Terror stalks a small Virginia town FBI rising star and criminal profiler Evelyn Baine knows how to think like a serial killer. But she’s never chased anyone like the Bakersville Burier, who hunts young women and displays them, half-buried, deep in the woods. As the body count climbs, Evelyn’s relentless pursuit of the killer puts her career—and her life—at risk. And the evil lurking in the Burier’s mind may be more than even she can unravel. Terror is closer than she thinks… The Bakersville Burier knows he’s got an FBI profiler on his trail. He knows who she is and where to find her. And he’s biding his time, because he’s planned a special punishment for Evelyn. She may have tracked other killers, but he vows to make this her last chase. This time it’s her turn to be hunted! Praise for Elizabeth Heiter “Gripping from the first page, VANISHED will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way to its searing conclusion…a roller coaster of a thriller.” — Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author

Never mess with the Queen Bee! In high school, popularity can mean everything – especially when you don’t have it. This collection of four young adult novels tackles the ups and downs of climbing the slippery high school social ladder with sharp biting humour, powerful emotion and characters that every teenage girl will relate to! Featuring New Girl and Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison, Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett and Speechless by Hannah Harrington

If street magic was easy, everyone would be doing it. I’m Domino Riley, an enforcer for Shanar Rashan. Like most mob bosses in L.A., he’s a powerful sorcerer, battling for control of the city, gathering up the magic of violent and powerful emotions and storing it for his own use. Rashan saved me from the streets and made me his lieutenant. You could say I’m his go-to girl. Recently, a fellow gangster was ritually executed, and now I have to find out which of Rashan’s enemies was behind it—and why. The cryptic messages I’m getting from the Beyond tell me it wasn’t a simple hit. With the bodies piling up, I need to win an occult gang war, take out the supernatural traitor within our outfit, and, oh yeah, deal with the mixed messages I’m getting from the boss’s son… MOB RULES

Once touched… Marisa Somerville has changed. Now a confident, groomed, successful businesswoman, she’s nothing like the scared wife of an abusive husband that Rafe Peveril survived a plane crash with six years ago. Never forgotten… She has a different name, but he’d know those siren green eyes, and lush lips anywhere. Yet she insists they’ve never met and Rafe wants to know why. She might deny knowing him but she can’t deny how she responds to his touch…

HER LIFE IS ON THE LINE For a year, U.S. Marshal Hunter Davis has protected witness Annie Delacorte and her toddler daughter. But now, someone is determined to stop Annie from testifying against the men who killed her husband. To guard Annie, by-the-book Hunter will have to break a promise to himself: to not get emotionally involved. After all, he already cares more deeply than he ever imagined for the sweet family of two . . . a family he’ll do anything to keep safe and sound by his side. Witness Protection: Hiding in plain sight.

His only chance to be a father… Navy SEAL captain Nikos Vassalos is a shell of the man he once was. Tortured by PTSD, he isolates himself on his luxury yacht. But his bitter solitude is interrupted–by a heavily pregnant woman who tells him he's about to be a dad! Putting her own deep-rooted fears of rejection aside, Stephanie Marsh is determined that her baby will know its father. Only this cold, suspicious Nikos is not the man she once fell for. Will the tiny miracle growing inside her help them find the happy ending they both deserve–together?

The Sheriff’s Second Chance She’d left him to pursue her dreams right after high school, but now Caitlyn Cavanaugh is back. Deputy Sheriff Nathan Jeffries doesn’t know what to do, but it’s his job to rescue this damsel in distress from a series of minor mishaps. The single dad’s strategy: keep it professional and don’t fall for Caitie again!

‘A compelling new fantasy series.’- SFX on Sea Glass ‘Snyder delivers another excellent adventure.’ - Publishers Weekly 'Spellbinding romantic adventure that will leave readers salivating for the next book in the series.’-USA Today on Touch of Power-USA TODAY THE FINAL BATTLE BEGINS… Powerful healer Avry knows hardship and trouble. She fought a plague and survived. She took on corrupt King Tohon and defeated him. But now her true love, Kerrick, is missing and Avry fears he’s gone forever. Yet she faces a more immediate – and deadly – threat. The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With the territories’ armies in disarray and the dead not staying dead, Avry’s powers are needed now more than ever. Torn between love and loyalty, she must choose her path carefully. For the future of Avry’s world depends on her decision…

Speed up the software delivery process and software productivity using the latest features of Jenkins About This Book ? Take advantage of a Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery solution to speed up productivity and achieve faster software delivery ? See all the new features introduced in Jenkins 2.x, such as Pipeline as code, Multibranch pipeline, Docker Plugin, and more ? Learn to implement Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery by orchestrating multiple DevOps tools using Jenkins Who This Book Is For The book is for those with little or no previous experience with Agile or CI and CD. It’s a good starting point for anyone new to this field who wants to leverage the benefits of CI and CD to increase productivity and reduce delivery time. It’s ideal for Build and Release engineers, DevOps engineers, SCM (Software Configuration Management) engineers, developers, testers, and project managers. If you’re already using Jenkins for CI, you can take your project to the next level—CD. What You Will Learn ? Get to know some of the most popular ways to set up Jenkins ? See all the new features introduced in the latest Jenkins, such as pipeline as code, Multibranch pipeline, and more ? Manage users, projects, and permissions in Jenkins to ensure better security ? Leverage the power of plugins in Jenkins ? Learn how to create a CI pipeline using Jenkins Blue Ocean ? Create a distributed build farm using Docker and use it with Jenkins ? Implement CI and CD using Jenkins ? See the difference between CD and Continuous Deployment ? Understand the concepts of CI In Detail In past few years, agile software development has seen tremendous growth. There is a huge demand for software delivery solutions that are fast yet flexible to numerous amendments. As a result, Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) methodologies are gaining popularity. This book starts off by explaining the concepts of CI and its significance in the Agile. Next, you'll learn how to configure and set up Jenkins in many different ways. The book exploits the concept of "pipeline as code" and various other features introduced in the Jenkins 2.x release to their full potential. We also talk in detail about the new Jenkins Blue Ocean interface and the features that help to quickly and easily create a CI pipeline. Then we dive into the various features offered by Jenkins one by one, exploiting them for CI and CD. Jenkins' core functionality and flexibility allows it to fit in a variety of environments and can help streamline the development process for all stakeholders. Next, you'll be introduced to CD and will learn how to achieve it using Jenkins. Through this book's wealth of best practices and real-world tips, you'll discover how easy it is to implement CI and CD using Jenkins. Style and approach The book uses a simple Maven project to demonstrate the implementation of CI and CD using Jenkins. This step-by-step guide shows you how to implement CI/CD and can be used as a template to perform CI/CD in your projects.

A practical book which will help the readers understand how the container ecosystem and OpenStack work together. About This Book ? Gets you acquainted with containerization in private cloud ? Learn to effectively manage and secure your containers in OpenStack ? Practical use cases on container deployment and management using OpenStack components Who This Book Is For This book is targeted towards cloud engineers, system administrators, or anyone from the production team who works on OpenStack cloud. This book act as an end to end guide for anyone who wants to start using the concept of containerization on private cloud. Some basic knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes will help. What You Will Learn ? Understand the role of containers in the OpenStack ecosystem ? Learn about containers and different types of container runtimes tools. ? Understand containerization in OpenStack with respect to the deployment framework, platform services, application deployment, and security ? Get skilled in using OpenStack to run your applications inside containers ? Explore the best practices of using containers in OpenStack. In Detail Containers are one of the most talked about technologies of recent times. They have become increasingly popular as they are changing the way we develop, deploy, and run software applications. OpenStack gets tremendous traction as it is used by many organizations across the globe and as containers gain in popularity and become complex, it’s necessary for OpenStack to provide various infrastructure resources for containers, such as compute, network, and storage. Containers in OpenStack answers the question, how can OpenStack keep ahead of the increasing challenges of container technology? You will start by getting familiar with container and OpenStack basics, so that you understand how the container ecosystem and OpenStack work together. To understand networking, managing application services and deployment tools, the book has dedicated chapters for different OpenStack projects: Magnum, Zun, Kuryr, Murano, and Kolla. Towards the end, you will be introduced to some best practices to secure your containers and COE on OpenStack, with an overview of using each OpenStack projects for different use cases. Style and approach An end to end guide for anyone who wants to start using the concept of containerization on private cloud.

Learn to build professional full-stack web apps with Vue.js and Laravel About This Book ? End-to-end guide on full-stack development with Vue.js 2 and Laravel 5 ? Developing modern user interfaces with a reusable component-based architecture ? Use Webpack to improve applications performance and development workflow ? Explore the features of Vuex to build applications that are powerful, consistent, and maintainable Who This Book Is For This book targets developers who are new to Vue.js, Laravel, or both, and are seeking a practical, best-practice approach to development with these technologies. They must have some knowledge of HTML, CSS and Java*. What You Will Learn ? Core features of Vue.js to create sophisticated user interfaces ? Build a secure backend API with Laravel ? Learn a state-of-the-art web development workflow with Webpack ? Full-stack app design principles and best practices ? Learn to deploy a full-stack app to a cloud server and CDN ? Managing complex application state with Vuex ? Securing a web service with Laravel Passport In Detail Vue is a JavaScript framework that can be used for anything from simple data display to sophisticated front-end applications and Laravel is a PHP framework used for developing fast and secure web-sites. This book gives you practical knowledge of building modern full-stack web apps from scratch using Vue with a Laravel back end. In this book, you will build a room-booking website named "Vuebnb". This project will show you the core features of Vue, Laravel and other state-of-the-art web development tools and techniques. The book begins with a thorough introduction to Vue.js and its core concepts like data binding, directives and computed properties, with each concept being explained first, then put into practice in the case-study project. You will then use Laravel to set up a web service and integrate the front end into a full-stack app. You will be shown a best-practice development workflow using tools like Webpack and Laravel Mix. With the basics covered, you will learn how sophisticated UI features can be added using ES+ syntax and a component-based architecture. You will use Vue Router to make the app multi-page and Vuex to manage application state. Finally, you will learn how to use Laravel Passport for authenticated AJAX requests between Vue and the API, completing the full-stack architecture. Vuebnb will then be prepared for production and deployed to a free Heroku cloud server. Style and approach Learn front-end Vue techniques, back-end Laravel skills, and put them together to build a working application

This book will help you take your first steps in the WordPress theme development process, with 5 different projects centered around creating unique and responsive WordPress themes About This Book ? Learn the basics of WordPress theme development in a step by step manner ? Make your themes more dynamic by integrating components of Bootstrap and JQuery ? 5 carefully-selected projects to help you get beyond the theory and create highly marketable WordPress themes from scratch Who This Book Is For If you are a blogger or a WordPress user who wants to learn how to create attractive, eye-catching WordPress themes, this book is for you. A basic understanding of HTML5, CSS, PHP, and some creativity is all you need to get started with this book. What You Will Learn ? Simple and advanced themes – covers basic syntax and files along with archives and search pages ? Photo Gallery – add simple animation and use the W3.CSS framework to design a photo gallery theme ? Wordstrap – incorporate Twitter Bootstrap into the theme and use the WP_NavWalker class ? E-commerce theme – build an e-commerce theme using the Foundation framework In Detail WordPress has emerged as a powerful, easy-to-use tool to design attractive, engaging websites. Themes play a big role in making WordPress as popular as it is today, and having an eye-catching, fully-functional theme could separate your website from the rest! This book will help you take your first steps in the WordPress theme development process, with 5 different projects centered around creating unique and responsive WordPress themes. Start with creating a simple WordPress theme using HTML5, CSS, and PHP. Then, you will move on to incorporate different APIs, widgets, and tools such as Bootstrap and jQuery to create more dynamic and highly-functional themes. Whether you want to create a photo gallery theme, a highly customizable e-commerce theme, or a theme designed to suit a particular business, this book will teach you everything you need to know. By the end of this highly interactive book, you will have the required mastery to develop WordPress themes from scratch. Style and approach This book takes a projects-based approach, where every project incrementally builds on your programming skills required to create different kinds of WordPress themes. With the difficulty of the projects ranging from basic to complex, this book will help you get beyond the theory and put your understanding of WordPress theme development to practical use.

Expert techniques for building fast servers and scalable, real-time network applications with minimal effort; rewritten for Node.js 8 and Node.js 9 About This Book ? Packed with practical examples and explanations, Mastering Node.js contains everything you need to take your applications to the next level. ? Unleash the full potential of Node.js 9 to build real-time and scalable applications. ? Gain in-depth knowledge of asynchronous programming, event loops, and parallel data processing. ? Explore Node's innovative event-non-blocking design, and build professional applications with the help of detailed examples. Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at JavaScript developers who want to take an in-depth look at the latest Node.js framework to create faster, scalable, real-time backend applications. Basic JavaScript programming knowledge—and also some previous Node.js development experience—are mandatory to get the best out of this book What You Will Learn ? Build an Electron desktop app using Node that manages a filesystem ? Explore Streams and understand how they apply to building networked services ? Develop and deploy an SMS-driven customer service application ? Use WebSockets for rapid bi-directional communication ? Construct serverless applications with Amazon Lambda ? Test and debug with headless browsers, CPU profiling, Mocha, Sinon, and more ? Scale applications vertically and horizontally across multiple cores and web services In Detail Node.js, a modern development environment that enables developers to write server- and client-side code with JavaScript, thus becoming a popular choice among developers. This book covers the features of Node that are especially helpful to developers creating highly concurrent real-time applications. It takes you on a tour of Node's innovative event non-blocking design, showing you how to build professional applications. This edition has been updated to cover the latest features of Node 9 and ES6. All code examples and demo applications have been completely rewritten using the latest techniques, introducing Promises, functional programming, async/await, and other cutting-edge patterns for writing JavaScript code. Learn how to use microservices to simplify the design and composition of distributed systems. From building serverless cloud functions to native C++ plugins, from chatbots to massively scalable SMS-driven applications, you'll be prepared for building the next generation of distributed software. By the end of this book, you'll be building better Node applications more quickly, with less code and more power, and know how to run them at scale in production environments. Style and approach Mastering Node.js contains all of the examples and explanations you'll need to build applications in a short amount of time and at a low cost, running rapidly and at scale.

Design and build land, air, and sea drones using Ardupilot with Pixhawk 2.1 About This Book ? Explore the best practices used by the top industry professionals that will not only help you build drones in time, but also build effective solutions to cater to. ? Navigate through the complexities of Ardupilot to put together a complete functional UAV and assemble your drone ? Learn through practical examples that help you build robust UAV flight and ground control components Who This Book Is For The primary audience for this book is anyone (enthusiasts and hobbyists) who dream of building their own drones. It will also help those who are trying to build UAVs for commercial purposes. Some prior experience with microcontrollers and electronics would be useful. What You Will Learn ? Kitbash "dumb" objects into smart ones ? Program Pixhawk for your drones ? Fabricate your own parts out of different materials ? Integrate Pixhawk into different types of drones ? Build and understand the significant difference between land, sea, and air drones ? Adapt old Pixhawk sensors to the new Pixhawk 2.1 plugs ? Become familiar with procedures for testing your new drones In Detail The Ardupilot platform is an application ecosystem that encompasses various OS projects for drone programming, flight control, and advanced functionalities.The Ardupilot platform supports many Comms and APIs, such as DroneKit, ROS, and MAVLink. It unites OS drone projects to provide a common codebase. With the help of this book, you will have the satisfaction of building a drone from scratch and exploring its many recreational uses (aerial photography, playing, aerial surveillance, and so on). This book helps individuals and communities build powerful UAVs for both personal and commercial purposes. You will learn to unleash the Ardupilot technology for building, monitoring, and controlling your drones.This is a step-by-step guide covering practical examples and instructions for assembling a drone, building ground control unit using microcontrollers, QgroundControl, and MissionPlanner. You can further build robotic applications on your drone utilizing critical software libraries and tools from the ROS framework. With the help of DroneKit and MAVLink (for reliable communication), you can customize applications via cloud and mobile to interact with your UAV. Style and approach Step-by-step instructions to help assemble your first drone with the Ardupilot platform.

Learn how to leverage the features of the new Entity Framework Core APIs and use them to build pure .NET Core applications. About This Book ? Learn how to effectively manage your database to make it more productive and maintainable. ? Write simplified queries using LINQ to acquire the desired data easily ? Raise the abstraction level from data to objects so teams can function independently, resulting in easily maintainable code Who This Book Is For This book is for .NET Core developers who would like to integrate EF Core in their application. Prior knowledge of .NET Core and C# is assumed. What You Will Learn ? Create databases and perform CRUD operations on them ? Understand and build relationships (related to entities, keys, and properties) ? Understand in-built, custom, and remote validation (both client and server side) ? You will learn to handle concurrency to build responsive applications ? You will handle transactions and multi-tenancy while also improving performance In Detail Being able to create and maintain data-oriented applications has become crucial in modern programming. This is why Microsoft came up with Entity Framework so architects can optimize storage requirements while also writing efficient and maintainable application code. This book is a comprehensive guide that will show how to utilize the power of the Entity Framework to build efficient .NET Core applications. It not only teaches all the fundamentals of Entity Framework Core but also demonstrates how to use it practically so you can implement it in your software development. The book is divided into three modules. The first module focuses on building entities and relationships. Here you will also learn about different mapping techniques, which will help you choose the one best suited to your application design. Once you have understood the fundamentals of the Entity Framework, you will move on to learn about validation and querying in the second module. It will also teach you how to execute raw SQL queries and extend the Entity Framework to leverage Query Objects using the Query Object Pattern. The final module of the book focuses on performance optimization and managing the security of your application. You will learn to implement failsafe mechanisms using concurrency tokens. The book also explores row-level security and multitenant databases in detail. By the end of the book, you will be proficient in implementing Entity Framework on your .NET Core applications. Style and approach This book is filled with various examples that will help you use Entity Framework Core 2.0 to write efficient software.

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 #.

Over 80 recipes to help you improve vSphere 6.5's performance and solve problems before they arise About This Book ? The practical recipes provide cost-effective and high performance for any application running in a virtual machine ? Contains best practices and troubleshooting techniques to resolve vSphere 6.5 performance issues ? Get a comprehensive coverage of performance issues and solutions including vCenter Server design and virtual machine and application tuning Who This Book Is For If you are a system administrator and are planning to deploy vSphere 6.5 in your organization and want to maximize its performance, then this book is for you. Prior knowledge of the vSphere 6.5 concepts is essential. What You Will Learn ? Understand the VMM Scheduler, cache aware CPU Scheduler, NUMA aware CPU Scheduler, and more during the CPU Performance Design phase ? Get to know the virtual memory reclamation technique, host ballooning monitoring, and swapping activity ? Choose the right platform while designing your vCenter Server, redundant vCenter design, and vCenter SSO and its deployment ? Learn how to use various performance simulation tools ? Design VCSA Server Certificates to minimize security threats ? Use health check tools for storage and boost vSphere 6.5's performance with VAAI and VASA In Detail vSphere is a mission-critical piece of software for many businesses. It is a complex tool, and incorrect design and deployment can create performance related issues that can negatively affect the business. This book is focused on solving these problems as well as providing best practices and performance-enhancing techniques. This edition is fully updated to include all the new features in version 6.5 as well as the latest tools and techniques to keep vSphere performing at its best. This book starts with interesting recipes, such as the interaction of vSphere 6.5 components with physical layers such as CPU, memory, and networking. Then we focus on DRS, resource control design, and vSphere cluster design. Next, you'll learn about storage performance design and how it works with VMware vSphere 6.5. Moving on, you will learn about the two types of vCenter installation and the benefits of each. Lastly, the book covers performance tools that help you get the most out of your vSphere installation. By the end of this book, you will be able to identify, diagnose, and troubleshoot operational faults and critical performance issues in vSphere 6.5. Style and approach This cookbook is written in a practical, helpful style with numerous recipes focusing on answering and providing solutions to common and not-so-common performance issues and problems.