Design a complete workflow with Blender to create stunning 3D scenes and films step-by-step! About This Book Give life to a character within a full animated short film by learning the rigging and animation process Make use of the powerful tools available in Blender to produce professional-quality 3D characters and environments Discover advanced techniques by adding fur to a character, creating a grass field, and fine-tuning a shot with post-processing effects to enhance your creations Who This Book Is For This book will give any beginner the necessary skills and knowledge to create own 3D projects with Blender. You don't need to have any previous experience in 3D modeling, but if you do, then this book is a great way get you started with Blender. This book is for anyone who wants to learn Blender by creating concrete projects. What You Will Learn Understand the basics of 3D and how to navigate your way around the Blender interface Create a 3D robot toy model from start to finish using the basic modeling tools of Blender Make a full alien character using the skin mesh modifier and the sculpting tools with an artistic approach Use re-topology techniques to create a clean 3D version of the previously sculpted alien Model a full haunted house and its environment using more advanced modeling tools and techniques such as the Array Modifier, Instance duplication, or Curves Discover the power of the texture paint tool in order to add color to the haunted house Get to know the Cycles render engine by creating different materials for the house and the environment In Detail Blender is a powerful tool, stable, with an integral workflow that will allow you to understand your learning of 3D creation with serenity. Today, it is considered to be one of the most complete 3D packages on the market and it is free and open source! It is very efficient for many types of productions, such as 3D animated or live action films, architecture, research, or even game creation with its integrated game engine and its use of the Python language. Moreover, Blender has an active community that contributes to expanding its functionalities. Today, it is used in many professional products and by many companies. Through this book, you will create many types of concert projects using a step-by-step approach. You will start by getting to know the modeling tools available in Blender as you create a 3D robot toy. Then, you will discover more advanced techniques such as sculpting and re-topology by creating a funny alien character. After that, you will create a full haunted house scene. For the last project, you will create a short film featuring a rat cowboy shooting cheese in a rat trap! This will be a more complex project in which you learn how to rig, animate, compose advanced material, composite, and edit a full sequence. Each project in this book will give you more practice and increase your knowledge of the Blender tools. By the end of this book, you will master a workflow that you will be able to apply to your own creations. Style and approach This is an easy-to-follow book that is based on four concrete projects, with increasing levels of difficulty. Each chapter will teach you how to create these projects step-by-step. New tools and techniques are introduced in a theoretical and practical way, so you can apply them in your own projects later.

Design and develop modern web applications with Google's bold and productive language through engaging example projects About This Book Full of engaging and varied example projects to equip you to build your own web applications Learn the Dart language and key libraries Productively create fast and reliable web applications Who This Book Is For If you are a front- or back-end web developer who is looking to build complex full-featured web applications without the quagmire of disconnected JavaScript frameworks, this book is a practical walkthrough of substantial applications that will have you and your team coding Dart in a productive manner. This book will give you a compiled, optional typed, scalable environment to rapidly develop applications. As Dart was designed to be familiar, any developer with even a small amount of knowledge of JavaScript or another programming language will be at home with the language immediately and will be coding quickly. What You Will Learn Master the core Dart language, type system, and key development tools Connect to existing web services, process JSON, and create your own framework for the data display Run and debug the Dart server and web applications and compile them in JavaScript Handle form data and encryption Build and deploy server applications on the major OSes and implement the REST API Work with PostgreSQL—an industry standard relational database system Create robust applications with unit tests, documentation, and diagnostic logging Develop command-line applications, and explore the key data structures and libraries In Detail Designed to create next generation apps, Google’s Dart offers a much more robust framework and also supersedes JavaScript in several aspects. Familiar yet innovative, compact yet scalable, it blows away the accumulated JavaScript legacy limitations. Dart was designed for great tool-ability and developer productivity, allowing you to create better application faster than before. Google chose it for their billion dollar advertising business and you have its power for your projects too. This book will introduce you the Dart language starting from its conception to its current form, and where it headed is through engaging substantial practical projects. You will be taken through building typical applications and exploring the exciting new technologies of HTML5. With example code projects such as a live data monitoring and viewing system, a blogging system, a slides presentation application, and more, then this book will walk you through step by step through building data-driven web applications with ease and speed. Style and approach A varied collection of compelling practical Dart projects that are developed progressively with full explanations of concepts and implementation. Each project introduces features of the language and environment, demonstrating how Dart can be used in rich structured web applications.

Build exciting games with Unity on iOS and publish them on the App Store About This Book Take advantage of Unity 5's new tools to create a fully interactive mobile game Learn how to connect your iTunes developer account and use Unity 5 to communicate with it Use your Macintosh computer to publish your game to the App Store Who This Book Is For This book is for iOS developers who want to learn how to build games with Unity for the iOS platform. Some prior experience in game development would be useful. What You Will Learn Create your own iTunes Connect Developer account and create an app within it Set up iTunes Game Center features in iTunes Connect so you can use them within Unity 5 Construct a game using C# that allows users to interactively control the game character Use Unity 5's editor window to create a custom editor tool specific for the game made in the book Store and keep track of data so the player is able to collect in-game pick-ups that can be used to purchase in-game goods Use all game features so the player is able to fully navigate menus between the front menu and in the game state Make, test, and finally release builds so you can play on your device and then submit the game to Apple for review In Detail Over recent years, the market for mobile game development using Unity has grown multi-fold with an overwhelming 600 million gamers playing games developed using Unity engine. The newly launched Unity 5 offers a wide range of dedicated and powerful tools for iOS developers who intend to follow the basics and gradually elevate their skills to revolutionize the way they design and publish games for the App Store. From beginners, to those who are experienced making video games, this book goes through the steps of using Unity 5 to make a game from the ground up and setting the game up with iTunes Game Center features. The book begins with an introduction to setting up an iTunes Connect developer account, this will allow you to use Unity to its full potential with iOS. You will create a new app in iTunes Connect with the settings for Apple approval. You will learn, in detail, how to use Unity 5 and the programming language C# to make a fully interactive game that keeps track of player progress, Game Center Leaderboards, and Achievements, as well as displaying iAds and offering In-App purchases. Moving on, you’ll discover how to create development and release builds, enabling you to test the game on your device before finally submitting the game for Apple’s approval. By the end of the book, you will have a complete understanding of how iTunes and Unity can be used in combination to build and publish a fully interactive and reliable game to the App Store. Style and approach This is a step-by-step guide that covers the fundamentals of gaming and reveals the secrets of building and monetizing games for the iOS platform.

Develop complete web applications from scratch through practical examples and tips for beginners and more advanced users About This Book Improve your programming experience and become a full stack developer Master real-life web applications, and create and manage four different projects Step-by-step guidance to develop real-world web applications smoothly Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who wants to discover and explore Yii Framework. Basic programming experience with PHP and object oriented programming is assumed. What You Will Learn Understand basic concepts, along with the installation and customization of Yii Discover models, controllers, and views—concepts applied in a web context—and how they are employed in Yii Use ActiveRecord to manipulate a database Add access control to your web application through authentication and authorization Install and customize an advanced template for multiple applications in the same project Create a RESTful Web Service to allow remote access to data Develop a console application to launch a command in the console as an automated task (cron job) Make code reusable through widgets and components and localize text messages to make a multilanguage web app In Detail Yii is a high-performance PHP framework best for developing Web 2.0 applications. It provides fast, secure, and professional features to create robust projects, however, this rapid development requires the ability to organize common tasks together to build a complete application. It's all too easy to get confused; this is where this book comes in. This book contains a series of practical project examples for developers starting from scratch. Each section contains the most relevant theories for every topic as you walk through developing each project, focusing on key aspects that commonly confuse users. The book starts with all the framework’s basic concepts, such as controllers and views, to introduce you to Yii and creating your first application, a simple news reader. You will be learn to configure URL rules to make a pretty URL, essential for search engine optimization. Next, you will walk through Model and ActiveRecord, key concepts in database interaction. The second application you will develop is a reservation system that allows you to manage rooms, customers, and reservations. For this, you will use database connection through SQL and ActiveRecord. More complex than the first one, this application will introduce you to the advanced template of Yii 2, splitting the app into two parts: a frontend for all visitors and a backend for the admin. Finally, you will move on to the last two applications: one that allows connections from remote clients, through RESTful components of Yii 2, and another that creates and organizes automatic tasks using the console application structure of Yii 2. Style and approach This is a step-by-step guide with each topic introduced in the context of real-world applications, highlighting common cases where users may encounter difficulties.

Utilize the powerful ingredients of Raspberry Pi to bring to life your amazing robots that can act, draw, and have fun with laser tagsAbout This BookLearn to implement a number of features offered by Raspberry Pi to build your own amazing robotsUnderstand how to add vision and voice to your robots.This fast-paced practical guide comprises a number of creative projects to take your Raspberry Pi knowledge to the next level Who This Book Is For This all-encompassing guide was created for anyone who is interested in expanding their knowledge in applying the peripherals of Raspberry Pi. If you have a fancy for building complex-looking robots with simple, inexpensive, and readily available hardware, then this book is ideal for you. Prior understanding of Raspberry Pi with simple mechanical systems is recommended.What You Will LearnAdd sensors to your robot so that it can sense the world around itKnow everything there is to know about accessing motors and servos to provide movement to the robotic platformExplore the feature of adding vision to your robot so it can “see” the world around itRefine your robot with the skill of speech recognition so that it can receive commandsPolish your robot by adding speech output so it can communicate with the world around itMaximize the use of servos in Raspberry Pi to create a drawing robotStrengthen your robot by adding wireless communication skills so you can see what the robot is seeing and control it from a distanceBuild an unbelievable autonomous hexcopter controlled by Raspberry Pi In Detail The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit card-sized single-board computers developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools. The Raspberry Pi is known as a tiny computer built on a single circuit board. It runs a Linux operating system, and has connection ports for various peripherals so that it can be hooked up to sensors, motors, cameras, and more. Raspberry Pi has been hugely popular among hardware hobbyists for various projects, including robotics. This book gives you an insight into implementing several creative projects using the peripherals provided by Raspberry Pi. To start, we’ll walk through the basic robotics concepts that the world of Raspberry Pi offers us, implementing wireless communication to control your robot from a distance. Next, we demonstrate how to build a sensible and a visionary robot, maximizing the use of sensors and step controllers. After that, we focus on building a wheeled robot that can draw and play hockey. To finish with a bang, we’ll build an autonomous hexcopter, that is, a flying robot controlled by Raspberry Pi. By the end of this book, you will be a maestro in applying an array of different technologies to create almost any imaginable robot.Style and approach This book is an easy-to-follow, project-based guide that throws you directly into the action of creating almost any imaginable robot through blueprints. It is full of step by step instructions and screenshots to help you build amazing robots in no time at all.

Over 70 recipes to get you started with popular Python libraries based on the principal concepts of data visualization About This Book Learn how to set up an optimal Python environment for data visualization Understand how to import, clean and organize your data Determine different approaches to data visualization and how to choose the most appropriate for your needs Who This Book Is For If you already know about Python programming and want to understand data, data formats, data visualization, and how to use Python to visualize data then this book is for you. What You Will Learn Introduce yourself to the essential tooling to set up your working environment Explore your data using the capabilities of standard Python Data Library and Panda Library Draw your first chart and customize it Use the most popular data visualization Python libraries Make 3D visualizations mainly using mplot3d Create charts with images and maps Understand the most appropriate charts to describe your data Know the matplotlib hidden gems Use plot.ly to share your visualization online In Detail Python Data Visualization Cookbook will progress the reader from the point of installing and setting up a Python environment for data manipulation and visualization all the way to 3D animations using Python libraries. Readers will benefit from over 60 precise and reproducible recipes that will guide the reader towards a better understanding of data concepts and the building blocks for subsequent and sometimes more advanced concepts. Python Data Visualization Cookbook starts by showing how to set up matplotlib and the related libraries that are required for most parts of the book, before moving on to discuss some of the lesser-used diagrams and charts such as Gantt Charts or Sankey diagrams. Initially it uses simple plots and charts to more advanced ones, to make it easy to understand for readers. As the readers will go through the book, they will get to know about the 3D diagrams and animations. Maps are irreplaceable for displaying geo-spatial data, so this book will also show how to build them. In the last chapter, it includes explanation on how to incorporate matplotlib into different environments, such as a writing system, LaTeX, or how to create Gantt charts using Python. Style and approach A step-by-step recipe based approach to data visualization. The topics are explained sequentially as cookbook recipes consisting of a code snippet and the resulting visualization.

Harness the power of Nginx to make the most of your infrastructure and serve pages faster than ever About This Book ?Discover possible interactions between Nginx and Apache to get the best of both worlds ?Learn to exploit the features offered by NGinx for your web applications ?Get the newest techniques available, designed with the latest version in mind Who This Book Is For By covering both the early setup stages and advanced topics, this book suits web administrators who interested in solutions to optimize their infrastructure, whether you are looking into replacing your existing web server software or integrating a new tool to cooperate with applications that are already up and running. If you, your visitors, and your operating system have been disappointed by Apache, this book is exactly what you need. What You Will Learn ?Get to know the basics of the Nginx configuration: syntax, structure, and semantics ?Understand the advanced load balancing functionality of Nginx and the newest innovative IO mechanisms ?Create virtual host configurations effortlessly ?Discover all the first-party modules: how to enable, configure, and use them ?Establish advanced rewrite rules with the Nginx Rewrite module ?Set up Nginx to work with PHP, Python, and more via FastCGI ?Configure Nginx to work as frontend for your existing HTTP server ?Manipulate configuration files with ease and adapt them to various situations ?Discover the common pitfalls and find out how to avoid them In Detail Nginx is a lightweight HTTP server designed for high-traffic websites, with network scalability as the primary objective. With the advent of high speed Internet access, short loading times and fast transfer rates have become a necessity. This free, open source solution will either come as a full replacement of other software such as Apache, or stand in front of your existing infrastructure to improve its overall speed. This book is a detailed guide to setting up Nginx in different ways that correspond to actual production situations: as a standalone server, as a reverse proxy, interacting with applications via FastCGI, and more. In addition, this complete directive reference will be your best friend at all stages of the configuration and maintenance processes. This book is the perfect companion for both Nginx beginners and experienced administrators. For beginners, it will take you through the complete process of setting up this lightweight HTTP server on your system and configuring its various modules so it does exactly what you need quickly and securely. For more experienced administrators, this book provides different approaches that can help you make the most of your current infrastructure. Nginx can be employed in many situations, whether you are looking to construct an entirely new web-serving architecture or simply want to integrate an efficient tool to optimize your site loading speeds. Style and approach This tutorial-style book includes detailed instructions on each of the processes it describes, as well as step-by-step tutorials, commented configuration sections, and in-depth module de*ions, so you can make the most of the performance potential offered by Nginx.

Embrace the new world of fiance by leveraging the power of crypto-currencies using Bitcoin and the BlockchainAbout This BookSet up your own wallet, buy and sell Bitcoin, and execute custom transactions on the BlockchainLeverage the power of Bitcoin to reduce transaction costs and eliminate fraudA practical step-by-step guide to break down the Bitcoin technology to ensure safe transactions Who This Book Is For If you are familiar with online banking and want to expand your finances into a resilient and transparent currency, this book is ideal for you. A basic understanding of online wallets and financial systems will be highly beneficial to unravel the mysteries of Bitcoin.What You Will LearnSet up your wallet and buy a Bitcoin in a flash while understanding the basics of addresses and transactionsAcquire the knack of buying, selling, and trading Bitcoins with online marketplacesSecure and protect your Bitcoins from online theft using Brainwallets and cold storageUnderstand how Bitcoin’s underlying technology, the Blockchain, works with simple illustrations and explanationsConfigure your own Bitcoin node and execute common operations on the networkDiscover various aspects of mining Bitcoin and how to set up your own mining rigDive deeper into Bitcoin and write *s and multi-signature transactions on the networkExplore the various alt-coins and get to know how to compare them and their value In Detail The financial crisis of 2008 raised attention to the need for transparency and accountability in the financial world. As banks and governments were scrambling to stay solvent while seeking a sustainable plan, a powerfully new and resilient technology emerged. Bitcoin, built on a fundamentally new technology called “The Blockchain,” offered the promise of a new financial system where transactions are sent directly between two parties without the need for central control. Bitcoin exists as an open and transparent financial system without banks, governments, or corporate support. Simply put, Bitcoin is “programmable money” that has the potential to change the world on the same scale as the Internet itself. This book arms you with immense knowledge of Bitcoin and helps you implement the technology in your money matters, enabling secure transactions. We first walk through the fundamentals of Bitcoin, illustrate how the technology works, and exemplify how to interact with this powerful and new financial technology. You will learn how to set up your online Bitcoin wallet, indulge in buying and selling of bitcoins, and manage their storage. We then get to grips with the most powerful algorithm of all times: the Blockchain, and learn how crypto-currencies can reduce the risk of fraud for e-commerce merchants and consumers. With a solid base of Blockchain, you will write and execute your own custom transactions. Most importantly, you will be able to protect and secure your Bitcoin with the help of effective solutions provided in the book. Packed with plenty of screenshots, Learning Bitcoin is a simple and painless guide to working with Bitcoin.Style and approach This is an easy-to-follow guide to working with Bitcoin and the Blockchain technology. This book is ideal for anyone who wants to learn the basics of Bitcoin and explore how to set up their own transactions.

Learn how to deploy and configure all the available Citrix NetScaler features with the best practices and techniques you need to know About This Book Implement and configure all the available NetScaler Application Delivery features and monitor NetScaler VPX performance in your environment Packed with real-word NetScaler deployment scenarios to help you see the configuration principles in action Integrate NetScaler with other Citrix technologies, including CloudBridge, Application Delivery Controller, HDX Insight, and Command Center Who This Book Is For If you’re an administrator with prior experience using NetScaler then you have everything you need to make the most of this book. What You Will Learn Configure the more commonly used NetScaler VPX features such as basic load balancing, authentication, NetScaler Gateway, and StoreFront Configure the AppExpert features such as Responder, Rewrite, AppExpert templates, parsing HTTP, TCP, and UDP data Integrate NetScaler with other Citrix technologies such as CloudBridge, Insight Center, and Command Center Optimize traffic using caching, front-end optimization, and compression Dive deep in the security, caching, and compression enhancements Protect your environment with AAA and Application Firewall, or from HTTP DDoS attacks Troubleshoot an environment using tools such as TaaS and WireShark In Detail Citrix NetScaler is one of the best Application Delivery Controller products in the world. The Application Delivery Controllers are commonly used for load balancing purposes, to optimize traffic, and to perform extra security settings. This book will give you an insight into all the available features that the Citrix NetScaler appliance has to offer. The book will start with the commonly used NetScaler VPX features, such as load balancing and NetScaler Gateway functionality. Next, we cover features such as Responder, Rewrite, and the AppExpert templates, and how to configure these features. After that, you will learn more about the other available Citrix technologies that can interact with Citrix NetScaler. We also cover troubleshooting, optimizing traffic, caching, performing protection using Application Firewall, and denying HTTP DDoS attacks for web services. Finally, we will demonstrate the different configuration principles real-world Citrix NetScaler deployment scenarios. Style and approach This easy-to-follow guide explains as much as possible about each feature and its configuration. Each topic is explained sequentially in the process of configuring and deploying the feature.

Master GUI programming in Tkinter as you design, implement, and deliver ten real-world applications from start to finish About This Book Conceptualize and build state-of-art GUI applications with Tkinter Tackle the complexity of just about any size GUI application with a structured and scalable approach A project-based, practical guide to get hands-on into Tkinter GUI development Who This Book Is For Software developers, scientists, researchers, engineers, students, or programming hobbyists with basic familiarity in Python will find this book interesting and informative. People familiar with basic programming constructs in other programming language can also catch up with some brief reading on Python. No GUI programming experience is expected. What You Will Learn Get to know the basic concepts of GUI programming, such as Tkinter top-level widgets, geometry management, event handling, using callbacks, custom styling, and dialogs Create apps that can be scaled in size or complexity without breaking down the core Write your own GUI framework for maximum code reuse Build apps using both procedural and OOP styles, understanding the strengths and limitations of both styles Learn to structure and build large GUI applications based on Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture Build multithreaded and database-driven apps Create apps that leverage resources from the network Learn basics of 2D and 3D animation in GUI applications Develop apps that can persist application data with object serialization and tools such as configparser In Detail Tkinter is the built-in GUI package that comes with standard Python distributions. It is a cross-platform package, which means you build once and deploy everywhere. It is simple to use and intuitive in nature, making it suitable for programmers and non-programmers alike. This book will help you master the art of GUI programming. It delivers the bigger picture of GUI programming by building real-world, productive, and fun applications such as a text editor, drum machine, game of chess, media player, drawing application, chat application, screen saver, port scanner, and many more. In every project, you will build on the skills acquired in the previous project and gain more expertise. You will learn to write multithreaded programs, network programs, database driven programs and more. You will also get to know the modern best practices involved in writing GUI apps. With its rich source of sample code, you can build upon the knowledge gained with this book and use it in your own projects in the discipline of your choice. Style and approach An easy-to-follow guide, full of hands-on examples of real-world GUI programs. The first chapter is a must read as it explains most of the things you need to get started with writing GUI programs with Tkinter. Each subsequent chapter is a stand-alone project that discusses some aspects of GUI programming in detail. These chapters can be read sequentially or randomly depending upon the readers experience with Python.

A complete guide to dominating search engines with your WordPress siteAbout This BookEverything you need to get your WordPress site to the top of search engines and bring thousands of new customers to your blog or businessLearn everything from keyword research and link building to customer conversions, in this complete guidePacked with real-word examples to help get your site noticed on Google, Yahoo, and Bing Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who runs any of the over 90,000,000 WordPress installations throughout the world. If you can login to your WordPress website, you can implement most of the tips in this book without any coding experience.What You Will LearnThe elements that search engines use to rank websites—and how to optimize your site for premium placementHarness social media sites to extend the reach of your site and gain more visitorsDiscover the high-volume, high-value search phrases that customers use when searching for your products or servicesAvoid dangerous black-hat optimization techniques and the people who advocate and purvey themBuild high-quality, high-value links from other websites to raise your rankings in search enginesCreate optimized and engaging content that both search engines and readers will loveAvoid common SEO mistakes that can get your site penalized by search engines In Detail WordPress is a powerful platform for creating feature-rich and attractive websites but, with a little extra tweaking and effort, your WordPress site can dominate search engines and bring thousands of new customers to your business. WordPress Search Engine Optimization will show you the secrets that professional SEO companies use to take websites to the top of search results. You'll take your WordPress site to the next level; you'll brush aside even the stiffest competition with the advanced tutorials in this book.Style and approach This is a practical, hands-on book based around sound SEO techniques specifically applied to WordPress. Each chapter starts with a brief overview of the important concepts then quickly moves into practical step-by-step actions you can take immediately. Throughout the book, you'll get clear instructions and detailed screenshots, so you can see exactly what to do each step of the way.

Build dynamic, data-driven websites and modern web applications with Flask About This Book Discover the most popular Flask resources on the web with ease Familiarize yourself with third-party libraries commonly used with Flask Create a fast, interactive, and secure web app with this hands-on guide Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who wants to develop their knowledge of Python into something that can be used on the web. Flask follows the Python design principles and can be easily understood by anyone who knows Python, and even by those who do not. What You Will Learn Create your web pages to add modularity and flexibility to your web app using templates Store and retrieve relational data using SQLAlchemy Develop schema migrations with Alembic Produce an admin section using flask-admin Build RESTful APIs using Flask-Restless Simulate requests and sessions using the Flask test client Make Ajax requests from Jinja2 templates In Detail Flask is a small and powerful web development framework for Python. It does not presume or force a developer to use a particular tool or library. Flask supports extensions that can add application features as if they were implemented in Flask itself. Flask’s main task is to build web applications quickly and with less code. With its lightweight and efficient web development framework, Flask combines rapid development and clean, simple design. This book will take you through the basics of learning how to apply your knowledge of Python to the web. Starting with the creation of a “Hello world” Flask app, you will be introduced to the most common Flask APIs and Flask’s interactive debugger. You will learn how to store and retrieve blog posts from a relational database using an ORM and also to map URLs to views. Furthermore, you will walk through template blocks, inheritance, file uploads, and static assets. You will learn to authenticate users, build log in/log out functionality, and add an administrative dashboard for the blog. Moving on, you will discover how to make Ajax requests from the template and see how the Mock library can simplify testing complex interactions. Finally, you will learn to deploy Flask applications securely and in an automated, repeatable manner, and explore some of the most popular Flask resources on the web. Style and approach A comprehensive guide packed with real-world examples and popular use cases; starting with basic overviews and diving into the practical aspects of Flask Framework.

Utilize ServiceStack as the rock solid foundation of your distributed systemAbout This BookTake advantage of the various data providers to access authentication and authorization, sessions, cache, and databaseLeverage asynchronous processing for decoupling components to ease scalingMonitor and tune the performance of your distributed system Who This Book Is For Mastering ServiceStack is targeted at developers who have already implemented web services with ASMX, WCF, or ServiceStack and want to gain more insight into the possibilities ServiceStack has to offer to build distributed systems of all scales.What You Will LearnDesign a prudent and resilient API, following the RESTful designUnderstand the internal processing chain and utilize the provided hooksIncorporate ServiceStack as a full service provider to your existing distributed systemLeverage the power of asynchronous processing and add message queues to your architectureAnalyze and tune the performance of your service In Detail Mastering ServiceStack covers real-life problems that occur over the lifetime of a distributed system and how to solve them by deeply understanding the tools of ServiceStack. Distributed systems is the enterprise solution that provide flexibility, reliability, scaling, and performance. ServiceStack is an outstanding tool belt to create such a system in a frictionless manner, especially sophisticated designed and fun to use. The book starts with an introduction covering the essentials, but assumes you are just refreshing, are a very fast learner, or are an expert in building web services. Then, the book explains ServiceStack's data transfer object patterns and teach you how it differs from other methods of building web services with different protocols, such as SOAP and SOA. It also introduces more low-level details such as how to extend the User Auth, message queues and concepts on how the technology works. By the end of this book, you will understand the concepts, framework, issues, and resolutions related to ServiceStack.Style and approach A step-by-step approach that follows the natural requirements of a distributed system in a conversational style.

Acquire skills to manage your IT infrastructure effectively with Puppet About This BookBreeze through Puppet 4’s key features and performance improvements to bring real advantage to your IT infrastructureDiscover Puppet best practices to help you avoid common mistakes and pitfallsBlitz through easy-to-follow examples to get to grips with Puppet and succeed with everyday IT automationWho This Book Is ForIf you're an experienced IT professional and a new Puppet user, this book will provide you with all you need to know to go from installation to advanced automation in no time at all. Get a rapid introduction to the essential topics and then tackle Puppet for advanced automation.What You Will LearnWrite and employ individual Puppet manifestsUnderstand how Puppet implements system abstractionDeploy the Puppet master and agentsLeverage and extend Facter to summarize your systems Create modular and reusable Puppet code Extend your code base with publicly available Puppet modules Use the modern features of Puppet 4 Separate logic from data using Hiera In Detail Puppet is a configuration management tool that allows you to automate all your IT configurations, giving you control over what you do to each Puppet Agent in a network, and when and how you do it. In this age of digital delivery and ubiquitous Internet presence, it's becoming increasingly important to implement scalable and portable solutions, not only in terms of software, but also the systems that run it. The free Ruby-based tool Puppet has established itself as the most successful solution to manage any IT infrastructure. Ranging from local development environments through complex data center setups to scalable cloud implementations, Puppet allows you to handle them all with a unified approach. Puppet 4 Essentials, Second Edition gets you started rapidly and intuitively as you’ll put Puppet’s tools to work right away. It will also highlight the changes associated with performance improvements as well as the new language features in Puppet 4. We’ll start with a quick introduction to Puppet to get you managing your IT systems quickly. You will then learn about the Puppet Agent that comes with an all-in-one (AIO) package and can run on multiple systems. Next, we’ll show you the Puppet Server for high-performance communication and passenger packages. As you progress through the book, the innovative structure and approach of Puppet will be explained with powerful use cases. The difficulties that are inherent to a complex and powerful tool will no longer be a problem for you as you discover Puppet's fascinating intricacies. By the end of the book, you will not only know how to use Puppet, but also its companion tools Facter and Hiera, and will be able to leverage the flexibility and expressive power implemented by their tool chain. Style and approach This quick learning guide for Puppet follows a practical approach, starting with some basic commands that you can use from the shell right away. It comprises a series of examples that will get you familiar with the most important aspects of Puppet in a flash.

Harness the power of Magento 2 – The most recent version of the world’s favourite e-Commerce platform for your online store About This Book Set up, configure, and power up your Magento environment from development to production Master the use of Web API to communicate with the Magento system and create custom services Create custom modules from scratch to extend the core functionality of the Magento system Who This Book Is For This book is intended primarily for intermediate to professional-level PHP developers who are interested in Magento development. For backend developers, several topics are covered that will enable you to modify and extend your Magento 2 store. Frontend developers will also find some coverage on how to customize the look of the site in the frontend. What You Will Learn Set up the development and production environment of Magento 2 Understand the new major concepts and conventions used in Magento 2 Build a miniature yet fully-functional module from scratch to manage your e-commerce platform efficiently Write models and collections to manage and search your entity data Dive into backend development such as creating events, observers, cron jobs, logging, profiling, and messaging features Get to the core of frontend development such as blocks, templates, layouts, and the themes of Magento 2 Use token, session, and Oauth token-based authentication via various flavors of API calls, as well as creating your own APIs Get to grips with testing Magento modules and custom themes, which forms an integral part of development In Detail Magento is one of the most exciting, flexible, and customizable e-commerce systems. It offers you an extensive suite of powerful tools for creating and managing an online store. After years of development, Magento 2 introduces itself with a strong emphasis on modularity, Web API's, automated testing and overall new technology stack platform. The long-awaited Magento 2 release introduces a whole new e-commerce platform to develop online stores. The all new Magento 2 architecture, Web APIs, and a host of other features are equally challenging to master as much as they are exciting to use. This book will ease the learning curve by offering step-by-step guidance on how to extend the core functionality of your Magento 2 store. This book is your one-stop guide to build and customize a quality e-commerce website from the latest version of one of the largest, fastest growing, and most popular e-commerce platforms—Magento 2. We start off with an introduction to the fundamental concepts of Magento to give you a foundation to work from. We then move on to configure the development and basic production environment for Magento. After this, you’ll get to grips with the major concepts and conventions that are new to the Magento 2 platform. We then delve deeper to get to the core of automated deployments, persisting data, writing data fixture *s and applying various backend and frontend modifications. As we near the end of the book, you will learn to make API calls and write automated tests. Finally, you will be guided through building a full-blown helpdesk module from scratch. By the end of this book, you will have learned a wide range of techniques to extend and customize your Magento 2 store to fit the requirements of your business. Style and approach This book is a mix of theoretical and step-by-step approaches, explained in a conversational and easy-to-follow style. Topics are explained sequentially, giving detailed explanations of the basic and advanced features to get you working on Magento 2.

Master the advanced concepts of game development for iOS to build impressive games About This Book Create a complete game with advanced techniques through the course of the book using in-depth, hands-on instructions Learn how to multi-task and improve performance optimization in your game playing experience The author, Miguel, has 11 years of iOS game development using xcode and has released over 10 games to the Apple AppStoreMaster player movement using touch controls as well as discuss motion controls Who This Book Is For This book is for those who have created an iOS game already and want to hone their skills. A reasonable level of knowledge and an understanding of the core elements and applications would be helpful. What You Will Learn Blast off and start developing fun games Optimize the assets for the best performance in the game app Master player movement using touch controls as well as discuss motion controls Perform bug Squashing by testing and debugging Design interesting various characters and enemies for your game Test your game on both, the simulator on the computer and on real devices Tweak and fine tune the code and graphics before the release of your app Uncover some awesome new gameplay by adding in multiplayer elements, to get more people playing together In Detail iOS is an operating system for Apple manufactured phones and tablets. Mobile gaming is one of the fastest-growing industries, and compatibility with iOS is now becoming the norm for game developers. SpriteKit is part of the native SDK from Apple, and enables developers to make simple entry into game development without unnecessary overhead and a long learning process. SpriteKit also provides other functionality that is useful for games, including basic sound playback support and physics simulation. In addition, Xcode provides built-in support for SpriteKit so that you can create complex special effects and texture atlases directly in Xcode. This combination of framework and tools makes SpriteKit a good choice for games and other apps that require similar kinds of animation. Become a master in iOS game development through this fast and fun guide! In the beginning, we’ll tell you everything you need to plan and design your game. You’ll then start developing your game through step-by-step instructions using the various built-in technologies of Xcode. From there on, we discuss how to deploy your game to the iOS App Store, as well as monetizing it to make more revenue. You will also learn advanced techniques to improve your game playing experience, including better multi-tasking, improved performance optimization, battery management, and more. To end the book off, we’ll show you how to update your game with different features, then port the update to the App Store. Style and approach This book provides an easy-to-understand and fun approach to game development, with step-by-step instructions and detailed explanation of each block of code. The topics covered range from easy to advanced, so buckle up for a fast-paced ride!

MeteorJS makes full-stack JavaScript Application Development simple – Learn how to build better modern web apps with MeteorJS, and become an expert in the innovative JavaScript framework About This Book Get your dream project up and running by building exceptional MeteorJS applications in a matter of days Learn how to integrate other JavaScript frameworks into your MeteorJS project and become an expert in full-stack development Go beyond coding and learn how to make modern design decisions – from mobile design to SEO – that drive great user experiences Who This Book Is For If you’ve already had some experience with MeteorJS but want to learn how to build even better modern web application, this book has been created for you. It provides you with a comprehensive look at one of those most important frameworks being used for the modern web today.What You Will Learn Get to grips with the basics and learn how to build a complete real-time application with MeteorJS Find out how Meteor makes full-stack development simple – become a better developer, fast. Use some of the most effective testing tools in modern web development to troubleshoot, debug and optimize your app Find out how to write custom packages for applications – so you can build your project exactly how you want Integrate React and Angular into your project Design and develop high quality animations that will give your UI the edge Build MeteorJS to serve as REST-based application and reactive system Learn how to host a MeteorJS application and then scale it for data Find out how MeteorJS can help you build for mobile Learn how to make sure you implement an effective SEO strategy in your MeteorJS application In Detail The web is dead – applications now rule our online experiences. But how are you going to build themWell, if you’ve been paying attention, you might already have tried your hand with MeteorJS, the JavaScript framework that helps you build complete full-stack web applications that are responsive and fast with ease. Mastering MeteorJS Application Development shows you how to do even more with MeteorJS – if you’re ready to try a comprehensive course through one of the most exciting frameworks in web development today, this is the book you need. Designed to take you through the entire process of building an advanced multipage application with Meteor, you’ll be able to bring your web development ideas with surprising ease. You’ll not only learn how Meteor makes web development easier, but also how you can make using Meteor easier, by automating and simplifying tasks so you can be confident you have full control of everything in your workflow – especially everything that could go wrong. From automated testing to integrating other useful frameworks such as Angular and D3, each chapter covers a crucial element in the Meteor development process. Discover how to integrate animations using Meteor’s Blaze, to give your UI designs the edge, and explore reactive programming to effectively harness RESTful systems in your projects. You will also learn how to deploy and scale your application, two crucial aspects of modern development and vital in a changing digital environment with users expecting a product and experience that delivers. With further insights on developing for mobile – and how Meteor can help you tackle the challenges of the trend – and details on incorporating SEO strategies into your application, this book isn’t just a code tutorial – it’s about creating a product that users love. Style and approach This book is a practical guide that teaches you different ways to create custom packages, efficient client and server code, and more using Meteor. This book is packed with perfect examples and explanations to help you understand the concepts. With the perfect mix of theory and practical experience, it will equip you to become a professional MeteorJS developer.

Create powerful applications to interact with popular service providers such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and more by leveraging the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework About This Book Learn how to use the OAuth 2.0 protocol to interact with the world's most popular service providers, such as Facebook, Google, Instagram, Slack, Box, and more Master the finer details of this complex protocol to maximize the potential of your application while maintaining the utmost of security Step through the construction of a real-world working application that logs you in with your Facebook account to create a compelling infographic about the most important person in the world—you! Who This Book Is Fo If you are an application developer, software architect, security engineer, or even a casual programmer looking to leverage the power of OAuth, Mastering OAuth 2.0 is for you. Covering basic topics such as registering your application and choosing an appropriate workflow, to advanced topics such as security considerations and extensions to the specification, this book has something for everyone. A basic knowledge of programming and OAuth is recommended. What You Will Learn Discover the power and prevalence of OAuth 2.0 and use it to improve your application's capabilities Step through the process of creating a real-world application that interacts with Facebook using OAuth 2.0 Examine the various workflows described by the specification, looking at what they are and when to use them Learn about the many security considerations involved with creating an application that interacts with other service providers Develop your debugging skills with dedicated pages for tooling and troubleshooting Build your own rich, powerful applications by leveraging world-class technologies from companies around the world In Detail OAuth 2.0 is a powerful authentication and authorization framework that has been adopted as a standard in the technical community. Proper use of this protocol will enable your application to interact with the world's most popular service providers, allowing you to leverage their world-class technologies in your own application. Want to log your user in to your application with their Facebook accountWant to display an interactive Google Map in your applicationHow about posting an update to your user's LinkedIn feedThis is all achievable through the power of OAuth. With a focus on practicality and security, this book takes a detailed and hands-on approach to explaining the protocol, highlighting important pieces of information along the way. At the beginning, you will learn what OAuth is, how it works at a high level, and the steps involved in creating an application. After obtaining an overview of OAuth, you will move on to the second part of the book where you will learn the need for and importance of registering your application and types of supported workflows. You will discover more about the access token, how you can use it with your application, and how to refresh it after expiration. By the end of the book, you will know how to make your application architecture robust. You will explore the security considerations and effective methods to debug your applications using appropriate tools. You will also have a look at special considerations to integrate with OAuth service providers via native mobile applications. In addition, you will also come across support resources for OAuth and credentials grant. Style and approach With a focus on practicality and security, Mastering OAuth 2.0 takes a top-down approach at exploring the protocol. Discussed first at a high level, examining the importance and overall structure of the protocol, the book then dives into each subject, adding more depth as we proceed. This all culminates in an example application that will be built, step by step, using the valuable and practical knowledge you have gained.

This book gets you started with essential software development easily and quickly, guiding you through Java's different facets. By adopting this approach, you can bridge the gap between learning and doing immediately. You will learn the new features of Java 9 quickly and experience a simple and powerful approach to software development. You will be able to use the Java runtime tools, understand the Java environment, and create Java programs. We then cover more simple examples to build your foundation before diving to some complex data structure problems that will solidify your Java 9 skills. With a special focus on modularity and HTTP 2.0, this book will guide you to get employed as a top notch Java developer. By the end of the book, you will have a firm foundation to continue your journey towards becoming a professional Java developer. What you will learn ?Compile, package and run a trivial program using a build management tool ?Get to know the principles of test-driven development and dependency management ?Separate the wiring of multiple modules from the application logic into an application using dependency injection ?Benchmark Java execution using Java 9 microbenchmarking ?See the workings of the Spring framework

Practical Computer Vision Projects About This Book ?Updated for OpenCV 3, this book covers new features that will help you unlock the full potential of OpenCV 3 ?Written by a team of 7 experts, each chapter explores a new aspect of OpenCV to help you make amazing computer-vision aware applications ?Project-based approach with each chapter being a complete tutorial, showing you how to apply OpenCV to solve complete problems Who This Book Is For This book is for those who have a basic knowledge of OpenCV and are competent C++ programmers. You need to have an understanding of some of the more theoretical/mathematical concepts, as we move quite quickly throughout the book. What You Will Learn ?Execute basic image processing operations and cartoonify an image ?Build an OpenCV project natively with Raspberry Pi and cross-compile it for Raspberry Pi.text ?Extend the natural feature tracking algorithm to support the tracking of multiple image targets on a video ?Use OpenCV 3's new 3D visualization framework to illustrate the 3D scene geometry ?Create an application for Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) using a support vector machine and Artificial Neural Networks ?Train and predict pattern-recognition algorithms to decide whether an image is a number plate ?Use POSIT for the six degrees of freedom head pose ?Train a face recognition database using deep learning and recognize faces from that database In Detail As we become more capable of handling data in every kind, we are becoming more reliant on visual input and what

"Create real-time hybrid applications with the leader of HTML5 frameworks: Ionic Framework About This Book ?Step into the world of amazingly interactive and real-time app development using Ionic 2 ?Leverage the powerful Angular 2 along with Ionic to develop cutting edge apps ?Detailed code examples and explanations will help you get up and running with Ionic quickly and easily Who This Book Is For This book is for JavaScript developers with basic skills. No previous knowledge of Ionic is required for this book. What You Will Learn ?Understanding the world of the mobile hybrid architecture ?Scaffolding and working with Ionic templates ?Transforming a single page app to a multi-page app using Navigation Controller ?Integrating Ionic components, decorators, and services and rapidly developing complex applications ?Theming Ionic apps as well as customizing components using SCSS ?Working with Ionic Native to interface with device features, such as camera, notifications, and battery ?Building a production grade app using Ionic and Uber API to let users book a ride ?Migrating an Ionic 1 app to Ionic 2 or Ionic 3 ?Performing unit testing, end-to-end testing, and device testing on your apps ?Deploying Ionic apps to store and manage their subsequent releases In Detail Ionic makes it incredibly easy to build beautiful and interactive mobile apps using HTML5, SCSS, and Angular. Ionic also makes app development easier, faster, and more fun. This hands-on guide will help you understand the Ionic framework and how you can leverage it to create amazing real-time applications. We begin by covering the essential features of Angular 2, and then dive straight into how Ionic fits in today's world of hybrid app development and give you a better understanding of the mobile hybrid architecture along the way. Further on, you will learn how to work with Ionic decorators, services, and components, which will allow you to build complex apps using the Ionic framework. We will take a look at theming Ionic apps using the built-in SCSS setup. After that, we will explore Ionic Native, and you will learn how to integrate device-specific features, such as notifications, with the Ionic app. To complete our learning, we will be building a Rider app, using Ionic and Uber API, to book a ride. Next, you will learn how to unit test, end-to-end test, monkey test, and execute device testing on AWS Device farm. Then, we will take a look at migrating the existing Ionic 1 apps to Ionic 2 and deploy them to the App Store. The final chapter on Ionic 3 wraps up this book by explaining the new features of Ionic 3 at the time of writing this book. By the end of this book, you will be able to develop, deploy, and manage hybrid mobile applications built with Cordova, Ionic, and Angular. All the examples in this book are valid for both Ionic 2 and Ionic 3. Style and approach A step-by-step, practical approach to learning Ionic using the example of designing an online course app. Each topic is explained sequentially in the process of creating a course. This includes explanations of both basic and advanced features of Ionic. "