Build robust and highly scalable web applications with Google App EngineAbout This BookGet an in-depth look at how Google App Engine works under the hoodDesign and model your application around Google's highly scalable distributed NoSQL datastore to unlock its full potentialA comprehensive guide to ensure your mastery of Google App Engine Who This Book Is For If you have been developing web applications in Python or any other dynamic language but have always wondered how to write highly scalable web applications without getting into system administration and other plumbing, then this is the book for you. No experience in writing scalable applications is required.What You Will LearnScale and develop your applications with Google App Engine's runtime environmentGet to grips with request handling mechanism and write request handlersDeep dive into Google's distributed NoSQL and highly scalable datastore and design your application around itImplement powerful search with scalable datastorePerform long-running tasks in the background using task queuesWrite compartmentalized apps using multi tenancy, memcache, and other Google App Engine runtime servicesHandle web requests using the CGI, WSGI, and multi-threaded configurationsDeploy, tweak, and manage apps in production on Google App Engine In Detail Developing web applications that serve millions of users is no easy task, as it involves a number of configurations and administrative tasks for the underlying software and hardware stack. This whole configuration requires not only expertise, but also a fair amount of time as well. Time that could have been spent on actual application functionality. Google App Engine allows you develop highly scalable web applications or backends for mobile applications without worrying about the system administration plumbing or hardware provisioning issues. Just focus writing on your business logic, the meat of the application, and let Google's powerful infrastructure scale it to thousands of requests per second and millions of users without any effort on your part. This book takes you from explaining how scalable applications work to designing and developing robust scalable web applications of your own, utilizing services available on Google App Engine. Starting with a walkthrough of scalability is and how scalable web applications work, this book introduces you to the environment under which your applications exist on Google App Engine. Next, you will learn about Google's datastore, which is a massively scalable distributed NoSQL solution built on top of BigTable. You will examine the BigTable concepts and operations in detail and reveal how it is used to build Google datastore. Armed with this knowledge, you will then advance towards how to best model your data and query that along with transactions. To augment the powerful distributed dataset, you will deep dive into search functionality offered on Google App Engine. With the search and storage sorted out, you will get a look into performing long running tasks in the background using Google App Engine task queues along with sending and receiving emails. You will also examine the memcache to boost web application performance, image processing for common image manipulation tasks. You will then explore uploading, storing, and serving large files using Blobstore and Cloud storage. Finally, you will be presented with the deployment and monitoring of your applications in production along with a detailed look at dividing applications into different working modules.Style and approach This book is an in-depth guide where you will examine the problems in the context of highly scalable web applications. This book will take you through the libraries, services, and required configuration and finally puts everything together into a small web application that showcases all the capabilities of Google App Engine.

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.

This marketing classic has been expanded to include new commentary, new illustrations, and a bonus book: The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Smart and accessible, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the definitive text on branding, pairing anecdotes about some of the best brands in the world, like Rolex, Volvo, and Heineken, with the signature savvy of marketing gurus Al and Laura Ries. Combining The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, this book proclaims that the only way to stand out in today's marketplace is to build your product or service into a brand and provides the step-by-step instructions you need to do so. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding also tackles one of the most challenging marketing problems today: branding on the Web. The Rieses divulge the controversial and counterintuitive strategies and secrets that both small and large companies have used to establish internet brands. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the essential primer on building a category-dominating, world-class brand.

The spirits dance like fire in the sky. . . . The three cubs Kallik, Toklo, and Lusa along with their shape-shifting companion, Ujurak, stand on the edge of the sea-ice under the blazing Northern Lights. The land has come to an end, but the bears' journey is far from over. Now they must put their trust in Kallik's paws, as she feels the ice pulling her out toward the ocean. Life on the ice is more difficult than the bears imagined. While Kallik struggles to remember her polar bear roots, Toklo bristles in the unfamiliar territory and Lusa gets weaker by the day; black and brown bears don't belong on the ice. Meanwhile, Ujurak learns firsthand what lurks beneath the whorls and bubbles of the ice, and what he discovers will change everything. Just when it seems like they'll never survive in the frozen wilderness, a mystical encounter with a bear spirit assures them that all will be well. But this strange vision leads to even more questions, and ultimately it might tear the bears apart this time for good as the next steps of their journey come into focus.

為什麼我們要道德？死亡讓我們找到人生意義？什麽是理想的教育？為何要環保？愛是什麼？何謂真實？我是誰？一個個發人深省的哲學問題，全部來自我們視為娛樂的電影。哲學是一個古老的學科，電影則是現代的娛樂；無論是哲學借電影「翻生」，走進日常生活，還是電影靠哲學來增加「深度」，對觀眾來說，都是好事。在增加欣賞的趣味之餘，又可以引發大眾對哲學的興趣。作者通過由逾七十部新舊中外電影組成的光影世界，引領讀者探討「道德」、「死亡」、「教育」、「環保」、「自我」、「情愛」、「自由」等八個議題，在閒聊電影的同時，思索人生的種種疑問。

《蘭齋舊事》不是食譜書，但這是江獻珠生前喜歡的一本著作，書中她以細膩的文筆，娓娓道出兒時家族及太史第的故事，寫出上世紀的廣州風華韻味，隨著江獻珠的逝世，留下的是令人回味無窮的好文章。江獻珠承傳了祖父江太史的識食，這是她與生俱來的背景，但並非她日後成功的主要因素。江獻珠勤奮好學、尋根究柢的精神，和做事力求完美的作風，使她成為近代香港粵菜食譜著作的名師，做人處世之道是年輕人學習的好榜樣。

"屹立於港島山巔的何東花園，可說是香港獨特歷史與文化的「The One」與「The Icon」。它不但記錄了英國殖民管治時期的種族歧視政策，還折射出早期香港的公共衞生惡劣和瘟疫頻頻。而大宅糅合中西的建築風格，又與香港屬中國領土但被割讓為英國殖民地的背景同工異曲，並與何東家族屬歐亞混血族裔的性質理氣相通。同樣不容忽略的是，大宅象徵了何東家族紮根香港、社會地位往上流動，以及何東平妻張靜蓉的特立獨行和貢獻社會。本書的一段一句、一畫一圖，既描繪了歷史的一鱗半爪，亦展示了時代的不斷變貌。由購地畫則興建大宅，到物業易主後進行加建，又曾遭逢劫難，被戰火摧殘破毁，然後是修葺，以及不同年代的擴建，何東花園不但訴說了香港的非凡故事，亦勾勒了中國近代史的迂迴跌宕。"

2014年是廣九直通車來往廣州至九龍開行35周年，現時來往廣州至九龍之列車班次頗為頻密，安坐車內，不用兩小時便到廣州，可謂是從香港到廣州快舒適的交通工具。商務旅客更可利用車廂內提供的WiFi上網處理業務。車上的餐飲種類繁多，為旅客帶來極大方便。本書推薦旅客選乘直通火車達北京、上海、廣州這三大城市，並詳細介紹京、滬、廣著名景點三地美食。 作者簡介： 黃照康，從事旅遊業三十多年，現任香港外遊旅行團代理商協會名譽會長、前香港旅遊業議會理事、香港旅遊業會領隊課程導師、旅行社顧客服務及親善技巧課程導師、廣東省增城等市、縣的旅遊形象大使公職。黃照康（Sunny）自小喜愛背囊式自助遊，遊遍中國各省、東南亞、印度、中東、歐美澳紐，以至於中南美洲及北極與北韓等神秘地域。由1993年起曾為港、甹的紙張媒體和電子媒體任嘉賓主持。

女人天生購物狂？不懂理財為何物？其實花錢可以是一種投資，消費可以令資產增值，這些東西女人懂。本書從女性角度出發，以她們日常的消費模式、生活習慣為基礎，用簡單易明的方式，帶出正確的理財概念和方法，提供專業資訊和數據分析，讓你創造出屬於自己的煉金術，並將之發揚光大。

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the four crime novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin. Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case. This was the first appearance of Holmes since his intended death in "The Final Problem", and the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles led to the character's eventual revival.

Moby-Dick is a novel considered an outstanding work of Romanticism and the American Renaissance. Ishmael narrates the monomaniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, a white whale which on a previous voyage destroyed Ahab's ship and severed his leg at the knee. Although the novel was a commercial failure and out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891, its reputation as a Great American Novel grew during the twentieth century. D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world," and "the greatest book of the sea ever written."Call me Ishmael" is one of world literature's most famous opening sentences.

本書從中醫學、美容學、西醫內分泌學的角度，系統分析了面色蒼白、痤瘡、黃褐斑、脫髮、眼球突出、頸腫、皮膚乾燥症、多汗症、多毛症、肥胖、消瘦、乳房發育不良等12種常見病症的發病原因與機理，以及西醫的常規治療方法。闡明了中醫調節內分泌失調的方法與機理，突出整體治療，治病求本的中醫學理念，並具體介紹通過內服中藥、針灸耳針、外敷按摩、食療食養、日常護理等綜合措施，以達到美容塑形，展現自信美的目的。

The Call of the Wild is a novel by Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush—a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley of California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into service as sled dog in Alaska, he reverts to a wild state. Buck is forced to fight in order to dominate other dogs in a harsh climate. Eventually he sheds the veneer of civilization, relying on primordial instincts and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is an 1891 philosophical novel by Irish writer and playwright Oscar Wilde. First published as a serial

Little Women was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books rapidly over several months at the request of her publisher. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood, and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters.

本書收錄著名詩人戴望舒在抗日戰爭期間於香港翻譯的文學著作，包括法國著名左翼作家馬爾羅長篇小說《希望》及其他英法小說家作品。相關篇章的整理和出版不僅為戴望舒的翻譯研究提供豐富卻長期被忽略的文獻材料，也將為戴望舒的詩學理念與翻譯、抗日時期戴望舒與香港文學及大眾媒體、中國現代派與歐洲左翼文藝思潮、戰爭歷史以及跨文化語境（從巴黎、上海到香港）下法國現代主義文學的譯介等研究課題，提供重要資料。同時，讀者亦可從中了解抗戰時期詩人香港的文學活動。

Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up or Peter and Wendy is J. M. Barrie's most famous work, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the pirate Captain Hook. The play and novel were inspired by Barrie's friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family. Barrie continued to revise the play for years after its debut until publication of the play * in 1928.

Iro and Iona, two little bears who are best friends, live deep in the forest and spend their days playing happily with all the other little animals. But Iro wants some adventure and so she decides to take her friend Iona and set off on a trip to the mysterious Silver Mountain that everyone is so afraid of. This is the story of what happens when two naughty little bears disobey their parents and get themselves into all sorts of sticky situations. The Silver Mountain is an exciting place full of mystery and we follow Iro and Iona on their adventures in a magical world where in the end, goodness and bravery win the day. A great bedtime story with gorgeous illustrations for children aged 4 to 8 years old.

This book offers a radical revision of modern economic theory. Its starting point is the existing body of both micro and macro economics, as developed in such textbooks as Economics by Begg, Fischer and Dornbusch and Positive Economics by Lipsey and Chrystal. Following a similar framework to these books, it adjusts the whole range of theory by introducing some new concepts and other earlier ones that have been much neglected in the economic thought of the past century. These are related especially to the fundamental part played by land, in it proper sense of all natural resources available on the earth, the significance of credit, especially through the banking system, and the crucial impact of the method of taxation. The resulting analysis yields a thoroughly revised version of the contemporary model of a capitalist economy, so that a genuine ‘third way’ is revealed. This is not a mere modification of the present system of absentee ownership confronting a market for labour, with all the attendant evils of unemployment, monopoly and maldistribution of wealth and income. Rather it is a system based upon natural law, exhibiting economic security for all, fair distribution of output and, above all, the opportunity for self-fulfillment through work. The ‘new model’ draws upon the masters of economic thought from Smith and Ricardo to Marshall, Schumpeter and Keynes, by highlighting concepts often omitted from current studies of their works; such as Ricardo’s analysis of scarcity and differential elements of rent, Schumpeter’s view of the role of banking and Keynes’s hints at a labour theory of value. Indeed this far-reaching revision makes bold advances upon the Marshallian theory of the firm and the Keynesian theory of national income determination, thus providing new insights into both micro and macro theory. It remains faithful, however to the tradition of these latter thinkers in explaining matters fully in words, and resorting to mathematics mainly through the use of diagrams intelligible to anyone with an elementary grasp of the subject. Whilst the book strives to avoid value judgements in the interests of social science, it undoubtedly carries strong implications about economic policy. These are bound up with the central notions of free land and free credit, which have been singularly ignored by policy-makers since a few valiant attempts to introduce them in the early twentieth century. Hence the ‘new model’ is offered to both theorists and practitioners of economics, to politicians and public servants, but particularly to those who, like the author, truly seek a new vision of the subject.

In the two and a half years since the first edition appeared (April 2005), events have unfolded as predicted. Then the consensus among forecasters was that the boom in house prices would cool to an annual 2 or 3% rise over the following years. In fact, in keeping with the ‘winner’s curse’ phase of the cycle described by the author, prices rose by more than 10% per annum in Britain. Harrison’s first book, The Power in the Land, predicted the early 1990s recession. Boom Bust, warned that investing in property is not always a safe bet, because the housing market is subject to a sharp downturn at the end of a remarkably regular 18-year cycle. The crash of 2007/8 occurred exactly as predicted. His forecast was based on a careful study of the evidence from property markets in many countries over the last 200 years. Gordon Brown’s claim, last made in his 2007 Budget speech, that ‘we will never return to the old boom and bust’ has been proved false. The reason for the instability, Harrison explains, is not the housing market itself but the land market on which all buildings stand. Land is in fixed supply ‘ as Mark Twain noted: ‘They’re not making any more of it’. Therefore, as the demand for land for new homes and offices rises with population growth and economic expansion, market forces, which normally increase supply to reduce prices, have the reverse effect: prices rise. This encourages speculation, with banks lending more against escalating asset values and reinforcing the upward spiral. Under existing government policies, the only way land prices can be brought back to affordable levels is a slump, undermining the banking system and causing widespread unemployment and repossessions. This is exactly what happened in America with the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market. The run on Northern Rock showed the UK economy is not immune. The author reveals that the government’s monetary policy only has a marginal impact on land speculation, but as the Bank of England raises interest rates to curb house price inflation, the main victim is the first-time buyer and the productive economy, especially small businesses. The only way to neutralise the boom bust cycle in the housing market is through a reform of taxation, he claims. ‘This book is an important contribution to an overdue debate.’ Martin Ricketts, Chairman of the Academic Advisory Council of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor of Economic Organisation, University of Buckingham. Endorsing the thrust of Harrison’s argument, Prof. Ricketts goes on to acknowledge ‘that insufficient attention has been given by policymakers to the rent of land as socially the most efficient source of public revenue’, and that that will ‘have important practical consequences … for the stability of the economic system’. Economic stability is the objective of Gordon Brown and most governments around the world. Harrison explains how this may be achieved.

St Claire Bullock - a Professor of Philosophy, no less - in the intervals between pondering the great questions of life, turned his hand to penning light verse in the manner of Hilaire Belloc, Ogden Nash and Edward Lear. In rhyming couplets these wry and witty poems ponder the foibles and vanities of mortals. Some of these are captured in pen and ink drawings which caricature the subject of the poems. Each character is given an amusing name, beginning with Master Cecil Abercorn, through Clarence Castle, Serena Huff, The Marchioness of Mal de Mer, Major Houghton Reid and Thomas Tinkham Tattersall to Roland Washburn White. There are 70 poems in all of which 10 are illustrated. The illustration on the front cover relates to Rupert Ashe: 'The greatest pride of Rupert Ashe was his luxuriant moustache. He took great care to keep it groomed, And even, with restraint, perfumed. He brushed it upward every day, and it made such a grand display, that people who were not the wiser, imagined that he was the Kaiser.'