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.

Explore the different data mining techniques using the libraries and packages offered by Python Key Features * Grasp the basics of data loading, cleaning, analysis, and visualization * Use the popular Python libraries such as NumPy, pandas, matplotlib, and scikit-learn for data mining * Your one-stop guide to build efficient data mining pipelines without going into too much theory Book Description Data mining is a necessary and predictable response to the dawn of the information age. It is typically defined as the pattern and/ or trend discovery phase in the data mining pipeline, and Python is a popular tool for performing these tasks as it offers a wide variety of tools for data mining. This book will serve as a quick introduction to the concept of data mining and putting it to practical use with the help of popular Python packages and libraries. You will get a hands-on demonstration of working with different real-world datasets and extracting useful insights from them using popular Python libraries such as NumPy, pandas, scikit-learn, and matplotlib. You will then learn the different stages of data mining such as data loading, cleaning, analysis, and visualization. You will also get a full conceptual description of popular data transformation, clustering, and classification techniques. By the end of this book, you will be able to build an efficient data mining pipeline using Python without any hassle. What you will learn * Explore the methods for summarizing datasets and visualizing/plotting data * Collect and format data for analytical work * Assign data points into groups and visualize clustering patterns * Learn how to predict continuous and categorical outputs for data * Clean, filter noise from, and reduce the dimensions of data * Serialize a data processing model using scikit-learn’s pipeline feature * Deploy the data processing model using Python’s pickle module Who this book is for Python developers interested in getting started with data mining will love this book. Budding data scientists and data analysts looking to quickly get to grips with practical data mining with Python will also find this book to be useful. Knowledge of Python programming is all you need to get started.

Manipulate and analyze network data with the power of Python and NetworkX Key Features * Understand the terminology and basic concepts of network science * Leverage the power of Python and NetworkX to represent data as a network * Apply common techniques for working with network data of varying sizes Book Description NetworkX is a leading free and open source package used for network science with the Python programming language. NetworkX can track properties of individuals and relationships, find communities, analyze resilience, detect key network locations, and perform a wide range of important tasks. With the recent release of version 2, NetworkX has been updated to be more powerful and easy to use. If you’re a data scientist, engineer, or computational social scientist, this book will guide you in using the Python programming language to gain insights into real-world networks. Starting with the fundamentals, you’ll be introduced to the core concepts of network science, along with examples that use real-world data and Python code. This book will introduce you to theoretical concepts such as scale-free and small-world networks, centrality measures, and agent-based modeling. You’ll also be able to look for scale-free networks in real data and visualize a network using circular, directed, and shell layouts. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to choose appropriate network representations, use NetworkX to build and characterize networks, and uncover insights while working with real-world systems. What you will learn * Use Python and NetworkX to analyze the properties of individuals and relationships * Encode data in network nodes and edges using NetworkX * Manipulate, store, and summarize data in network nodes and edges * Visualize a network using circular, directed and shell layouts * Find out how simulating behavior on networks can give insights into real-world problems * Understand the ongoing impact of network science on society, and its ethical considerations Who this book is for If you are a programmer or data scientist who wants to manipulate and analyze network data in Python, this book is perfect for you. Although prior knowledge of network science is not necessary, some Python programming experience will help you understand the concepts covered in the book easily.

Gain hands-on experience with industry-standard data analysis and machine learning tools in Python Key Features * Learn techniques to use data to identify the exact problem to be solved * Visualize data using different graphs * Identify how to select an appropriate algorithm for data extraction Book Description Data Science Projects with Python is designed to give you practical guidance on industry-standard data analysis and machine learning tools in Python, with the help of realistic data. The book will help you understand how you can use pandas and Matplotlib to critically examine a dataset with summary statistics and graphs, and extract the insights you seek to derive. You will continue to build on your knowledge as you learn how to prepare data and feed it to machine learning algorithms, such as regularized logistic regression and random forest, using the scikit-learn package. You’ll discover how to tune the algorithms to provide the best predictions on new and, unseen data. As you delve into later chapters, you’ll be able to understand the working and output of these algorithms and gain insight into not only the predictive capabilities of the models but also their reasons for making these predictions. By the end of this book, you will have the skills you need to confidently use various machine learning algorithms to perform detailed data analysis and extract meaningful insights from unstructured data. What you will learn * Install the required packages to set up a data science coding environment * Load data into a Jupyter Notebook running Python * Use Matplotlib to create data visualizations * Fit a model using scikit-learn * Use lasso and ridge regression to reduce overfitting * Fit and tune a random forest model and compare performance with logistic regression * Create visuals using the output of the Jupyter Notebook Who this book is for If you are a data analyst, data scientist, or a business analyst who wants to get started with using Python and machine learning techniques to analyze data and predict outcomes, this book is for you. Basic knowledge of computer programming and data analytics is a must. Familiarity with mathematical concepts such as algebra and basic statistics will be useful.

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.

Design, deploy, and manage large-scale containers using Kubernetes Key Features * Gain insight into the latest features of Kubernetes, including Prometheus and API aggregation * Discover ways to keep your clusters always available, scalable, and up-to-date * Master the skills of designing and deploying large clusters on various cloud platforms Book Description If you are running a number of containers and want to be able to automate the way they’re managed, it can be helpful to have Kubernetes at your disposal. This Learning Path guides you through core Kubernetes constructs, such as pods, services, replica sets, replication controllers, and labels. You'll get started by learning how to integrate your build pipeline and deployments in a Kubernetes cluster. As you cover more chapters in the Learning Path, you'll get up to speed with orchestrating updates behind the scenes, avoiding downtime on your cluster, and dealing with underlying cloud provider instability in your cluster. With the help of real-world use cases, you'll also explore options for network configuration, and understand how to set up, operate, and troubleshoot various Kubernetes networking plugins. In addition to this, you'll gain insights into custom resource development and utilization in automation and maintenance workflows. By the end of this Learning Path, you'll have the expertise you need to progress from an intermediate to an advanced level of understanding Kubernetes. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: * Getting Started with Kubernetes - Third Edition by Jonathan Baier and Jesse White * Mastering Kubernetes - Second Edition by Gigi Sayfan What you will learn * Download, install, and configure the Kubernetes code base * Create and configure custom Kubernetes resources * Use third-party resources in your automation workflows * Deliver applications as standard packages * Set up and access monitoring and logging for Kubernetes clusters * Set up external access to applications running in the cluster * Manage and scale Kubernetes with hosted platforms on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) * Run multiple clusters and manage them from a single control plane Who this book is for If you are a developer or a system administrator with an intermediate understanding of Kubernetes and want to master its advanced features, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of networking is required to easily understand the concepts explained.

Harness the power of Python objects and data structures to implement algorithms for analyzing your data and efficiently extracting information Key Features * Turn your designs into working software by learning the Python syntax * Write robust code with a solid understanding of Python data structures * Understand when to use the functional or the OOP approach Book Description This Learning Path helps you get comfortable with the world of Python. It starts with a thorough and practical introduction to Python. You’ll quickly start writing programs, building websites, and working with data by harnessing Python's renowned data science libraries. With the power of linked lists, binary searches, and sorting algorithms, you'll easily create complex data structures, such as graphs, stacks, and queues. After understanding cooperative inheritance, you'll expertly raise, handle, and manipulate exceptions. You will effortlessly integrate the object-oriented and not-so-object-oriented aspects of Python, and create maintainable applications using higher level design patterns. Once you’ve covered core topics, you’ll understand the joy of unit testing and just how easy it is to create unit tests. By the end of this Learning Path, you will have built components that are easy to understand, debug, and can be used across different applications. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: * Learn Python Programming - Second Edition by Fabrizio Romano * Python Data Structures and Algorithms by Benjamin Baka * Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming by Dusty Phillips What you will learn * Use data structures and control flow to write code * Use functions to bundle together a sequence of instructions * Implement objects in Python by creating classes and defining methods * Design public interfaces using abstraction, encapsulation and information hiding * Raise, define, and manipulate exceptions using special error objects * Create bulletproof and reliable software by writing unit tests * Learn the common programming patterns and algorithms used in Python Who this book is for If you are relatively new to coding and want to write scripts or programs to accomplish tasks using Python, or if you are an object-oriented programmer for other languages and seeking a leg up in the world of Python, then this Learning Path is for you. Though not essential, it will help you to have basic knowledge of programming and OOP.

Simplify your ETL processes with these hands-on data hygiene tips, tricks, and best practices. Key Features * Focus on the basics of data wrangling * Study various ways to extract the most out of your data in less time * Boost your learning curve with bonus topics like random data generation and data integrity checks Book Description For data to be useful and meaningful, it must be curated and refined. Data Wrangling with Python teaches you the core ideas behind these processes and equips you with knowledge of the most popular tools and techniques in the domain. The book starts with the absolute basics of Python, focusing mainly on data structures. It then delves into the fundamental tools of data wrangling like NumPy and Pandas libraries. You’ll explore useful insights into why you should stay away from traditional ways of data cleaning, as done in other languages, and take advantage of the specialized pre-built routines in Python. This combination of Python tips and tricks will also demonstrate how to use the same Python backend and extract/transform data from an array of sources including the Internet, large database vaults, and Excel financial tables. To help you prepare for more challenging scenarios, you’ll cover how to handle missing or wrong data, and reformat it based on the requirements from the downstream analytics tool. The book will further help you grasp concepts through real-world examples and datasets. By the end of this book, you will be confident in using a diverse array of sources to extract, clean, transform, and format your data efficiently. What you will learn * Use and manipulate complex and simple data structures * Harness the full potential of DataFrames and numpy.array at run time * Perform web scraping with BeautifulSoup4 and html5lib * Execute advanced string search and manipulation with RegEX * Handle outliers and perform data imputation with Pandas * Use descriptive statistics and plotting techniques * Practice data wrangling and modeling using data generation techniques Who this book is for Data Wrangling with Python is designed for developers, data analysts, and business analysts who are keen to pursue a career as a full-fledged data scientist or analytics expert. Although, this book is for beginners, prior working knowledge of Python is necessary to easily grasp the concepts covered here. It will also help to have rudimentary knowledge of relational database and SQL.

Build, design and improve advanced business intelligence solutions using Tableau’s latest features, including Tableau Prep, Tableau Hyper, and Tableau Server Key Features * Master new features in Tableau 2019.1 to solve real-world analytics challenges * Perform Geo-Spatial Analytics, Time Series Analysis, and self-service analytics using real-life examples * Build and publish dashboards and explore storytelling using Python and MATLAB integration support Book Description Tableau is one of the leading business intelligence (BI) tools used to solve BI and analytics challenges. With this book, you will master Tableau's features and offerings in various paradigms of the BI domain. This book is also the second edition of the popular Mastering Tableau series, with new features, examples, and updated code. The book covers essential Tableau concepts and its advanced functionalities. Using Tableau Hyper and Tableau Prep, you’ll be able to handle and prepare data easily. You’ll gear up to perform complex joins, spatial joins, union, and data blending tasks using practical examples. Following this, you’ll learn how to perform data densification to make displaying granular data easier. Next, you’ll explore expert-level examples to help you with advanced calculations, mapping, and visual design using various Tableau extensions. With the help of examples, you’ll also learn about improving dashboard performance, connecting Tableau Server, and understanding data visualizations. In the final chapters, you’ll cover advanced use cases such as Self-Service Analytics, Time Series Analytics, and Geo-Spatial Analytics, and learn to connect Tableau to R, Python, and MATLAB. By the end of this book, you’ll have mastered the advanced offerings of Tableau and be able to tackle common and not-so-common challenges faced in the BI domain. What you will learn * Get up to speed with various Tableau components * Master data preparation techniques using Tableau Prep * Discover how to use Tableau to create a PowerPoint-like presentation * Understand different Tableau visualization techniques and dashboard designs * Interact with the Tableau server to understand its architecture and functionalities * Study advanced visualizations and dashboard creation techniques * Brush up on powerful Self-Service Analytics, Time Series Analytics, and Geo-Spatial Analytics Who this book is for This book is designed for business analysts, BI professionals and data analysts who want to master Tableau to solve a range of data science and business intelligence problems. The book is ideal if you have a good understanding of Tableau and want to take your skills to the next level.

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.

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.

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.

Start empowering users and protecting corporate data, while managing identities and access with Microsoft Azure in different environments Key Features * Understand how to identify and manage business drivers during transitions * Explore Microsoft Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) solution * Over 40 playbooks to support your learning process with practical guidelines Book Description Microsoft Azure and its Identity and access management are at the heart of Microsoft's software as service products, including Office 365, Dynamics CRM, and Enterprise Mobility Management. It is crucial to master Microsoft Azure in order to be able to work with the Microsoft Cloud effectively. You’ll begin by identifying the benefits of Microsoft Azure in the field of identity and access management. Working through the functionality of identity and access management as a service, you will get a full overview of the Microsoft strategy. Understanding identity synchronization will help you to provide a well-managed identity. Project scenarios and examples will enable you to understand, troubleshoot, and develop on essential authentication protocols and publishing scenarios. Finally, you will acquire a thorough understanding of Microsoft Information protection technologies. What you will learn * Apply technical descriptions to your business needs and deployments * Manage cloud-only, simple, and complex hybrid environments * Apply correct and efficient monitoring and identity protection strategies * Design and deploy custom Identity and access management solutions * Build a complete identity and access management life cycle * Understand authentication and application publishing mechanisms * Use and understand the most crucial identity synchronization scenarios * Implement a suitable information protection strategy Who this book is for This book is a perfect companion for developers, cyber security specialists, system and security engineers, IT consultants/architects, and system administrators who are looking for perfectly up–to-date hybrid and cloud-only scenarios. You should have some understanding of security solutions, Active Directory, access privileges/rights, and authentication methods. Programming knowledge is not required but can be helpful for using PowerShell or working with APIs to customize your solutions.

Conquer complex and interesting programming challenges by building robust and concurrent applications with caches, cryptography, and parallel programming. Key Features * Understand how to use .NET frameworks like the Task Parallel Library (TPL)and CryptoAPI * Develop a containerized application based on microservices architecture * Gain insights into memory management techniques in .NET Core Book Description This Learning Path shows you how to create high performing applications and solve programming challenges using a wide range of C# features. You’ll begin by learning how to identify the bottlenecks in writing programs, highlight common performance pitfalls, and apply strategies to detect and resolve these issues early. You'll also study the importance of micro-services architecture for building fast applications and implementing resiliency and security in .NET Core. Then, you'll study the importance of defining and testing boundaries, abstracting away third-party code, and working with different types of test double, such as spies, mocks, and fakes. In addition to describing programming trade-offs, this Learning Path will also help you build a useful toolkit of techniques, including value caching, statistical analysis, and geometric algorithms. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: * C# 7 and .NET Core 2.0 High Performance by Ovais Mehboob Ahmed Khan * Practical Test-Driven Development using C# 7 by John Callaway, Clayton Hunt * The Modern C# Challenge by Rod Stephens What you will learn * Measure application performance using BenchmarkDotNet * Leverage the Task Parallel Library (TPL) and Parallel Language Integrated Query (PLINQ)library to perform asynchronous operations * Modify a legacy application to make it testable * Use LINQ and PLINQ to search directories for files matching patterns * Find areas of polygons using geometric operations * Randomize arrays and lists with extension methods * Use cryptographic techniques to encrypt and decrypt strings and files Who this book is for If you want to improve the speed of your code and optimize the performance of your applications, or are simply looking for a practical resource on test driven development, this is the ideal Learning Path for you. Some familiarity with C# and .NET will be beneficial.

Implement neural network architectures by building them from scratch for multiple real-world applications. Key Features * From scratch, build multiple neural network architectures such as CNN, RNN, LSTM in Keras * Discover tips and tricks for designing a robust neural network to solve real-world problems * Graduate from understanding the working details of neural networks and master the art of fine-tuning them Book Description This book will take you from the basics of neural networks to advanced implementations of architectures using a recipe-based approach. We will learn about how neural networks work and the impact of various hyper parameters on a network's accuracy along with leveraging neural networks for structured and unstructured data. Later, we will learn how to classify and detect objects in images. We will also learn to use transfer learning for multiple applications, including a self-driving car using Convolutional Neural Networks. We will generate images while leveraging GANs and also by performing image encoding. Additionally, we will perform text analysis using word vector based techniques. Later, we will use Recurrent Neural Networks and LSTM to implement chatbot and Machine Translation systems. Finally, you will learn about transcribing images, audio, and generating captions and also use Deep Q-learning to build an agent that plays Space Invaders game. By the end of this book, you will have developed the skills to choose and customize multiple neural network architectures for various deep learning problems you might encounter. What you will learn * Build multiple advanced neural network architectures from scratch * Explore transfer learning to perform object detection and classification * Build self-driving car applications using instance and semantic segmentation * Understand data encoding for image, text and recommender systems * Implement text analysis using sequence-to-sequence learning * Leverage a combination of CNN and RNN to perform end-to-end learning * Build agents to play games using deep Q-learning Who this book is for This intermediate-level book targets beginners and intermediate-level machine learning practitioners and data scientists who have just started their journey with neural networks. This book is for those who are looking for resources to help them navigate through the various neural network architectures; you'll build multiple architectures, with concomitant case studies ordered by the complexity of the problem. A basic understanding of Python programming and a familiarity with basic machine learning are all you need to get started with this book.

Create distributed applications with clever design patterns to solve complex problems Key Features * Set up and run distributed algorithms on a cluster using Dask and PySpark * Master skills to accurately implement concurrency in your code * Gain practical experience of Python design patterns with real-world examples Book Description This Learning Path shows you how to leverage the power of both native and third-party Python libraries for building robust and responsive applications. You will learn about profilers and reactive programming, concurrency and parallelism, as well as tools for making your apps quick and efficient. You will discover how to write code for parallel architectures using TensorFlow and Theano, and use a cluster of computers for large-scale computations using technologies such as Dask and PySpark. With the knowledge of how Python design patterns work, you will be able to clone objects, secure interfaces, dynamically choose algorithms, and accomplish much more in high performance computing. By the end of this Learning Path, you will have the skills and confidence to build engaging models that quickly offer efficient solutions to your problems. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: * Python High Performance - Second Edition by Gabriele Lanaro * Mastering Concurrency in Python by Quan Nguyen * Mastering Python Design Patterns by Sakis Kasampalis What you will learn * Use NumPy and pandas to import and manipulate datasets * Achieve native performance with Cython and Numba * Write asynchronous code using asyncio and RxPy * Design highly scalable programs with application scaffolding * Explore abstract methods to maintain data consistency * Clone objects using the prototype pattern * Use the adapter pattern to make incompatible interfaces compatible * Employ the strategy pattern to dynamically choose an algorithm Who this book is for This Learning Path is specially designed for Python developers who want to build high-performance applications and learn about single core and multi-core programming, distributed concurrency, and Python design patterns. Some experience with Python programming language will help you get the most out of this Learning Path.

Design interactive graphics and visuals for your data-driven applications using the popular open-source Chart.js data visualization library. Key Features * Harness the power of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to create interactive visualizations * Display quantitative information efficiently in the form of attractive charts by using Chart.js * A practical guide for creating data-driven applications using open-source JavaScript library Book Description Chart.js is a free, open-source data visualization library, maintained by an active community of developers in GitHub, where it rates as the second most popular data visualization library. If you want to quickly create responsive Web-based data visualizations for the Web, Chart.js is a great choice. This book guides the reader through dozens of practical examples, complete with code you can run and modify as you wish. It is a practical hands-on introduction to Chart.js. If you have basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript you can learn to create beautiful interactive Web Canvas-based visualizations for your data using Chart.js. This book will help you set up Chart.js in a Web page and show how to create each one of the eight Chart.js chart types. You will also learn how to configure most properties that override Chart’s default styles and behaviors. Practical applications of Chart.js are exemplified using real data files obtained from public data portals. You will learn how to load, parse, filter and select the data you wish to display from those files. You will also learn how to create visualizations that reveal patterns in the data. This book is based on Chart.js version 2.7.3 and ES2015 JavaScript. By the end of the book, you will be able to create beautiful, efficient and interactive data visualizations for the Web using Chart.js. What you will learn * Learn how to create interactive and responsive data visualizations using Chart.js * Learn how to create Canvas-based graphics without Canvas programming * Create composite charts and configure animated data updates and transitions * Efficiently display quantitative information using bar and line charts, scatterplots, and pie charts * Learn how to load, parse, and filter external files in JSON and CSV formats * Understand the benefits of using a data visualization framework Who this book is for The ideal target audience of this book includes web developers and designers, data journalists, data scientists and artists who wish to create interactive data visualizations for the Web. Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is required. No Canvas knowledge is necessary.