Cut through the noise and get real results with a step-by-step approach to learning Ruby programming. Key Features * Ideal for the Ruby beginner who is getting started with Ruby for the first time * A complete Ruby tutorial with exercises and activities that help build key skills * Structured to let you progress at your own pace, on your own terms * Use your physical copy to redeem free access to the online interactive edition Book Description You already know you want to learn Ruby, and the smarter way to learn Ruby 2.X is to learn by doing. The Ruby Workshop focuses on building up your practical skills so that you can kick-start your career as a developer and rapidly prototype applications. You'll learn from real examples that lead to real results. Throughout The Ruby Workshop, you'll take an engaging step-by-step approach to understanding the Ruby language. You won't have to sit through any unnecessary theory. If you're short on time you can jump into a single exercise each day or spend an entire weekend learning about metaprogramming. It's your choice. Learning on your terms, you'll build up and reinforce key skills in a way that feels rewarding. Every physical copy of The Ruby Workshop unlocks access to the interactive edition. With videos detailing all exercises and activities, you'll always have a guided solution. You can also benchmark yourself against assessments, track progress, and receive content updates. You'll even earn a secure credential that you can share and verify online upon completion. It's a premium learning experience that's included with your printed copy. To redeem, follow the instructions located at the start of your Ruby book. Fast-paced and direct, The Ruby Workshop is the ideal companion for Ruby beginners. You'll build and iterate on your Ruby code like a software developer, learning along the way. This process means that you'll find that your new skills stick, embedded as best practice. A solid foundation for the years ahead. What you will learn * Get to grips with the fundamentals of Ruby object-oriented programming * Understand common Ruby patterns to help minimize and easily maintain code * Explore ways to fetch, process, and output external data * Discover ways to work with public APIs and create reusable RubyGems * Keep your development process bug-free with various testing methods * Explore how to host applications on cloud application platforms like Heroku Who this book is for Our goal at Packt is to help you be successful, in whatever it is you choose to do. The Ruby Workshop is an ideal Ruby tutorial for the Ruby beginner who is just getting started. Pick up a Workshop today, and let Packt help you develop skills that stick with you for life.

Get to grips with programming techniques and game development using C++ libraries and Visual Studio 2019 Key Features * Learn game development and C++ with a fun, example-driven approach * Build clones of popular games such as Timberman, Zombie Survival Shooter, a co-op puzzle platformer, and Space Invaders * Discover tips to expand your finished games by thinking critically, technically, and creatively Book Description The second edition of Beginning C++ Game Programming is updated and improved to include the latest features of Visual Studio 2019, SFML, and modern C++ programming techniques. With this book, you’ll get a fun introduction to game programming by building five fully playable games of increasing complexity. You’ll learn to build clones of popular games such as Timberman, Pong, a Zombie survival shooter, a coop puzzle platformer and Space Invaders. The book starts by covering the basics of programming. You’ll study key C++ topics, such as object-oriented programming (OOP) and C++ pointers, and get acquainted with the Standard Template Library (STL). The book helps you learn about collision detection techniques and game physics by building a Pong game. As you build games, you’ll also learn exciting game programming concepts such as particle effects, directional sound (spatialization), OpenGL programmable shaders, spawning objects, and much more. Finally, you’ll explore game design patterns to enhance your C++ game programming skills. By the end of the book, you’ll have gained the knowledge you need to build your own games with exciting features from scratch What you will learn * Set up your game development project in Visual Studio 2019 and explore C++ libraries such as SFML * Explore C++ OOP by building a Pong game * Understand core game concepts such as game animation, game physics, collision detection, scorekeeping, and game sound * Use classes, inheritance, and references to spawn and control thousands of enemies and shoot rapid-fire machine guns * Add advanced features to your game using pointers, references, and the STL * Scale and reuse your game code by learning modern game programming design patterns Who this book is for This book is perfect for you if you have no C++ programming knowledge, you need a beginner-level refresher course, or you want to learn how to build games or just use games as an engaging way to learn C++. Whether you aspire to publish a game (perhaps on Steam) or just want to impress friends with your creations, you’ll find this book useful.

Learn the fundamentals, practical applications, and latest features of C# 8.0 and .NET Core 3.0 from expert teacher Mark J. Price. Key Features * Build modern, cross-platform applications with .NET Core 3.0 * Get up to speed with C#, and up to date with all the latest features of C# 8.0 * Start creating professional web applications with ASP.NET Core 3.0 Book Description In C# 8.0 and .NET Core 3.0 – Modern Cross-Platform Development, Fourth Edition, expert teacher Mark J. Price gives you everything you need to start programming C# applications. This latest edition uses the popular Visual Studio Code editor to work across all major operating systems. It is fully updated and expanded with new chapters on Content Management Systems (CMS) and machine learning with ML.NET. The book covers all the topics you need. Part 1 teaches the fundamentals of C#, including object-oriented programming, and new C# 8.0 features such as nullable reference types, simplified switch pattern matching, and default interface methods. Part 2 covers the .NET Standard APIs, such as managing and querying data, monitoring and improving performance, working with the filesystem, async streams, serialization, and encryption. Part 3 provides examples of cross-platform applications you can build and deploy, such as web apps using ASP.NET Core or mobile apps using Xamarin.Forms. The book introduces three technologies for building Windows desktop applications including Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, as well as web applications, web services, and mobile apps. What you will learn * Build cross-platform applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android * Explore application development with C# 8.0 and .NET Core 3.0 * Explore ASP.NET Core 3.0 and create professional web applications * Learn object-oriented programming and C# multitasking * Query and manipulate data using LINQ * Use Entity Framework Core and work with relational databases * Discover Windows app development using the Universal Windows Platform and XAML * Build mobile applications for iOS and Android using Xamarin.Forms Who this book is for Readers with some prior programming experience or with a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) background, who want to gain a solid foundation with C# 8.0 and .NET Core 3.0.

The essential blueprints and workflow you need to build successful AI business applications Key Features *Learn and master the essential blueprints to program AI for real-world business applications *Gain insights into how modern AI and machine learning solve core business challenges *Acquire practical techniques and a workflow that can build AI applications using state-of-the-art software libraries *Work with a practical, code-based strategy for creating successful AI solutions in your business Book Description AI Blueprints gives you a working framework and the techniques to build your own successful AI business applications. You’ll learn across six business scenarios how AI can solve critical challenges with state-of-the-art AI software libraries and a well thought out workflow. Along the way you’ll discover the practical techniques to build AI business applications from first design to full coding and deployment. The AI blueprints in this book solve key business scenarios. The first blueprint uses AI to find solutions for building plans for cloud computing that are on-time and under budget. The second blueprint involves an AI system that continuously monitors social media to gauge public feeling about a topic of interest - such as self-driving cars. You’ll learn how to approach AI business problems and apply blueprints that can ensure success. The next AI scenario shows you how to approach the problem of creating a recommendation engine and monitoring how those recommendations perform. The fourth blueprint shows you how to use deep learning to find your business logo in social media photos and assess how people interact with your products. Learn the practical techniques involved and how to apply these blueprints intelligently. The fifth blueprint is about how to best design a ‘trending now’ section on your website, much like the one we know from Twitter. The sixth blueprint shows how to create helpful chatbots so that an AI system can understand customers’ questions and answer them with relevant responses. This book continuously demonstrates a working framework and strategy for building AI business applications. Along the way, you’ll also learn how to prepare for future advances in AI. You’ll gain a workflow and a toolbox of patterns and techniques so that you can create your own smart code. What you will learn *An essential toolbox of blueprints and advanced techniques for building AI business applications *How to design and deploy AI applications that meet today’s business needs *A workflow from first design stages to practical code solutions in your next AI projects *Solutions for AI projects that involve social media analytics and recommendation engines *Practical projects and techniques for sentiment analysis and helpful chatbots *A blueprint for AI projects that recommend products based on customer purchasing habits *How to prepare yourself for the next decade of AI and machine learning advancements Who this book is for Programming AI Business Applications provides an introduction to AI with real-world examples. This book can be read and understood by programmers and students without requiring previous AI experience. The projects in this book make use of Java and Python and several popular and state-of-the-art opensource AI libraries.

Take your comics and illustrations to the next level with the powerful art tools in Clip Studio Paint 1.8 Key Features *Overcome “interface overwhelm” with a practical breakdown of the Clip Studio interface *Comprehensive guide on the Clip Studio Paint with detailed coverage of all the tools and concepts of designing comics *Streamline your workflow to create faster and easier using Clip Studio’s features Book Description Clip Studio Paint, the successor to Manga Studio, is used by over four million illustrators and comic creators around the world. This book will guide you through every step of learning this software, from system requirements and installation, all the way through to exporting your work for print or the web. Learn how to create new documents, customize tools to fit your working style, use ruler tools to create anything from straight lines to intricate backgrounds, add 3D elements, create comic panels using the specialized panel tools, utilize screentones and materials, add text and word balloons to your comics, create sound effects, easily flat and color your comics using reference layers, and bring your drawings to life using the animation features. By the end of this book, you will be able to navigate the Clip Studio Interface and program preferences, customize the various tools, and be able to create your own black-and-white and color illustrations and comics from start to finish. What you will learn *Understand the differences between Clip Studio Paint Pro and EX *Discover how to navigate and customize the user interface *Creating custom tools that fit your unique style of illustration *Using the ruler tools to create intricate perspective shots and complex symmetry *Discover how to use 3D elements in your work *Learn how to create lettering and word balloons to bring your comic stories to life *Understand the process of digital art creation from pencils to inks to color *Understand how to use the animation tools available in Clip Studio Paint Who this book is for If you are a beginning digital artist or are switching to Clip Studio from another graphics software, this book is for you. This book is excellent for those with no knowledge of digital art up to intermediate users looking to explore the unique features of Clip Studio Paint.

This is a practical certification guide covering all the exam topics in an easy-to-follow manner backed with self-assessment scenarios for better preparation. Key Features *A step-by-step guide to give you a clear understanding of the Network+ Certification *Learn about network architecture, protocols, security, and network troubleshooting *Confidently ace the N10-007 exam with the help of practice tests Book Description CompTIA certified professionals have always had the upper hand in the information technology industry. This book will be your ideal guide to efficiently passing and achieving this certification. Learn from industry experts and implement their practices to resolve complex IT issues. This book revolves around networking concepts where readers will learn topics like network architecture, security, network monitoring, and troubleshooting. This book will not only prepare the readers conceptually but will also help them pass the N10-007 exam. This guide will also provide practice exercise after every chapter where readers can ensure their concepts are clear. By the end of this book, readers will leverage this guide and the included practice questions to boost their confidence in appearing for the actual certificate. What you will learn *Explain the purpose of a variety of networking concepts and implement them appropriately *Understand physical security and common attacks while securing wired and wireless networks *Understand the fundamentals of IPv4 and IPv6 *Determine and explain the appropriate cabling, device, and storage technologies *Understand network troubleshooting methodology and appropriate tools to support connectivity and performance *Use best practices to manage the network, determine policies, and ensure business continuity Who this book is for This book is ideal for readers wanting to pass the CompTIA Network+ certificate. Rookie network engineers and system administrators interested in enhancing their networking skills would also benefit from this book. No Prior knowledge on networking would be needed.

A pragmatic guide for developing your own games with Python About This Book Strengthen your fundamentals of game programming with Python language Seven hands-on games to create 2D and 3D games rapidly from scratch Illustrative guide to explore the different GUI libraries for building your games Who This Book Is For If you have ever wanted to create casual games in Python and you would like to explore various GUI technologies that this language offers, this is the book for you. This title is intended for beginners to Python with little or no knowledge of game development, and it covers step by step how to build seven different games, from the well-known Space Invaders to a classical 3D platformer. What You Will Learn Take advantage of Python’s clean syntax to build games quickly Discover distinct frameworks for developing graphical applications Implement non-player characters (NPCs) with autonomous and seemingly intelligent behaviors Design and code some popular games like Pong and tower defense Compose maps and levels for your sprite-based games in an easy manner Modularize and apply object-oriented principles during the design of your games Exploit libraries like Chimpunk2D, cocos2d, and Tkinter Create natural user interfaces (NUIs), using a camera and computer vision algorithms to interpret the player’s real-world actions In Detail With a growing interest in learning to program, game development is an appealing topic for getting started with coding. From geometry to basic Artificial Intelligence algorithms, there are plenty of concepts that can be applied in almost every game. Python is a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming language. It provides constructs intended to enable clear programs on both a small and large scale. It is the third most popular language whose grammatical syntax is not predominantly based on C. Python is also very easy to code and is also highly flexible, which is exactly what is required for game development. The user-friendliness of this language allows beginners to code games without too much effort or training. Python also works with very little code and in most cases uses the “use cases” approach, reserving lengthy explicit coding for outliers and exceptions, making game development an achievable feat. Python Game Programming by Example enables readers to develop cool and popular games in Python without having in-depth programming knowledge of Python. The book includes seven hands-on projects developed with several well-known Python packages, as well as a comprehensive explanation about the theory and design of each game. It will teach readers about the techniques of game design and coding of some popular games like Pong and tower defense. Thereafter, it will allow readers to add levels of complexities to make the games more fun and realistic using 3D. At the end of the book, you will have added several GUI libraries like Chimpunk2D, cocos2d, and Tkinter in your tool belt, as well as a handful of recipes and algorithms for developing games with Python. Style and approach This book is an example-based guide that will teach you to build games using Python. This book follows a step-by-step approach as it is aimed at beginners who would like to get started with basic game development. By the end of this book you will be competent game developers with good knowledge of programming in Python.

Gain practical knowledge of mathematical and physics concepts in order to design and develop an awesome game world using Unreal Engine 4 About This Book Use the Physics Asset Tool within Unreal Engine 4 to develop game physics objects for your game world Explore the Collision mechanics within Unreal Engine 4 to create advanced, real-world physics A step-by-step guide to implementing the Physics concepts involved in Unreal Engine 4 to create a working Vehicle Blueprint Who This Book Is For This book is intended for beginner to intermediate users of Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 who want to learn more about how to implement physics within their game-world. No matter what your knowledge base of Unreal Engine 4 is, this book contains valuable information on blueprint *ing, collision generation, materials, and the Physical Asset Tool (PhAT) for all users to create better games. What You Will Learn Get to know basic to intermediate topics in mathematics and physics Create assets using the Physics Asset Tool (PhAT) in Unreal Engine 4 Develop Collision Hulls, which are necessary to take advantage of Unreal Engine 4’s physics and collision events Use constraints to create advanced physics-based assets for your game-world Working knowledge of physics bodies, physics damping, and friction within Unreal Engine 4 Develop physical materials to recreate real-world friction for substances such as glass and ice Create a working vehicle blueprint from scratch using assets provided by Unreal Engine 4 Gain knowledge about implementing advanced physics in Unreal Engine 4 using C++ programming In Detail Unreal Engine 4 is one of the leading game development tools used by both AAA and independent developers alike to create breathe-taking games. One of the key features of this tool is the use of Physics to create a believable game-world for players to explore. This book gives readers practical insight into the mathematical and physics principles necessary to properly implement physics within Unreal Engine 4. Discover how to manipulate physics within Unreal Engine 4 by learning basic real-world mathematical and physics concepts that assist in the implementation of physics-based objects in your game world. Then, you'll be introduced to PhAT (Physics Asset Tool) within Unreal Engine 4 to learn more about developing game physics objects for your game world. Next, dive into Unreal Engine 4’s collision generation, physical materials, blueprints, constraints, and more to get hands-on experience with the tools provided by Epic to create real-world physics in Unreal Engine 4. Lastly, you will create a working Vehicle Blueprint that uses all the concepts covered in this book, as well as covering advanced physics-based topics. Style and approach An easy-to-follow reference text filled with working examples of physics within Unreal Engine 4. Each topic is broken down to easily explain how to implement physics and physical objects in your game-world using the tools provided by Epic Games Unreal Engine 4.

A fast-paced guide to develop, test, and deliver real-time communication in your .Net applications using SignalR About This Book Build and test real-time apps in .Net using the new features of SignalR Explore the fundamentals and the new methods and functions in the latest version of SignalR along with developing a complete application from scratch A progressive, hands-on guide to gain an understanding of the SignalR framework Who This Book Is For If you are a .Net developer with good understanding of the .Net platform then this is an ideal book for you to learn how to build real-time apps using the SignalR framework. What You Will Learn Explore the basic knowledge and understanding of SignalR Get to know how to connect client to the server Connecting a client with a server and setting a hub Creating group connections together Understand how to have state in the client to have specific operations Securing SignalR connections How to scale SignalR across multiple servers Building a client for WPF Building a client using Xamarin targeting Windows, iPhone and Android Get to grips with monitoring the traffic in SignalR using Fiddler for Windows and Charles for OSX Setting up code to host SignalR using OWIN In Detail With technology trends, demands on software have changed with more and more skilled users. Over the past few years, with services such as Facebook, Twitter and push notifications on smartphones, users are now getting used to being up to date with everything that happens all the time. With SignalR, the applications stay connected and will generate notifications when something happens either from the system or by other users thus giving new opportunities to enter into this new, exciting world of real-time application development. This is a step-by-step guide that follows a practical approach helping you as a developer getting to get started with SignalR by learning its fundamentals. It will help you through building real-time applications using the new methods and functions in the SignalR framework. Starting from getting persistent connections with the server, you will learn the basics of connecting a client to the server and how the messaging works. This will be followed by setting up a hub on the server and consuming it from a JavaScript client. Next you will be taught how you can group connections together to send messages. We will then go on to know how you can have state in the client to handle specific operations like connecting or disconnecting. Then, moving on you will learn how to secure your SignalR connections using OWIN and scaling SignalR across multiple servers. Next you will learn building a client for WPF and building a client using Xamarin that targets Windows Phone, iPhone and Android. Lastly, you will learn how to monitor the traffic in SignalR using Fiddler, Charles and hosting SignalR using OWIN. Style and approach This is an example- oriented and comprehensive guide to learning the fundamentals of SignalR to build real-time applications. It will help you build real-time applications on the .Net platform in a step-by-step manner along with giving teaching techniques to deal with possible performance bottlenecks and other key topics.

Part of Packt’s Beginner’s Guide series, each chapter focuses on a specific part of your website and how to improve its design with the use of jQuery. There are plenty of screenshots and practical step-by-step instructions making it easy to apply jQuery to your site. This book is for designers who have the basics of HTML and CSS, but want to extend their knowledge by learning to use JavaScript and jQuery.

This book will lead you, step by step and with illustrative screenshots, through a real example. Are you writing two websites – one for mobile and one for larger displaysOr perhaps you’ve heard of Responsive Design but are unsure how to bring HTML5, CSS3, or responsive design all together. If so, this book provides everything you need to take your web pages to the next level – before all your competitors do!

A practical, hands-on tutorial that shows small businesses to enterprises how to implement and migrate to Exchange Online in Office 365. If you are an information technology (IT) professional; administrator, small business owner, manager or consultant who needs to implement and migrate to Exchange Online in Office 365 within your business, then this book is for you. Knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 is not required, however, experience with Microsoft Exchange Server and mail clients, role and delegation concept is required.

“Microsoft SharePoint for Business Executives: Q&A Handbook” is a quick, non-technical reference for business executives who need to get up to speed with SharePoint and understand how to make the right decision about implementations. With an easy to absorb Q&A approach and short bite size chapters focused on defined SharePoint subjects, the book follows specific SharePoint situations drawn from real world experience, enabling you to learn from anecdotes and case studies along the way. “Microsoft SharePoint for Business Executives: Q&A Handbook” is the perfect companion for business executives or non-technical team leaders who don’t want to trawl through a detailed, hands-on functionality guide to get up to speed with SharePoint. If you simply need to understand important implementation decisions or have the confidence to challenge your technical team on an approach, this book will prepare you to ask the right questions and make the right decisions. No prior knowledge of SharePoint is required.

If you are a jMonkey developer or a Java developer who is interested to delve further into the game making process to expand your skillset and create more technical games, then this book is perfect for you.

This book is intended for .NET developers with any level of experience and who are interested in building native applications without the hassle of becoming Objective-C or Java experts. Although it will be beneficial to have some development experience, particularly in .NET, Learning Xamarin help even a novice developer get past the headaches of setting up and customizing their new development environment so they can move on to producing high-quality native applications quickly.

This book presents step-by-step guidance through the installation and configuration process with the help of numerous screenshots. It contains many snippets of information and guidance on decision making. As every eventuality can't be covered, there are links to online information as well as pointers to forums the author personally interacts with to answer additional questions. This book is designed for anyone who needs to install and configure SBS 2008. You don't need to be a technical consultant who wants to tweak every setting to become an SBS success. This book will help those with a basic understanding of technology and a desire to install and use SBS 2008 quickly and continue with their business.

This book is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step beginner's guide covering the full process of creating a game. It is packed with examples and illustrations, with comprehensive coverage of each topic. If you want to learn how to make games using the Cocos2D framework, this book is for you. If you would like to build a good foundation for a career in game development as an independent game developer or at a game studio, or if you just want to make games as a hobby, then you'll love this book. You should have some basic programming experience with Objective-C and Xcode. To run the code in this book, you will also need an Intel-based Macintosh running OS X Mountain Lion (or later).

This book is intended for those who want to learn to develop apps in Swift the right way. Whether you are an expert Objective-C programmer or new to this platform, you'll learn quickly, grasping the code of real-world apps to use Swift effectively. Prior experience in development for Apple devices would be helpful, but is not mandatory.

If you wish to create and publish fun iOS games using Swift, then this book is for you. You should be familiar with basic programming concepts. However, no prior game development or Apple ecosystem experience is required.

With this book in hand, you will be able to set up and manage a Community Server solution. You will learn how to create blogs, forums, photo galleries, and file galleries, and use tools such as the built-in RSS reader and RSS roller in a step-by-step manner. This book will provide your with a clear and concise overview of Community Server and will impart the knowledge necessary to enable you to run and manage a Community Server solution. This book is aimed at the Community Server administrator with a base level of technical competence and confidence, but no prior sysadmin or developer experience or knowledge. No knowledge of ASP.NET programming is required for using this book. What is essential is your own passion for your target community and your desire to provide the best platform possible to that audience.

The author draws on his experience to offer the reader valuable advice on the best practices. Providing only necessary theoretical background, the book takes a practical approach, presenting case studies and plenty of illustrative examples. This book is aimed at Linux Network administrators with some understanding of Linux security threats and issues, or any one interested in securing their systems behind a firewall. Basic knowledge of Linux is presumed but other than that this book shows you how to do the rest, from configuring your system to dealing with security breaches.