Amanda Shaw's life is almost perfect. She's about to make partner in her New York law firm, she has her own apartment, furnished to her taste and, best of all, she finally has financial security. Then Zach Porter- her childhood friend- shows up to tell her she's needed back home in Vermont. The usually idyllic mountain resort is in chaos. Amanda's father is in the hospital, her mother's at his bedside. Amanda's teenage sister is out of control and the business is losing money. And Zach- her father's new partner- refuses to sell the place. He loves the mountains. and he loves Amanda. As the weeks go by, Amanda realizes what was missing in her almost perfect life. Love and family. . . and Zach.

This unique book provides you with a wealth of tips, tricks, best practices, and answers to the day-to-day questions that programmers face in their careers. It is split into three parts: Coder Skills, Freelancer Skills, and Career Skills, providing the knowledge you need to get ahead in programming. About This Book ? Over 50 essays with practical advice on improving your programming career ? Practical focus gives solutions to common problems, and methods to become a better coder ? Includes advice for existing programmers and those wanting to begin a career in programming Who This Book Is For This book is useful for programmers of any ability or discipline. It has advice for those thinking about beginning a career in programming, those already working as a fully employed programmer, and for those working as freelance developers. What You Will Learn ? Improve your soft skills to become a better and happier coder ? Learn to be a better developer ? Grow your freelance development business ? Improve your development career ? Learn the best approaches to breaking down complex topics ? Have the confidence to charge what you're worth as a freelancer ? Succeed in developer job interviews In Detail This is an all-purpose toolkit for your programming career. It has been built by Jordan Hudgens over a lifetime of coding and teaching coding. It helps you identify the key questions and stumbling blocks that programmers encounter, and gives you the answers to them! It is a comprehensive guide containing more than 50 insights that you can use to improve your work, and to give advice in your career. The book is split up into three topic areas: Coder Skills, Freelancer Skills, and Career Skills, each containing a wealth of practical advice. Coder Skills contains advice for people starting out, or those who are already working in a programming role but want to improve their skills. It includes such subjects as: how to study and understand complex topics, and getting past skill plateaus when learning new languages. Freelancer Skills contains advice for developers working as freelancers or with freelancers. It includes such subjects as: knowing when to fire a client, and tips for taking over legacy applications. Career Skills contains advice for building a successful career as a developer. It includes such subjects as: how to improve your programming techniques, and interview guides and developer salary negotiation strategies. Style and approach This unique book provides over 50 insightful essays full of practical advice for improving your programming career. The book is split into three broad sections covering different aspects of a developer's career. Each essay is self-contained and can be read individually, or in chunks.

Sometimes love needs a rewrite The stunning romantic comedy from David Solomans, Winner of the 2016 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize With her debut novel, Happy Ending, JANE LOCKHART pulled off that rare double – critical acclaim and mainstream success. But now, with just the last chapter of the follow-up book to write, she encounters crippling writer’s block. She has no idea how her story ends… This is not good news for her publisher, TOM DUVAL. His company is up against the wall financially and the only thing that will save him is a massive hit, in the form of Jane’s next novel. When he discovers that his most important author is blocked, Tom realises that he has to unblock her or he’s finished. Everyone knows that you have to be unhappy to be really creative, so Tom decides that the only way he’s going to get her to complete the novel is to make her life a misery… Set within the Scottish publishing industry, and filmed against a stunning backdrop of both romantic and hip Glasgow locations, Not Another Happy Ending is perfect for fans of One Day. “Engagingly watchable” – Mark Adams, Screen Daily “…has more heart than most Hollywood rom-coms…an entertaining diversion and an example of mainstream Scottish cinema that easily holds its own” – Rob Dickie, Sight On Sound About the author David Solomons is the BAFTA-shortlisted screen screenwriter of The Great Ghost Rescue, The Fabulous Bagel Boys and Five Children and It. He lives in Dorset with his wife, Natasha Solomons, and their young son. Not Another Happy Ending is his first novel.

Mills & Boon presents the complete Betty Neels collection. Timeless tales of heart-warming romance by one of the world’s best-loved romance authors. He was the last man… Suzannah Lightfoot was alone in the world, without a job or the means to support herself. So when Guy Bowers-Bentinck came to the rescue, she had to accept his help. Guy was hardly a knight in shining armour. He was arrogant, infuriating and bad tempered! He was also difficult to avoid. Even worse, he seemed to have assumed that Suzannah was about to join the ranks of all those females wanting to marry him. What was a girl to do?

In an age of dragons and fairies, you could make a wish to the fire-breathers by sacrificing your most cherished possessions. In an age of digital assistants, you might just find J.J. as your own personal Secret Santa. J.J. is sent by her company's AI computer, Gem, to make River Sierra's wish come true before she realizes what it is—become River's fairy mother and marry her father, widower Raven Sierra. Will the pair have to crush River's dreams of a world with make-believe, or will the two discover that magic can still work its way through their lives?

A Sunday Times Bestseller ‘O’Brien cleverly intertwines the personal and political in this enjoyable, gripping tale.’ -The Times Her children or her crown France, 1399: The Duke of Brittany is dead and his widow, Joanna of Navarre, has inherited control of their land – a testament to her intellect, integrity and political prowess. Then comes an unprecedented proposal from Henry IV, King of England. The price of becoming his Queen? Abandoning her homeland, leaving her children and sacrificing her independence. Henry's hold on the crown is unsteady and war is brewing. With the constant threat of rebellion, Henry will trust no-one – not even his new Queen. Crossing the channel is a dangerous prospect. But the union between Joanna and Henry would bring the chance of a vital alliance between two proud states – if they will allow it. One question. Two paths. A choice that will make history. Praise for The Queen’s Choice ‘A gem of a subject … O’Brien is a terrific storyteller’ - Daily Telegraph ‘Joanna of Navarre is the feisty heroine in Anne O’Brien’s fast-paced historical novel The Queen’s Choice.’ -Good Housekeeping ‘A gripping story of love, heartache and political intrigue.’ -Woman & Home ‘Packed with drama, danger, romance and history.’ -Pam Norfolk, for the Press Association ‘A gripping historical drama.’ -Bella www.anneobrien.co.uk @anne_obrien

Architect your .NET applications by breaking them into really small pieces—microservices—using this practical, example-based guide About This Book ? Start your microservices journey and understand a broader perspective of microservices development ? Build, deploy, and test microservices using ASP.Net MVC, Web API, and Microsoft Azure Cloud ? Get started with reactive microservices and understand the fundamentals behind it Who This Book Is For This book is for .NET Core developers who want to learn and understand microservices architecture and implement it in their .NET Core applications. It’s ideal for developers who are completely new to microservices or have just a theoretical understanding of this architectural approach and want to gain a practical perspective in order to better manage application complexity. What You Will Learn ? Compare microservices with monolithic applications and SOA ? Identify the appropriate service boundaries by mapping them to the relevant bounded contexts ? Define the service interface and implement the APIs using ASP.NET Web API ? Integrate the services via synchronous and asynchronous mechanisms ? Implement microservices security using Azure Active Directory, OpenID Connect, and OAuth 2.0 ? Understand the operations and scaling of microservices in .NET Core ? Understand the testing pyramid and implement consumer-driven contract using pact net core ? Understand what the key features of reactive microservices are and implement them using reactive extension In Detail Microservices is an architectural style that promotes the development of complex applications as a suite of small services based on business capabilities. This book will help you identify the appropriate service boundaries within the business. We'll start by looking at what microservices are, and what the main characteristics are. Moving forward, you will be introduced to real-life application scenarios, and after assessing the current issues, we will begin the journey of transforming this application by splitting it into a suite of microservices. You will identify the service boundaries, split the application into multiple microservices, and define the service contracts. You will find out how to configure, deploy, and monitor microservices, and configure scaling to allow the application to quickly adapt to increased demand in the future. With an introduction to the reactive microservices, you strategically gain further value to keep your code base simple, focusing on what is more important rather than the messy asynchronous calls. Style and approach This guide serves as a stepping stone that helps .NET Core developers in their microservices architecture. This book provides just enough theory to understand the concepts and apply the examples.

Unveil the world of mixed reality with HoloLens About This Book ? Bring holographic insights to existing line-of-business applications, tools, and workflows ? Focus on developing end-to-end realistic holographic application. ? Build interactive model *s and test them in Unity3D and holographic emulators Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at developers and designers working on mixed-reality developments for complex integrated scenarios using HoloLens. What You Will Learn ? Interact with holograms using different interaction models ? Develop your first holographic app ? Integrate holographic applications with cloud systems ? Visualize data feeds coming from the cloud through holograms ? Manage the application distribution of enterprise-enabled HoloLens ? Integrate HoloLens applications with services deployed on Azure ? Identify and create 3D Assets and Scenes ? Use HoloLens to explore the Internet of Things In Detail Do you want to create stunning applications with HoloLens? Are you a developer who is fascinated with Microsoft HoloLens and its capabilities? If so, this is the book for you. This book introduces and demystifies the HoloLens platform and shows you different ways of interaction with computers (mixed-reality). You will start your mixed-reality journey by understanding different types of digital reality. You will learn to build your first holographic app. Also, you will understand holographic application integration possibilities within Line of Business Applications using Azure. Moving ahead, you will create Integrated Solutions using IoT with HoloLens. Gradually you'll learn how to create and deploy apps on a device. You will learn to publish application to the store; if you are an enterprise developer, you will also manage and distribute applications for enterprise-enabled or domain-joined HoloLens. Finally, you will develop an end-to-end realistic holographic app, ranging from scenario identification to sketching, development, deployment, and, finally, production. Style and approach The book is a project-based guide to help you to create some really astonishing mixed-reality applications. It will provide end-to-end solutions and enable you to build stunning applications for HoloLens.

Explore the Java Virtual Machine with modern programming languages About This Book ? This guide provides in-depth coverage of the Java Virtual Machine and its features ? Filled with practical examples, this book will help you understand the core concepts of Java, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, and Groovy ? Work with various programming paradigms and gain knowledge about imperative, object-oriented and functional programming Who This Book Is For This book is meant for programmers who are interested in the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and want to learn more about the most popular programming languages that can be used for JVM development. Basic practical knowledge of a modern programming language that supports object-oriented programming (JavaScript, Python, C#, VB.NET, and C++) is assumed. What You Will Learn ? Gain practical information about the Java Virtual Machine ? Understand the popular JVM languages and the Java Class Library ? Get to know about various programming paradigms such as imperative, object-oriented, and functional ? Work with common JVM tools such as Eclipse IDE, Gradle, and Maven ? Explore frameworks such as SparkJava, Vert.x, Akka and JavaFX ? Boost your knowledge about dialects of other well-known programming languages that run on the JVM, including JavaScript, Python, and Ruby In Detail Anyone who knows software development knows about the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine is responsible for interpreting Java byte code and translating it into actions. In the beginning, Java was the only programming language used for the JVM. But increasing complexity of the language and the remarkable performance of the JVM created an opening for a new generation of programming languages. If you want to build a strong foundation with the Java Virtual Machine and get started with popular modern programming languages, then this book is for you. The book will begin with a general introduction of the JVM and its features, which are common to the JVM languages, helping you get abreast with its concepts. It will then dive into explaining languages such as Java, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, and Groovy and will show how to work with each language, their features, use cases, and pros and cons. By writing example projects in those languages and focusing on each language’s strong points, it will help you find the programming language that is most appropriate for your particular needs. By the end of the book, you will have written multiple programs that run on the Java Virtual Machine and know about the differences between the various languages. Style and approach This practical, example-filled guide will help you get started with the JVM and some of its most popular languages.

Use Python modules such as ArcPy, ArcREST and the ArcGIS API for Python to automate the analysis and mapping of geospatial data. About This Book ? Perform GIS analysis faster by automating tasks. ? Access the spatial data contained within shapefiles and geodatabases and transform between spatial reference systems. ? Automate the mapping of geospatial analyses and production of map books. Who This Book Is For If you are a GIS student or professional who needs an understanding of how to use ArcPy to reduce repetitive tasks and perform analysis faster, this book is for you. It is also a valuable book for Python programmers who want to understand how to automate geospatial analyses and implement ArcGIS Online data management. What You Will Learn ? Understand how to integrate Python into ArcGIS and make GIS analysis faster and easier. ? Create Python * using ArcGIS ModelBuilder. ? Learn to use ArcGIS online feature services and the basics of the ArcGIS REST API ? Understand the unique Python environment that is new with ArcGIS Pro ? Learn about the new ArcGIS Python API and how to use Anaconda and Jupyter with it ? Learn to control ArcGIS Enterprise using ArcPy In Detail ArcGIS allows for complex analyses of geographic information. The ArcPy module is used to * these ArcGIS analyses, providing a productive way to perform geo-analyses and automate map production. The second edition of the book focuses on new Python tools, such as the ArcGIS API for Python. Using Python, this book will guide you from basic Python *ing to advanced ArcPy * tools. This book starts off with setting up your Python environment for ArcGIS automation. Then you will learn how to output maps using ArcPy in MXD and update feature class in a geodatabase using arcpy and ArcGIS Online. Next, you will be introduced to ArcREST library followed by examples on querying, updating and manipulating ArcGIS Online feature services. Further, you will be enabling your *s in the browser and directly interacting with ArcGIS Online using Jupyter notebook. Finally, you can learn ways to use of ArcPy to control ArcGIS Enterprise and explore topics on deployments, data quality assurances, data updates, version control, and editing safeguards. By the end of the book, you will be equipped with the knowledge required to create automated analysis with administration reducing the time-consuming nature of GIS. Style and approach The book takes a pragmatic approach, showing ways to automate repetitive tasks and utilizing features of ArcPy with ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS online.

Create ‘AAA’ quality game audio with new features and tools built for Unity About This Book ? Explore the basics of audio development in Unity to create spatial sound, mixing, effects, composition, adaptive audio and more. ? Leverage the Audio Mixer of Unity 5.x to create blockbuster sound and music for your game. ? Learn about developing professional audio for games with FMOD Studio and composing original music with Reaper. ? Build amazing audio synchronized graphic visualizations with Unity. ? Understand how real-time character lip syncing can be implemented. Who This Book Is For The ideal target audience for this book will be game developers, both Indie as well as semi pro. No prior knowledge of Unity and audio development is assumed, What You Will Learn ? Develop game audio and other audio effects with Unity ? Getting familiar with the new Audio Mixer introduced in Unity 5 ? Implement dynamic and adaptive audio using various tools and strategies ? Explore interesting ways to incorporate audio into a game with sound visualization ? Use 3rd party professional audio development tools like FMOD ? Compose original music and record vocals ? Understand and troubleshoot audio performance issues In Detail Game Audio is one of the key components in making a game successful and it is quite popular in the gaming industry. So if you are a game developer with an eye on capturing the gamer market then this book is the right solution for you. In this book, we will take you through a step by step journey which will teach you to implement original and engaging soundtracks and SFX with Unity 5.x. You will be firstly introduced to the basics of game audio and sound development in Unity. After going through the core topics of audio development: audio sources, spatial sound, mixing, effects, and more; you will then have the option of delving deeper into more advanced topics like dynamic and adaptive audio. You will also learn to develop dynamic and adaptive audio using the Unity Audio Mixer. Further, you will learn how professional third party tools like FMOD are used for audio development in Unity. You will then go through the creation of sound visualization techniques and creating your own original music using the simple yet powerful audio workstation Reaper. Lastly, you will go through tips, techniques and strategies to help you optimize game audio performance or troubleshoot issues. At the end of the book, you’ll have gained the skills to implement professional sound and music. Along with a good base knowledge audio and music principles you can apply across a range of other game development tools. Style and approach This book will have a step by step practical approach where downloadable free games will be given with the book and readers will be free to work with them.

Jump into the world of Game AI development About This Book ? Move beyond using libraries to create smart game AI, and create your own AI projects from scratch ? Implement the latest algorithms for AI development and in-game interaction ? Customize your existing game AI and make it better and more efficient to improve your overall game performance Who This Book Is For This book is for game developers with a basic knowledge of game development techniques and some basic programming techniques in C# or C++. What You Will Learn ? Get to know the basics of how to create different AI for different type of games ? Know what to do when something interferes with the AI choices and how the AI should behave if that happens ? Plan the interaction between the AI character and the environment using Smart Zones or Triggering Events ? Use animations correctly, blending one animation into another and rather than stopping one animation and starting another ? Calculate the best options for the AI to move using Pruning Strategies, Wall Distances, Map Preprocess Implementation, and Forced Neighbours ? Create Theta algorithms to the AI to find short and realistic looking paths ? Add many characters into the same scene and make them behave like a realistic crowd In Detail The book starts with the basics examples of AI for different game genres and directly jumps into defining the probabilities and possibilities of the AI character to determine character movement. Next, you’ll learn how AI characters should behave within the environment created. Moving on, you’ll explore how to work with animations. You’ll also plan and create pruning strategies, and create Theta algorithms to find short and realistic looking game paths. Next, you’ll learn how the AI should behave when there is a lot of characters in the same scene. You'll explore which methods and algorithms, such as possibility maps, Forward Chaining Plan, Rete Algorithm, Pruning Strategies, Wall Distances, and Map Preprocess Implementation should be used on different occasions. You’ll discover how to overcome some limitations, and how to deliver a better experience to the player. By the end of the book, you think differently about AI. Style and approach The book has a step-by-step tutorial style approach. The algorithms are explained by implementing them in #.

世界各地之有味笑話如恆河沙數，素來是廣受大眾歡迎的流行讀本。本書作者Mr. C特別編撰「小小笑話」系列，精選妙絕抵死的笑話匯集成篇，以輕巧且價錢相宜的迷你版本出版，為你帶來經濟實惠的閱讀樂趣和享受。除了豐富精選的笑話，書首更有得意有趣的遊戲，供大家互動玩耍一下，順便先來個大腦熱熱身，然後再放開懷抱笑個痛快。 《癲癲WORKING》及《公主病駕到》分別取材為Office笑話及男女關係笑話，詼諧抵死，適合成人閱讀。 《囧囧CLUB》及《女王捉字室》則取材為校園笑話(classroom jokes)，幽默搞笑，適合學生閱讀。

《拆走醫院的炸彈》以40個關於醫生、病人、護士及家屬的真實個案，改編成活潑生動的故事去講述醫患關係，出版未足半年初版3000冊已售罄，反應理想。 本書文字簡短精練，盡量保留病房內外、醫生護士與病人及家屬之間衝突中的言行，其中也有病房內外的特殊用語、有趣代號甚或爛gag等，生動傳神。 其實人的一生總離不開醫院、醫生與護士。不過，由於種種言語、心理、行為上的誤會、誤解、矛盾、衝突，醫患之間始終不容易建立起互信、互諒的關係，因此醫院內「炸彈」處處！如何拆彈？！ 細閱本書，讀者除了可看到病房眾生相外，更可嘗試代入角色，想像一下炸彈引爆前的凝重、爆發一刻的顫震，以及爆後心理的忐忑。本書更試圖從第三者的角度，提出「拆彈」的忠告與實踐良策。可讀之餘，發人深省。 《拆走醫院的炸彈》新版除了保留了故事、沙龍照片、勵志金句外，在內容上也作出了修訂；特別的是更換上新裝。今次伊利沙伯醫院破天荒邀請到醫管局主席胡定旭、香港防癌會主席高永文醫生，聯同一眾演藝界明星名人葛民輝、羅蘭、廖安麗，以及譚玉瑛一起粉墨登場，角色扮演醫生、病人、護士及家屬，拍攝封面及內頁照片；星光熠熠，令人耳目一新！

風──創作路，多風暴；風眼中，看平靜。 花──風旅中，遇花海；學種花，孕新生。 雪──花落時，雪堵路；寒道裡，享甘薯。 月──雪告別，前路明；月照下，見新遊。 作者在書中以自然之景──風、花、雪、月為幹，既說一己的創作歷程，又細說對人世間的萬事萬物的觀察，體現作者的觀點與視覺。 綣綣塵世間，我們會遇到風雨，但風雨過後，得享霎時平靜，柳暗花明，未至絕路。碰到寒雪堵路，調整心境，實是享甘薯的好時光。人生有高有低，或臨絕處卻又逢生。作者欲藉文、圖道出的，正是此理。 此作以清新的繪圖為主，配以精簡的文字，感悟各式各樣人生小道理，讓讀者在閱讀之時，享受一刻的清泉，澄明身心。 內文範例： 同生同等。 兒時，我無聊跳高伸手蜻蜓，但牠總會飛高來欺負我； 當時我還無知地認為長高後，牠就難逃我的魔掌。 今天，牠就在我身邊飛過，當然人大了， 我沒伸出那頑皮手來捉牠。 因我明白，不是現在我的高度足以捉到牠， 而是牠因快下雨而低飛。 我早就不應跟牠比較高低，即使現在我能力比牠高，亦不等於我就要向牠施展魔爪， 因從沒有誰想打倒誰，而是本身就是應該共存。

本書從提高小學生寫字能力的角度出發，以香港教育局課程發展處中國語文教育組編訂的《香港小學學習字詞表》為基礎，參考衆多小學語文教材，精選350個小學階段使用頻率、構字構詞能力強的漢字，從偏旁、筆畫、筆順等方面對漢字逐一解構，幫助小學生掌握正確的漢字書寫規則。

本書運用現代語言學方法，將粵語作為一個完整的語言系統，從詞彙、詞法、句法等方面，全面論述粵語語法上的種種表現，兼論粵語音系和各種拼音系統的異同。一方面可作為研究和學習粵語的教材，讓讀者對粵語的語言特點有較為完整的認識，；另一方面，以讀者熟悉的具體語言事實來說明比較抽象的理論，做到既能介紹粵語特色，又能普及語言學基本概念，亦適合所有對粵語有興趣的普通讀者閱讀。

本書精選小學生8種常用修辭法，包括：比喻、擬人、排比、反復、設問、反問、誇張、對偶等，提供3百多條測試題目，輔以淺白的文字加以解說，幫助學生讀者把握運用有關修辭的用法。為增添閱讀趣味，本書加入了生動的故事，幽默的漫畫和形式豐富的遊戲，務求做到「學」與「樂」統一。

《簡明香港史（第三版）》內容涵蓋史前至1997年香港的政治、經濟、社會、文化、教育等領域，是一部全面、系統、權威的香港通史性質的中文著作。本書由著名香港史專家劉蜀永教授主編，在2009年的版本基礎上重新審定了文獻引用出處，進行了多處補充和修訂，令全書條理清晰、考證詳實、簡明易懂。

香港中文大歷史系成立於1963年，至2013年已經歷了五十年。在這五十年的歲月中，歷史系的前賢和師輩奠下了嚴肅的學術風氣與扎實的研究根基。莘莘學子，遂得以承傳錢穆、牟潤孫、全漢昇、嚴耕望、王德昭、孫國棟等眾多史學名宿的治學精神。 為了慶祝歷史系踏入金禧之年，我們邀請校友撰文論述前輩老師的個人風骨、學術成就、治史理念、研究心得及教學旨趣等，編成此書以總結五十年來歷史系前賢的開創、耕耘之功及治史業績，好讓後輩繼往開來，延續並發展創系以來的理念和精神。

全書包含幾個英語語法範疇：易混淆詞、單複數、量詞、數目詞彙、同音異義詞、短語動詞、慣用語、明喻和隱喻等 內容選自余黎青萍於報章撰寫的專欄文章，談及英語學習不同的重要範疇，作者從日常生活、工作、傳媒報導等搜集實例，從反方面指出措辭不當、似是而非的毛病，也從正面說明如何學好英語，如何活用 phrasal verbs 及 idioms，幫助讀者明白英語如何可表達得傳神。