualize your desktop infrastructure, but also to maintain and optimize it to keep all your users happy. We'll show you how to assess and analyze your infrastructure, and how to use that analysis to design a solution that meets your organizational and user needs. Once you've done that, you'll find out how to build your virtualized environment, before deploying your virtualized solution. But more than that,we'll also make sure you know everything you need to know about the full range of features on offer, including the mobile cloud, so that you can use them to take full control of your virtualized infrastructure. What you will learn * Successfully configure Horizon 7.8 for the needs of your users * Deliver virtual desktops, session-based desktops, and hosted applications * Become familiar with how to develop, and deploy, a complete, end-to-end solution * Discover how to optimize desktop OS images for virtual desktops * Build, optimize, and tune desktop operating systems to deliver a superior end user experience * Explore the Horizon 7.8 infrastructure so that you can take full advantage of it Who this book is for This book is ideal for system admins, and solution architects interested in gaining hands-on experience with virtualization. It will take you to an advanced level, but at a pace that ensures you are always solving real-world problems. Some experience in desktop management using Windows and Microsoft Office (and familiarity with Active Directory, SQL, Windows Remote Desktop Session Hosting, and VMware vSphere technology) is necessary.

Learn to build end-to-end AI apps from scratch for Android and iOS using TensorFlow Lite, CoreML, and PyTorch Key Features * Build practical, real-world AI projects on Android and iOS * Implement tasks such as recognizing handwritten digits, sentiment analysis, and more * Explore the core functions of machine learning, deep learning, and mobile vision Book Description We’re witnessing a revolution in Artificial Intelligence, thanks to breakthroughs in deep learning. Mobile Artificial Intelligence Projects empowers you to take part in this revolution by applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to design applications for natural language processing (NLP), robotics, and computer vision. This book teaches you to harness the power of AI in mobile applications along with learning the core functions of NLP, neural networks, deep learning, and mobile vision. It features a range of projects, covering tasks such as real-estate price prediction, recognizing hand-written digits, predicting car damage, and sentiment analysis. You will learn to utilize NLP and machine learning algorithms to make applications more predictive, proactive, and capable of making autonomous decisions with less human input. In the concluding chapters, you will work with popular libraries, such as TensorFlow Lite, CoreML, and PyTorch across Android and iOS platforms. By the end of this book, you will have developed exciting and more intuitive mobile applications that deliver a customized and more personalized experience to users. What you will learn * Explore the concepts and fundamentals of AI, deep learning, and neural networks * Implement use cases for machine vision and natural language processing * Build an ML model to predict car damage using TensorFlow * Deploy TensorFlow on mobile to convert speech to text * Implement GAN to recognize hand-written digits * Develop end-to-end mobile applications that use AI principles * Work with popular libraries, such as TensorFlow Lite, CoreML, and PyTorch Who this book is for Mobile Artificial Intelligence Projects is for machine learning professionals, deep learning engineers, AI engineers, and software engineers who want to integrate AI technology into mobile-based platforms and applications. Sound knowledge of machine learning and experience with any programming language is all you need to get started with this book.

Build modular React web apps that are scalable, maintainable and powerful using design patterns and insightful practices Key Features * Get familiar with design patterns in React like Render props and Controlled/uncontrolled inputs * Learn about class/ functional, style and high order components with React * Work through examples that can be used to create reusable code and extensible designs Book Description React is an adaptable JavaScript library for building complex UIs from small, detached bits called components. This book is designed to take you through the most valuable design patterns in React, helping you learn how to apply design patterns and best practices in real-life situations. You’ll get started by understanding the internals of React, in addition to covering Babel 7 and Create React App 2.0, which will help you write clean and maintainable code. To build on your skills, you will focus on concepts such as class components, stateless components, and pure components. You'll learn about new React features, such as the context API and React Hooks that will enable you to build components, which will be reusable across your applications. The book will then provide insights into the techniques of styling React components and optimizing them to make applications faster and more responsive. In the concluding chapters, you’ll discover ways to write tests more effectively and learn how to contribute to React and its ecosystem. By the end of this book, you will be equipped with the skills you need to tackle any developmental setbacks when working with React. You’ll be able to make your applications more flexible, efficient, and easy to maintain, thereby giving your workflow a boost when it comes to speed, without reducing quality. What you will learn * Get familiar with the new React features,like context API and React Hooks * Learn the techniques of styling and optimizing React components * Make components communicate with each other by applying consolidate patterns * Use server-side rendering to make applications load faster * Write a comprehensive set of tests to create robust and maintainable code * Build high-performing applications by optimizing components Who this book is for This book is for web developers who want to increase their understanding of React and apply it to real-life application development. Prior experience with React and JavaScript is assumed.

Gain a complete overview of Oracle CX Cloud Suite and its tools for functions ranging from marketing to sales and commerce to service Key Features * Make optimal use of your Oracle CX Cloud Suite to improve business results * Achieve improved customer insights through Oracle CX’s advanced capabilities * Learn how to design a CX solution architecture Book Description Oracle CX Cloud offers features and capabilities that help companies excel at sales, customer management, and much more. This book is a detailed guide to implementing cloud solutions and helping administrators of all levels thoroughly understand the platform. Oracle CX Cloud Suite begins with an introduction to high-level Oracle architecture and examines what CX offers over CRM. You’ll explore the different cloud-based tools for marketing, sales, and customer services, among others. The book then delves into deployment by covering basic settings, setting up users, and provisioning. You’ll see how to integrate the CX suite to work together to interact with the environment and connect with legacy systems, social connectors, and internet services. The book concludes with a use case demonstrating how the entire Oracle CX Suite is set up, and also covers how to leverage Oracle ICS and Oracle CX Cloud for hybrid deployment. By end of the book, you will have learned about the working of the Oracle CX Cloud Suite and how to orchestrate user experience across all products seamlessly. What you will learn * Differentiate between Oracle CRM and CX Cloud suites * Explore a variety of Oracle CX Cloud tools for marketing and sales * Set up users and database connections during deployment * Employ Cloud Suite CX tools to aid in planning and analysis * Implement hybrid Oracle CX solutions and connect with legacy systems * Integrate with social media connectors like Facebook and LinkedIn * Leverage Oracle ICS and Oracle CX Suite to improve business results Who this book is for This book is for administrators who want to develop and strengthen their Oracle CX Cloud Suite skills in the areas of configuration and system management. Whether you are a new administrator or an experienced professional, this book will enhance your understanding of the new Oracle CX features.

Use PySpark to easily crush messy data at-scale and discover proven techniques to create testable, immutable, and easily parallelizable Spark jobs Key Features * Work with large amounts of agile data using distributed datasets and in-memory caching * Source data from all popular data hosting platforms, such as HDFS, Hive, JSON, and S3 * Employ the easy-to-use PySpark API to deploy big data Analytics for production Book Description Apache Spark is an open source parallel-processing framework that has been around for quite some time now. One of the many uses of Apache Spark is for data analytics applications across clustered computers. In this book, you will not only learn how to use Spark and the Python API to create high-performance analytics with big data, but also discover techniques for testing, immunizing, and parallelizing Spark jobs. You will learn how to source data from all popular data hosting platforms, including HDFS, Hive, JSON, and S3, and deal with large datasets with PySpark to gain practical big data experience. This book will help you work on prototypes on local machines and subsequently go on to handle messy data in production and at scale. This book covers installing and setting up PySpark, RDD operations, big data cleaning and wrangling, and aggregating and summarizing data into useful reports. You will also learn how to implement some practical and proven techniques to improve certain aspects of programming and administration in Apache Spark. By the end of the book, you will be able to build big data analytical solutions using the various PySpark offerings and also optimize them effectively. What you will learn * Get practical big data experience while working on messy datasets * Analyze patterns with Spark SQL to improve your business intelligence * Use PySpark's interactive shell to speed up development time * Create highly concurrent Spark programs by leveraging immutability * Discover ways to avoid the most expensive operation in the Spark API: the shuffle operation * Re-design your jobs to use reduceByKey instead of groupBy * Create robust processing pipelines by testing Apache Spark jobs Who this book is for This book is for developers, data scientists, business analysts, or anyone who needs to reliably analyze large amounts of large-scale, real-world data. Whether you're tasked with creating your company's business intelligence function or creating great data platforms for your machine learning models, or are looking to use code to magnify the impact of your business, this book is for you.

Apply modern reinforcement learning and deep reinforcement learning methods using Python and its powerful libraries Key Features * Your entry point into the world of artificial intelligence using the power of Python * An example-rich guide to master various RL and DRL algorithms * Explore the power of modern Python libraries to gain confidence in building self-trained applications Book Description Reinforcement Learning (RL) is the trending and most promising branch of artificial intelligence. This Learning Path will help you master not only the basic reinforcement learning algorithms but also the advanced deep reinforcement learning algorithms. The Learning Path starts with an introduction to RL followed by OpenAI Gym, and TensorFlow. You will then explore various RL algorithms, such as Markov Decision Process, Monte Carlo methods, and dynamic programming, including value and policy iteration. You'll also work on various datasets including image, text, and video. This example-rich guide will introduce you to deep RL algorithms, such as Dueling DQN, DRQN, A3C, PPO, and TRPO. You will gain experience in several domains, including gaming, image processing, and physical simulations. You'll explore TensorFlow and OpenAI Gym to implement algorithms that also predict stock prices, generate natural language, and even build other neural networks. You will also learn about imagination-augmented agents, learning from human preference, DQfD, HER, and many of the recent advancements in RL. By the end of the Learning Path, you will have all the knowledge and experience needed to implement RL and deep RL in your projects, and you enter the world of artificial intelligence to solve various real-life problems. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: * Hands-On Reinforcement Learning with Python by Sudharsan Ravichandiran * Python Reinforcement Learning Projects by Sean Saito, Yang Wenzhuo, and Rajalingappaa Shanmugamani What you will learn * Train an agent to walk using OpenAI Gym and TensorFlow * Solve multi-armed-bandit problems using various algorithms * Build intelligent agents using the DRQN algorithm to play the Doom game * Teach your agent to play Connect4 using AlphaGo Zero * Defeat Atari arcade games using the value iteration method * Discover how to deal with discrete and continuous action spaces in various environments Who this book is for If you’re an ML/DL enthusiast interested in AI and want to explore RL and deep RL from scratch, this Learning Path is for you. Prior knowledge of linear algebra is expected.

Concepts, tools, and techniques to explore deep learning architectures and methodologies Key Features * Explore advanced deep learning architectures using various datasets and frameworks * Implement deep architectures for neural network models such as CNN, RNN, GAN, and many more * Discover design patterns and different challenges for various deep learning architectures Book Description Deep learning architectures are composed of multilevel nonlinear operations that represent high-level abstractions; this allows you to learn useful feature representations from the data. This book will help you learn and implement deep learning architectures to resolve various deep learning research problems. Hands-On Deep Learning Architectures with Python explains the essential learning algorithms used for deep and shallow architectures. Packed with practical implementations and ideas to help you build efficient artificial intelligence systems (AI), this book will help you learn how neural networks play a major role in building deep architectures. You will understand various deep learning architectures (such as AlexNet, VGG Net, GoogleNet) with easy-to-follow code and diagrams. In addition to this, the book will also guide you in building and training various deep architectures such as the Boltzmann mechanism, autoencoders, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), natural language processing (NLP), GAN, and more—all with practical implementations. By the end of this book, you will be able to construct deep models using popular frameworks and datasets with the required design patterns for each architecture. You will be ready to explore the potential of deep architectures in today's world. What you will learn * Implement CNNs, RNNs, and other commonly used architectures with Python * Explore architectures such as VGGNet, AlexNet, and GoogLeNet * Build deep learning architectures for AI applications such as face and image recognition, fraud detection, and many more * Understand the architectures and applications of Boltzmann machines and autoencoders with concrete examples * Master artificial intelligence and neural network concepts and apply them to your architecture * Understand deep learning architectures for mobile and embedded systems Who this book is for If you’re a data scientist, machine learning developer/engineer, or deep learning practitioner, or are curious about AI and want to upgrade your knowledge of various deep learning architectures, this book will appeal to you. You are expected to have some knowledge of statistics and machine learning algorithms to get the best out of this book

Explore the entire Hyperledger blockchain family, including frameworks such as Fabric, Sawtooth, Indy, Burrow, and Iroha; and tools such as Composer, Explorer, and Caliper. Key Features * Plan, design, and create a full-fledged private decentralized application using Hyperledger services * Master the ins and outs of the Hyperledger network using real-world examples * Packed with problem-solution-based recipes to tackle pain areas in the blockchain development cycle Book Description Hyperledger is an open-source project and creates private blockchain applications for a range of domains. This book will be your desk reference as you explore common and not-so-common challenges faced while building blockchain networks using Hyperledger services. We'll work through all Hyperledger platform modules to understand their services and features and build end-to-end blockchain applications using various frameworks and tools supported by Hyperledger. This book's independent, recipe-based approach (packed with real-world examples) will familiarize you with the blockchain development cycle. From modeling a business network to integrating with various tools, you will cover it all. We'll cover common and not-so-common challenges faced in the blockchain life cycle. Later, we'll delve into how we can interact with the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain, covering all the principles you need to master, such as chaincode, smart contracts, and much more. We'll also address the scalability and security issues currently faced in blockchain development. By the end of this book, you will be able to implement each recipe to plan, design, and create a full-fledged, private, decentralized application to meet organizational needs. What you will learn * Create the most popular permissioned blockchain network with Fabric and Composer * Build permissioned and permission-less blockchains using Sawtooth * Utilize built-in Iroha asset/account management with role-based permissions * Implement and run Ethereum smart contracts with Burrow * Get to grips with security and scalability in Hyperledger * Explore and view blockchain data using Hyperledger Explorer * Produce reports containing performance indicators and benchmarks using Caliper Who this book is for This book is for blockchain developers who want to understand how they can apply Hyperledger services in their day-to-day projects. This book uses a recipe-based approach to help you use Hyperledger to build powerful, decentralized autonomous applications. We assume the reader has a basic knowledge of the Blockchain technology and cryptography concepts

Learn to design and build Virtual Reality experiences, applications, and games in Unreal Engine 4 through a series of practical, hands-on projects that teach you to create controllable avatars, user interfaces, and more. Key Features * Deploy your virtual reality applications on the latest Oculus Go and Samsung Gear * Build real-world applications such as 3D UIs, mini games, and 360° media player applications using Unreal Engine 4 * Master multiplayer networking and build rich multi-user VR experiences Book Description Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is a powerful tool for developing VR games and applications. With its visual scripting language, Blueprint, and built-in support for all major VR headsets, it's a perfect tool for designers, artists, and engineers to realize their visions in VR. This book will guide you step-by-step through a series of projects that teach essential concepts and techniques for VR development in UE4. You will begin by learning how to think about (and design for) VR and then proceed to set up a development environment. A series of practical projects follows, taking you through essential VR concepts. Through these exercises, you'll learn how to set up UE4 projects that run effectively in VR, how to build player locomotion schemes, and how to use hand controllers to interact with the world. You'll then move on to create user interfaces in 3D space, use the editor's VR mode to build environments directly in VR, and profile/optimize worlds you've built. Finally, you'll explore more advanced topics, such as displaying stereo media in VR, networking in Unreal, and using plugins to extend the engine. Throughout, this book focuses on creating a deeper understanding of why the relevant tools and techniques work as they do, so you can use the techniques and concepts learned here as a springboard for further learning and exploration in VR. What you will learn * Understand design principles and concepts for building VR applications * Set up your development environment with Unreal Blueprints and C++ * Create a player character with several locomotion schemes * Evaluate and solve performance problems in VR to maintain high frame rates * Display mono and stereo videos in VR * Extend Unreal Engine's capabilities using various plugins Who this book is for This book is for anyone interested in learning to develop Virtual Reality games and applications using UE4. Developers new to UE4 will benefit from hands-on projects that guide readers through clearly-explained steps, while both new and experienced developers will learn crucial principles and techniques for VR development in UE4.

Explore GPU-enabled programmable environment for machine learning, scientific applications, and gaming using PuCUDA, PyOpenGL, and Anaconda Accelerate Key Features * Understand effective synchronization strategies for faster processing using GPUs * Write parallel processing scripts with PyCuda and PyOpenCL * Learn to use the CUDA libraries like CuDNN for deep learning on GPUs Book Description GPUs are proving to be excellent general purpose-parallel computing solutions for high performance tasks such as deep learning and scientific computing. This book will be your guide to getting started with GPU computing. It will start with introducing GPU computing and explain the architecture and programming models for GPUs. You will learn, by example, how to perform GPU programming with Python, and you’ll look at using integrations such as PyCUDA, PyOpenCL, CuPy and Numba with Anaconda for various tasks such as machine learning and data mining. Going further, you will get to grips with GPU work flows, management, and deployment using modern containerization solutions. Toward the end of the book, you will get familiar with the principles of distributed computing for training machine learning models and enhancing efficiency and performance. By the end of this book, you will be able to set up a GPU ecosystem for running complex applications and data models that demand great processing capabilities, and be able to efficiently manage memory to compute your application effectively and quickly. What you will learn * Utilize Python libraries and frameworks for GPU acceleration * Set up a GPU-enabled programmable machine learning environment on your system with Anaconda * Deploy your machine learning system on cloud containers with illustrated examples * Explore PyCUDA and PyOpenCL and compare them with platforms such as CUDA, OpenCL and ROCm. * Perform data mining tasks with machine learning models on GPUs * Extend your knowledge of GPU computing in scientific applications Who this book is for Data Scientist, Machine Learning enthusiasts and professionals who wants to get started with GPU computation and perform the complex tasks with low-latency. Intermediate knowledge of Python programming is assumed.

A practical, example-driven guide to configuring even the most advanced features of pfSense 2.x Key Features *Build a high-availability fault-tolerant security system with pfSense 2.x *Leverage the latest version of pfSense to secure your cloud environment *A recipe-based guide that will help you enhance your on-premise and cloud security principles Book Description pfSense is an open source distribution of the FreeBSD-based firewall that provides a platform for ?exible and powerful routing and firewalling. The versatility of pfSense presents us with a wide array of configuration options, which makes determining requirements a little more difficult and a lot more important compared to other offerings. pfSense 2.x Cookbook – Second Edition starts by providing you with an understanding of how to complete the basic steps needed to render a pfSense firewall operational. It starts by showing you how to set up different forms of NAT entries and firewall rules and use aliases and scheduling in firewall rules. Moving on, you will learn how to implement a captive portal set up in different ways (no authentication, user manager authentication, and RADIUS authentication), as well as NTP and SNMP configuration. You will then learn how to set up a VPN tunnel with pfSense. The book then focuses on setting up traffic shaping with pfSense, using either the built-in traffic shaping wizard, custom ?oating rules, or Snort. Toward the end, you will set up multiple WAN interfaces, load balancing and failover groups, and a CARP failover group. You will also learn how to bridge interfaces, add static routing entries, and use dynamic routing protocols via third-party packages. What you will learn *Configure the essential pfSense services (namely, DHCP, DNS, and DDNS) *Create aliases, firewall rules, NAT port-forward rules, and rule schedules *Create multiple WAN interfaces in load-balanced or failover configurations *Configure firewall redundancy with a CARP firewall failover *Configure backup/restoration and automatic configuration-file backup *Configure some services and perform diagnostics with command-line utilities Who this book is for This book is intended for all levels of network administrators. If you are an advanced user of pfSense, then you can flip to a particular recipe and quickly accomplish the task at hand; if you are new to pfSense, on the other hand, you can work through the book chapter by chapter and learn all of the features of the system from the ground up.

Implement Business Central and explore methods to upgrade to NAV 2018 Key Features *Learn the key roles of Dynamics NAV partner and the roles within your customer's organization *Create configuration packages and perform data migration *Explore Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to use Dynamics NAV 2018 functionalities in the Cloud Book Description Microsoft Dynamics Business Central is a full business solution suite and a complete ERP solution, which contains a robust set of development tools; these tools can help you to gain control over your business and can simplify supply chains, manufacturing, and operations. Implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central On-Premise covers the latest features of Dynamics Business Central and NAV from the end users' and developers' perspectives. It also provides an insight into different tools available for implementation, whether it's a new installation or migrating from the previous version of Dynamics NAV. This book will take you from an introduction to Dynamics NAV 2018 through to exploring all the techniques related to implementation and migration. You will also learn to expand functionalities within your existing Microsoft Dynamics NAV installation, perform data analysis, and implement free third-party add-ons to your existing installation. As you progress through the book, you will learn to work with third-party add-on tools. In the concluding chapters, you will explore Dynamics 365 Business Central, the new Cloud solution based on the Microsoft NAV platform, and techniques for using Docker and Sandbox to develop applications. By the end of the book, you will have gained a deep understanding of the key components for successful Dynamics NAV implementation for an organization. What you will learn *Explore new features introduced in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 *Migrate to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 from previous versions *Learn abstract techniques for data analysis, reporting, and debugging *Install, configure, and use additional tools for business intelligence, document management, and reporting *Discover Dynamics 365 Business Central and several other Microsoft services *Utilize different tools to develop applications for Business Central Who this book is for Implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central On-Premise is for Dynamics NAV partners and end users who want to know everything about Dynamics NAV implementation. This book is for you if you want to be a project manager or get involved with Dynamics NAV, but do not have the expertise to write code yourself. This book can also help you to understand the need to move to Business Central and its advantages.