Two remarkably different worlds—one of wealth and privilege, the other of poverty and desperation—are about to collide in one shattering moment in this mesmerizing tale of high drama, forbidden love, and families fighting to hold on to what they haveUpstairs: Lord Netherwood, a coal baron, earns his considerable wealth from the three mines he owns. Supplying a bustling industrial empire with the highest-quality coal keeps his coffers filled—money he needs to run his splendid estate, Netherwood Hall, and to dress his wife and daughters in the latest fashions. And keeping his heir, the charming but feckless Tobias, out of trouble, doesn't come cheap.Downstairs: Eve Williams, the wife of one of Lord Netherwood's most stalwart employees, cleverly manages her family's well-being on the low wages her hardworking husband earns in the mines. But when her ordered life amid the terraced rows of miners' houses is brought crashing down by the twin arrivals of tragedy and charity, Eve must look to her own self-sufficiency and talent to provide for her three young children. And soon the divide between "upstairs" and "downstairs" is about to close . . .and neither world will ever be the same.

The beach house is a peaceful haven, a place to escape everyday problems. Here, three families find their feelings intensified and their lives transformed each summer.When thirty-year-old Julia, mourning the death of her husband, decides to sell the Santa Cruz beach house they owned together, she sets in motion a final summer that will change the lives of all the families who rent it year after year. Teenaged Chris discovers the bittersweet joy of first love. Maggie and Joe, married sixty-five years, courageously face a separation that even their devotion cannot prevent. The married woman Peter yearns for suddenly comes within his reach. And Julia ultimately finds the strength to rebuild her life—something she once thought impossible.With equal measures of heartbreak and happiness, bestselling author Georgia Bockoven's unforgettable novel tells of the beauty of life and the power of love, and speaks to every woman who has ever clung to a child or loved a man.

Danny Shanklin is the world's most wanted man.Hunted by nine international intelligence agencies for a terrorist atrocity he did not commit, he's now trapped in a deadly race against the clock to protect his life, his family, and the world from the people responsible—people intent on true destruction. For though they framed him, these terrorists are really after a much bigger target: six lethal smallpox formulations, any one of which could trigger a global pandemic, leaving only one in three people alive.With the help of a Ukrainian mercenary and a ruthless female assassin, Danny soon finds himself forced into the roles of both predator and prey—as he tries desperately to win the fight of his life.

Explore real-world threat scenarios, attacks on mobile applications, and ways to counter them About This Book Gain insights into the current threat landscape of mobile applications in particular Explore the different options that are available on mobile platforms and prevent circumventions made by attackers This is a step-by-step guide to setting up your own mobile penetration testing environment Who This Book Is For If you are a mobile application evangelist, mobile application developer, information security practitioner, penetration tester on infrastructure web applications, an application security professional, or someone who wants to learn mobile application security as a career, then this book is for you. This book will provide you with all the skills you need to get started with Android and iOS pen-testing. What You Will Learn Gain an in-depth understanding of Android and iOS architecture and the latest changes Discover how to work with different tool suites to assess any application Develop different strategies and techniques to connect to a mobile device Create a foundation for mobile application security principles Grasp techniques to attack different components of an Android device and the different functionalities of an iOS device Get to know secure development strategies for both iOS and Android applications Gain an understanding of threat modeling mobile applications Get an in-depth understanding of both Android and iOS implementation vulnerabilities and how to provide counter-measures while developing a mobile app In Detail Mobile security has come a long way over the last few years. It has transitioned from "should it be done?" to "it must be done!"Alongside the growing number of devises and applications, there is also a growth in the volume of Personally identifiable information (PII), Financial Data, and much more. This data needs to be secured. This is why Pen-testing is so important to modern application developers. You need to know how to secure user data, and find vulnerabilities and loopholes in your application that might lead to security breaches. This book gives you the necessary skills to security test your mobile applications as a beginner, developer, or security practitioner. You'll start by discovering the internal components of an Android and an iOS application. Moving ahead, you'll understand the inter-process working of these applications. Then you'll set up a test environment for this application using various tools to identify the loopholes and vulnerabilities in the structure of the applications. Finally, after collecting all information about these security loop holes, we'll start securing our applications from these threats. Style and approach This is an easy-to-follow guide full of hands-on examples of real-world attack simulations. Each topic is explained in context with respect to testing, and for the more inquisitive, there are more details on the concepts and techniques used for different platforms.

Over 40 practical recipes to get your hands dirty with the powerful Cisco UCS and overcome various challenges About This Book Master the skills of minimizing cost, enabling your business to work faster by reducing cycle times for reporting and improving overall revenue Work through hands-on recipes for efficient deployment approaches, see computing techniques, and explore new operational models with UCS Render a better work-flow management, ensure effective monitoring, and learn new deployment paradigms for the operational infrastructure with the help of this book Who This Book Is For This book is for competent system/network or storage administrators who are working with Cisco UCS, but now want to learn new ways to compute UCS. What You Will Learn Familiarize yourself with information on the latest information on memory management practices, virtualization architectures, and the specific technical advantages of UCS Get a concrete understanding of integrating processes and techniques to ensure effective convergence of LAN/SAN Get to know the best practices of Cisco UCS, EMC Storage, and VMware vSphere Master migrating data from other band servers or Blade to Cisco UCS Comprehend how to replicate and back up UCS to remote sites UCS Assimilate innovative techniques to deploy UCS to leverage its full potential Gather information on installing and configuring automatic and manual Pinning Discover ways to integrate a system in Cisco UCS In Detail Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is a data center server platform that is used for computing, deploying, and storing resources in data center environments. This cookbook aims to teach you about various tasks you can implement to improve your existing method of configuring and deploying UCS. You will start by learning how to upgrade your firmware on Brocade and Cisco Fibre Channel Switch and will move on to enhance your knowledge of LAN connectivity. We will then discuss how to configure Windows 2008 and 2012 local boot in Cisco UCS. Next, you will learn how to install the operating system on Cisco UCS and use Cisco UCS Power Calculator to calculate the UCS consumption. Finally, we’ll take a look at backup solutions. By the end of the book, you will know several ways to build and compute in data center environment using Cisco UCS. Style and approach This guide explains every task in a conversational and easy-to-follow style. You can open this book up to the task you want to learn and will be able to perform that task by the end of the recipe.

Over 35 recipes to design and implement uniquely styled maps using the Mapbox platform About This Book Design and develop beautifully styled maps using TileMill, MapBox Studio, and CartoCSS Get to grips with the mapbox.js and Leaflet to create visually stunning web and mobile applications An easy-to-follow, quick reference guide to integrate powerful APIs and services like Foursquare, Fusion Tables, Geoserver, and CartoDB to populate your maps Who This Book Is For If you are a web developer seeking for GIS expertise on how to create, style, and publish interactive and unique styled maps, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of programming and java*s is assumed. What You Will Learn Get accustomed to the MapBox Editor to visually style your maps Learn everything about CartoCSS, and how it will help you fine tune your styled maps Use MapBox Studio and Tilemill to generate your own tiles and vector maps Publish your maps using a variety of technologies like node.js, PHP, and Geoserver Integrate with third party APIs and services to populate your maps with public or private data Create many different map visualization styles like choropleth and heat maps, add interactivity, and even learn how to animate data over time Work with many different data formats and external services to create robust maps Learn to use MapBox GL to create a mobile application In Detail Maps are an essential element in today’s location aware applications. Right from displaying earth surface information to creating thematic maps displaying plethora of information, most of the developers lack the necessary knowledge to create customizable maps with combination of various tools and libraries. The MapBox platform is one such platform which offers all the tools and API required to create and publish a totally customizable map. Starting with building your first map with the online MapBox Editor, we will take you all the way to building advanced web and mobile applications with totally customizable map styles. Through the course of chapters we’ll learn CartoCSS styling language and understand the various components of MapBox platform and their corresponding JavaScript API. In the initial few chapters we will dive deeper into the TileMill and MapBox Studio components of MapBox and use them to generate custom styled map tiles and vector maps. Furthermore, we will publish these custom maps using PHP, node.js and third party tools like Geoserver. We’ll also learn to create different visualizations and map styles like a choropleth map, a heat map and add user interactivity using a UFTGrid. Moving on, we dive into advanced concepts and focus on integration with third party services like Foursquare, Google FusionTables, CartoDB, and Torque to help you populate and even animate your maps. In the final chapter we’ll learn to use the Mapbox SDK to create and publish interactive maps for the iOS platform. By the end of this book, you will learn about MapBox GL and how to create a fully functional, location-aware mobile app, using the maps styles created in the recipes. Style and approach An easy-to-use recipe driven book that will not just serve code samples, but also explains all the theory and concepts required to fully understand each recipe.

Develop the skills required to create compelling, maintainable, and robust iOS and OS X apps with Swift About This Book Write expressive, understandable, and maintainable Swift 2 code with this hands-on tutorial Unveil the complex underpinnings of Swift to turn your app ideas into reality This book is packed with real-life examples to help you implement concepts as you learn Who This Book Is For If you are looking to build iOS or OS X apps using the most modern technology, this book is ideal for you. You will find this book especially useful if you are new to programming or if you are yet to develop for iOS or OS X. No prior programming exposure is required. What You Will Learn Form a solid understanding of the Swift 2 language Get to know the practical aspects of how a computer program actually works Understand the paradigms used by Apple’s frameworks so you are not intimidated by them Utilize the vast resources written in Objective-C to better inform your Swift programming Develop a basic portfolio of Swift code by learning the critical concepts Experience both object-oriented and functional programming Get to know the new coding techniques made available by Swift 2 Discover resources to ensure you never stop becoming a better developer In Detail Swift is Apple’s new programming language and the future of iOS and OS X app development. It is a high-performance language that feels like a modern *ing language. On the surface, Swift is easy to jump into, but it has complex underpinnings that are critical to becoming proficient at turning an idea into reality. This book is an approachable, step-by-step introduction into programming with Swift for everyone. It begins by giving you an overview of the key features through practical examples and progresses to more advanced topics that help differentiate the proficient developers from the mediocre ones. It covers important concepts such as Variables, Optionals, Closures, Generics, and Memory Management. Mixed in with those concepts, it also helps you learn the art of programming such as maintainability, useful design patterns, and resources to further your knowledge. This all culminates in writing a basic iOS app that will get you well on your way to turning your own app ideas into reality. Style and approach This is an approachable, step-by-step guide to programming in Swift 2. Each topic is separated into compressible sections that are full of practical examples and easy-to-understand explanations. Each section builds on the previous topics so you can develop a proficient and comprehensive understanding of app development in Swift 2.

Master Drupal 8’s new Twig templating engine to create fun and fast websites with simple steps to help you move from concept to completion About This Book Create beautiful responsive Drupal 8 websites using Twig Quickly master theme administration, custom block layouts, views, and the Twig template structure A step-by-step guide to the most common approaches in web design Who This Book Is For This book is intended for front-end developers, designers, and anyone who is generally interested in learning all the new features of Drupal 8 theming. Discover what has changed from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and immerse yourself in the new Twig PHP templating engine. Familiarity with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and the Drupal Admin interface would be helpful. Prior experience with setting up and configuring a standalone development environment is required as we will be working with PHP and MySQL. What You Will Learn Navigate the Drupal 8 Admin interface Build custom block layouts with reusable and fieldable blocks Create subthemes based on the Bartik and Classy base themes Construct a responsive theme with Twitter Bootstrap Work with the new Twig PHP templating engine Configure Drupal for Twig debugging Enable preprocessing of Twig variables Develop a theme from scratch following a step-by-step project outline In Detail Drupal 8 is an open source content management system and powerful framework that helps deliver great websites to individuals and organizations, including non-profits, commercial, and government around the globe. This new release has been built on top of object-oriented PHP and includes more than a handful of improvements such as a better user experience, cleaner HTML5 markup, a new templating engine called Twig, multilingual capabilities, new configuration management, and effortless content authoring. Drupal 8 will quickly become the new standard for deploying content to both the web and mobile applications. However, with so many new changes, it can quickly become overwhelming knowing where to start and how to quickly. Starting from the bottom up, we will install, set up, and configure Drupal 8. We’ll navigate the Admin interface so you can learn how to work with core themes and create new custom block layouts. Walk through a real-world project to create a Twig theme from concept to completion while adopting best practices to implement CSS frameworks and JavaScript libraries. We will see just how quick and easy it is to create beautiful, responsive Drupal 8 websites while avoiding the common mistakes that many front-end developers make. Style and approach Drupal 8 Theming with Twig is intended for front-end developers, designers, and anyone who is generally interested in learning all the new features of Drupal 8 theming. Discover what has changed from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and immerse yourself in the new Twig PHP templating engine. Familiarity with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and the Drupal Admin interface would be helpful. Prior experience with setting up and configuring a standalone development environment is required as we will be working with PHP and MySQL.

Your one-stop guide for building, configuring, maintaining, and deploying one of the world's fastest growing OSes About This Book Understand the features of CoreOS and learn to administrate and secure a CoreOS environment Develop, test, and deploy cloud services and applications more quickly and efficiently inside lightweight containers using CoreOS This is a complete tutorial on CoreOS, which is the preferred OS for cloud computing as it contains components that facilitate cloud management Who This Book Is For This book is for cloud or enterprise administrators and application developers who would like to gain knowledge about CoreOS to deploy a cloud application or micro-services on a cluster of cloud servers. It is also aimed at administrators with basic networking experience. You do not need to have any knowledge of CoreOS. What You Will Learn Understand the benefits of CoreOS as a cloud orchestration platform Learn about lightweight containers and various container frameworks such as Docker and RKT in CoreOS Manage services and containers across cluster using Fleet and systemd Set up a CoreOS environment using Vagrant Create and manage CoreOS clusters Discover the service parameters using etcd Find out about chaining services running on the cluster using Flannel / Rudder and Weave Create a virtual tenant network and service chaining using OVS In Detail CoreOS is an open source operating system developed upon the Linux kernel. The rise of CoreOS is directly related to the rise of Docker (a Linux container management system). It is a minimal operating system layer and takes a different approach to automating the deployment of containers. The major difference between CoreOS and other Linux distributions is that CoreOS was designed to deploy hundreds of servers. CoreOS immensely helps the users to create systems, which are easy to scale and manage, making life easier for all, be it developer, QA, or deployer. This book is all about setting up, deploying, and using CoreOS to manage clusters and clouds. It will help you understand what CoreOS is and its benefits as a cloud orchestration platform. First, we’ll show you how to set up a simple CoreOS instance with single node in the cluster and how to run a Docker container inside the CoreOS instance. Next, you’ll be introduced to Fleet and systemd, and will deploy and distribute Docker services across different nodes in cluster using Fleet. Later, you’ll be briefed about running services in a cluster with constraints, publishing the services already running on the cluster to new services, and making your services interact with each other. We conclude by teaching you about advanced container networking. By the end of the book, you will know the salient features of CoreOS and will be able to deploy, administrate, and secure a CoreOS environment. Style and approach This practical guide covers the basics and advanced topics related to CoreOS and lightweight containers. The topics are covered in an easy-to-follow manner with each feature explained in detail, beginning with a brief overview and followed by an explanation of its corresponding configuration files.

Get unstuck and start stacking! About This Book Easily fix the nagging problems that commonly plague OpenStack and become the go-to person in your organization Get better equipped to troubleshoot and solve common problems in performance, availability, and automation that confront production-ready OpenStack environments Save time and decrease frustration by solving significant issues that arise from OpenStack deployments pertaining to storage and networking Who This Book Is For You will need a basic understanding of OpenStack, Linux, and Cloud computing. If you have an understanding of Linux, this book will help you leverage that knowledge in the world of OpenStack, giving you confidence to tackle most issues that may arise. What You Will Learn Diagnose and remediate authentication and authorization problems in Keystone Fix common issues with images served through Glance Master the art of troubleshooting Neutron networking Navigate and overcome problems with Nova Troubleshoot and resolve Cinder block storage issues Identify and correct Swift object storage problems Isolate and fix issues caused by Heat orchestration Leverage Ceilometer and other metering and monitoring tools for effective troubleshooting In Detail OpenStack is a collection of software projects that work together to provide a cloud fabric. OpenStack is one of the fastest growing open source projects in history that unlocks cloud computing for everyone. With OpenStack, you are able to create public or private clouds on your own hardware. The flexibility and control afforded by OpenStack puts the cloud within reach of anyone willing to learn this technology. Starting with an introduction to OpenStack troubleshooting tools, we’ll walk through each OpenStack service and how you can quickly diagnose, troubleshoot, and correct problems in your OpenStack. Understanding the various projects and how they interact is essential for anyone attempting to troubleshoot an OpenStack cloud. We will start by explaining each of the major components and the dependencies between them, and move on to show you how to identify and utilize an effective set of OpenStack troubleshooting tools and fix common Keystone problems. Next, we will expose you to common errors and problems you may encounter when using the OpenStack Block Storage service (Cinder). We will then examine Heat, the OpenStack Orchestration Service, where you will learn how to trace errors, determine their root cause, and effectively correct the issue. Finally, you will get to know the best practices to architect your OpenStack cloud in order to achieve optimal performance, availability, and reliability. Style and approach This is straight-to-the point guide to fixing your OpenStack cluster. Common problems are identified and suggestions to resolve these problems are presented in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.

Over 50 practical recipes that will help you realize the full potential of Magento in order to build a professional online store About This Book Take advantage of the latest features in Magento 2 to set up an e-commerce store that fits your business needs Packed with several advanced recipes, not just to manage your online store, but to extend and design it as well Written in a cookbook style, you can pick and choose your recipe to carry out your day- to- day Magento store tasks Who This Book Is For The book is for existing Magento users who want to gain further expertise and insights into managing, designing, and extending their online store in Magento to fit their business needs. Working knowledge of Magento and basic familiarity with programming is expected. What You Will Learn Set up a Magento 2 project on Apache or Nginx. Transfer your Magento 1 database to Magento 2 using the Magento 2 system tools. Boost the performance of Magento 2 by enabling different types of caching. Build a Magento 2 multi-store by creating a root catalog, subdirectories, and products. Create and manage pages, blocks, and front-end apps. Manage your Magento store by setting up the correct TAX rules. Design custom themes within the Magento 2 framework. Create basic and advanced extensions using Magento 2. In Detail Magento 2 is an open source e-commerce platform that has all the functionality to function from small to large online stores. It is preferred by developers and merchants due to its new architecture, which makes it possible to extend the functionalities with plugins, a lot of which are now created by the community. This merchant and developer guide is packed with recipes that cover all aspects of Magento 2. The recipes start with simple how-to’s then delve into more advanced topics as the book progresses. We start with the basics of setting up a Magento 2 project on Apache or Nginx. Next, you will learn about basics including system tools and caching to get your Magento 2 system ready for the real work. We move on to simple tasks such as managing your store and catalog configuration. When you are familiar with this, we cover more complex features such as module and extension development. Then we will jump to the final part: advanced Magento 2 extensions. By the end of this book, you’ll be competent with all the development phases of Magento 2 and its most common elements. Style and approach Step by step guide for real world tasks for Magento users to gain a more advanced insight on managing, extending and designing their e-commerce store to fit their business needs.

Unleash the full potential of the Flask web framework by creating simple yet powerful web applications About This Book The most up-to-date book on Flask on the market Create your own world-class applications and master the art of Flask by unravelling its enigma through this journey This step-by-step tutorial is packed with examples on blending different technologies with Flask to get you up and running Who This Book Is For Have you looked at PHP and hated the clunky bloated syntaxOr looked at .Net and wished it was more open and flexibleMaybe you’ve tried your hand at GUI libraries in Python and found them hard to useIf your answer to any one of these questions is a yes, then this is just the book for you. It is also intended for people who know the basics of Python and want to learn how to use it to build powerful solutions with a web front-end. What You Will Learn Build three web applications from the ground up using the powerful Python micro framework, Flask. Dynamically display data to your viewers, based on their requests Store user and static data in SQL and NoSQL databases and use this data to power your web applications Create a good user experience by combining HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Harness the convenience of freely available APIs, including OpenWeatherMap, Open Exchange Rates, and bitly Extend your applications to build advanced functionality, such as a user account control system using Flask-Login Learn about web application security and defend against common attacks, such as SQL injection and XSS In Detail This book will take you on a journey from learning about web development using Flask to building fully functional web applications. In the first major project, we develop a dynamic Headlines application that displays the latest news headlines along with up-to-date currency and weather information. In project two, we build a Crime Map application that is backed by a MySQL database, allowing users to submit information on and the location of crimes in order to plot danger zones and other crime trends within an area. In the final project, we combine Flask with more modern technologies, such as Twitter's Bootstrap and the NoSQL database MongoDB, to create a Waiter Caller application that allows restaurant patrons to easily call a waiter to their table. This pragmatic tutorial will keep you engaged as you learn the crux of Flask by working on challenging real-world applications. Style and approach This book will provide you with rich, practical experience of Flask. Every technology, that is employed along with Flask is comprehensively introduced, while the book focusses on developing web applications. Pointers to educational material are always given if you want to gain in-depth knowledge of the various technologies used.

Employ the most advanced pentesting techniques and tools to build highly-secured systems and environments About This Book Learn how to build your own pentesting lab environment to practice advanced techniques Customize your own *s, and learn methods to exploit 32-bit and 64-bit programs Explore a vast variety of stealth techniques to bypass a number of protections when penetration testing Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who wants to improve their skills in penetration testing. As it follows a step-by-step approach, anyone from a novice to an experienced security tester can learn effective techniques to deal with highly secured environments. Whether you are brand new or a seasoned expert, this book will provide you with the skills you need to successfully create, customize, and plan an advanced penetration test. What You Will Learn A step-by-step methodology to identify and penetrate secured environments Get to know the process to test network services across enterprise architecture when defences are in place Grasp different web application testing methods and how to identify web application protections that are deployed Understand a variety of concepts to exploit software Gain proven post-exploitation techniques to exfiltrate data from the target Get to grips with various stealth techniques to remain undetected and defeat the latest defences Be the first to find out the latest methods to bypass firewalls Follow proven approaches to record and save the data from tests for analysis In Detail The defences continue to improve and become more and more common, but this book will provide you with a number or proven techniques to defeat the latest defences on the networks. The methods and techniques contained will provide you with a powerful arsenal of best practices to increase your penetration testing successes. The processes and methodology will provide you techniques that will enable you to be successful, and the step by step instructions of information gathering and intelligence will allow you to gather the required information on the targets you are testing. The exploitation and post-exploitation sections will supply you with the tools you would need to go as far as the scope of work will allow you. The challenges at the end of each chapter are designed to challenge you and provide real-world situations that will hone and perfect your penetration testing skills. You will start with a review of several well respected penetration testing methodologies, and following this you will learn a step-by-step methodology of professional security testing, including stealth, methods of evasion, and obfuscation to perform your tests and not be detected! The final challenge will allow you to create your own complex layered architecture with defences and protections in place, and provide the ultimate testing range for you to practice the methods shown throughout the book. The challenge is as close to an actual penetration test assignment as you can get! Style and approach The book follows the standard penetration testing stages from start to finish with step-by-step examples. The book thoroughly covers penetration test expectations, proper scoping and planning, as well as enumeration and foot printing

Develop your first interactive 2D platformer game by learning the fundamentals of C# About This Book Get to grips with the fundamentals of *ing in C# with Unity Create an awesome, 2D platformer game from scratch using the principles of object-oriented programming and coding in C# This is a step-by-step guide to learn the fundamentals of C# *ing to develop GameObjects and master the basics of the new UI system in Unity Who This Book Is For The book is targeted at beginner level Unity developers with no programming experience. If you are a Unity developer and you wish to learn how to write C# *s and code by creating games, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn Understand the fundamentals of variables, methods, and code syntax in C# Get to know about techniques to turn your game idea into working project Use loops and collections efficiently in Unity to reduce the amount of code Develop a game using the object-oriented programming principles Generate infinite levels for your game Create and code a good-looking functional UI system for your game Publish and share your game with users In Detail Unity is a cross-platform game engine that is used to develop 2D and 3D video games. Unity 5 is the latest version, released in March 2015, and adds a real-time global illumination to the games, and its powerful new features help to improve a game’s efficiency. This book will get you started with programming behaviors in C# so you can create 2D games in Unity. You will begin by installing Unity and learning about its features, followed by creating a C# *. We will then deal with topics such as unity *ing for you to understand how codes work so you can create and use C# variables and methods. Moving forward, you will find out how to create, store, and retrieve data from collection of objects. You will also develop an understanding of loops and their use, and you’ll perform object-oriented programming. This will help you to turn your idea into a ready-to-code project and set up a Unity project for production. Finally, you will discover how to create the GameManager class to manage the game play loop, generate game levels, and develop a simple UI for the game. By the end of this book, you will have mastered the art of applying C# in Unity. Style and approach This is a step-by-step guide to developing a game from scratch by applying the fundamentals of C# and Unity *ing.

Understand the fundamentals of machine learning with R and build your own dynamic algorithms to tackle complicated real-world problems successfully About This Book Get to grips with the concepts of machine learning through exciting real-world examples Visualize and solve complex problems by using power-packed R constructs and its robust packages for machine learning Learn to build your own machine learning system with this example-based practical guide Who This Book Is For If you are interested in mining useful information from data using state-of-the-art techniques to make data-driven decisions, this is a go-to guide for you. No prior experience with data science is required, although basic knowledge of R is highly desirable. Prior knowledge in machine learning would be helpful but is not necessary. What You Will Learn Utilize the power of R to handle data extraction, manipulation, and exploration techniques Use R to visualize data spread across multiple dimensions and extract useful features Explore the underlying mathematical and logical concepts that drive machine learning algorithms Dive deep into the world of analytics to predict situations correctly Implement R machine learning algorithms from scratch and be amazed to see the algorithms in action Write reusable code and build complete machine learning systems from the ground up Solve interesting real-world problems using machine learning and R as the journey unfolds Harness the power of robust and optimized R packages to work on projects that solve real-world problems in machine learning and data science In Detail Data science and machine learning are some of the top buzzwords in the technical world today. From retail stores to Fortune 500 companies, everyone is working hard to making machine learning give them data-driven insights to grow their business. With powerful data manipulation features, machine learning packages, and an active developer community, R empowers users to build sophisticated machine learning systems to solve real-world data problems. This book takes you on a data-driven journey that starts with the very basics of R and machine learning and gradually builds upon the concepts to work on projects that tackle real-world problems. You’ll begin by getting an understanding of the core concepts and definitions required to appreciate machine learning algorithms and concepts. Building upon the basics, you will then work on three different projects to apply the concepts of machine learning, following current trends and cover major algorithms as well as popular R packages in detail. These projects have been neatly divided into six different chapters covering the worlds of e-commerce, finance, and social-media, which are at the very core of this data-driven revolution. Each of the projects will help you to understand, explore, visualize, and derive insights depending upon the domain and algorithms. Through this book, you will learn to apply the concepts of machine learning to deal with data-related problems and solve them using the powerful yet simple language, R. Style and approach The book is an enticing journey that starts from the very basics to gradually pick up pace as the story unfolds. Each concept is first defined in the larger context of things succinctly, followed by a detailed explanation of their application. Each topic is explained with the help of a project that solves a real real-world problem involving hands-on work thus giving you a deep insight into the world of machine learning.

Discover the power of Drools 6 and Business Rules for developing complex scenarios in your applications About This Book Implement and model different rules using the DRL full syntax Model complex business decisions and domain models in order to automate and improve your operational decisions with the Drools framework A practical, fast-paced, hands-on guide to help you use the different components provided by the Drools Rule Engine Who This Book Is For This book is for Java developers and architects who need to have a deep understanding of how to create or integrate your applications with the Drools Rules Framework. The book assumes that you know the Java language well and also have experience with some widely used frameworks, such as Spring. You should also know the basics of Maven-based applications. What You Will Learn Automate your application’s decisions, such as promotion applying, discount policies, fraud detection, and more. Quickly get started with writing your first rules using the DRL full syntax. Discover the power of the new syntax components of the rule language. Define inferences in your business rules to simplify complex decisions. Write decision tables, templates,domain-specific languages, and scorecards, and learn how to map them to the Drools framework. Harness the full operational power of Drools through all of its configuration points. Use Drools configurations and architectures for different environments and scenarios. In Detail Mastering JBoss Drools 6 will provide you with the knowledge to develop applications involving complex scenarios. You will learn how to use KIE modules to create and execute Business Rules, and how the PHREAK algorithm internally works to drive the Rule Engine decisions. This book will also cover the relationship between Drools and jBPM, which allows you to enrich your applications by using Business Processes. You will be briefly introduced to the concept of complex event processing (Drools CEP) where you will learn how to aggregate and correlate your data based on temporal conditions. You will also learn how to define rules using domain-specific languages, such as spreadsheets, database entries, PMML, and more. Towards the end, this book will take you through the integration of Drools with the Spring and Camel frameworks for more complex applications. Style and approach Approached from a developer’s perspective, the book teaches you all the advanced concepts of Business Rules applicable examples with helpful screenshots, diagrams, tutorials, and examples.

Master the skills required to steer cross-platform applications from drawing board to app store(s) using Xamarin About This Book Develop your Xamarin development skills with this comprehensive guide on various patterns and features so you can create elegant and high-quality applications Create adaptive user interfaces on separate platforms without compromising the user experience and platform identity Implement application lifecycle management concepts to manage and finalize cross-platform projects and efficiently collaborate with others Who This Book Is For This book is ideal for those who want to take their entry–level Xamarin mobile development skills to the next level to become the go-to person within their organization. To fully understand the patterns and concepts described, you should possess a reasonable level of knowledge about the core elements of Xamarin and cross-platform application development with it. What You Will Learn Configure your environment for cross-platform projects with Xamarin Gain memory management skills to avoid memory leaks and premature code cycles while decreasing the memory print of your applications Employ asynchronous and parallel patterns to execute non-interactive and non-blocking processes Create and use SQLite databases for offline scenarios Integrate network resources with cross-platform applications Design and implement eye-catching and reusable UI components without compromising nativity in mobile applications Manage the application lifecycle of cross-platform development projects Distribute Xamarin applications through public or private channels In Detail The main goal of this book is to equip you with the required know-how to successfully analyze, develop, and manage Xamarin cross-platform projects using the most efficient, robust, and scalable implementation patterns. This book starts with general topics such as memory management, asynchronous programming, local storage, and networking, and later moves onto platform-specific features. During this transition, you will learn about key tools to leverage the patterns described, as well as advanced implementation strategies and features. The book also presents User Interface design and implementation concepts on Android and iOS platforms from a Xamarin and cross-platform perspective, with the goal to create a consistent but native UI experience. Finally, we show you the toolset for application lifecycle management to help you prepare the development pipeline to manage and see cross-platform projects through to public or private release. Style and approach This is a comprehensive guide on various Xamarin features and patterns. Each topic is explained and demonstrated with code samples, which are revised in each section in an iterative manner and analyzed with available diagnostic tools to demonstrate the benefits of different patterns.

Analyze data network like a professional by mastering Wireshark - From 0 to 1337 About This Book Master Wireshark and train it as your network sniffer Impress your peers and get yourself pronounced as a network doctor Understand Wireshark and its numerous features with the aid of this fast-paced book packed with numerous screenshots, and become a pro at resolving network anomalies Who This Book Is For Are you curious to know what’s going on in a networkDo you get frustrated when you are unable to detect the cause of problems in your networksThis is where the book comes into play. Mastering Wireshark is for developers or network enthusiasts who are interested in understanding the internal workings of networks and have prior knowledge of using Wireshark, but are not aware about all of its functionalities. What You Will Learn Install Wireshark and understand its GUI and all the functionalities of it Create and use different filters Analyze different layers of network protocols and know the amount of packets that flow through the network Decrypt encrypted wireless traffic Use Wireshark as a diagnostic tool and also for network security analysis to keep track of malware Troubleshoot all the network anomalies with help of Wireshark Resolve latencies and bottleneck issues in the network In Detail Wireshark is a popular and powerful tool used to analyze the amount of bits and bytes that are flowing through a network. Wireshark deals with the second to seventh layer of network protocols, and the analysis made is presented in a human readable form. Mastering Wireshark will help you raise your knowledge to an expert level. At the start of the book, you will be taught how to install Wireshark, and will be introduced to its interface so you understand all its functionalities. Moving forward, you will discover different ways to create and use capture and display filters. Halfway through the book, you’ll be mastering the features of Wireshark, analyzing different layers of the network protocol, looking for any anomalies. As you reach to the end of the book, you will be taught how to use Wireshark for network security analysis and configure it for troubleshooting purposes. Style and approach Every chapter in this book is explained to you in an easy way accompanied by real-life examples and screenshots of the interface, making it easy for you to become an expert at using Wireshark.

Build your own cloud based Database as a Service using OpenStack Trove About This Book Familiarize yourself with the concept of Database as a Service and make your existing system scalable and efficient with OpenStack Trove Minimize the administrative tasks and complexities of managing your cloud infrastructure This is a fast-paced guide to datastore management on the OpenStack platform using OpenStack Trove Who This Book Is For If you are a DBA / system administrator / architect, or a student who wants to build a Database as a Service based on OpenStack, this book is for you. You should have a basic knowledge of OpenStack components, RDBMS/NoSQL, IaaS, and cloud computing. What You Will Learn Get to grips with the basics of OpenStack and the prerequisites to install Trove Understand the expectations of DBaaS and how Trove can help you achieve them Set up a basic installation of DevStack (Development Stack) in a virtual box Install Trove and utilize its configuration groups to manage and tune databases Use Image builder to create guest images for Trove Utilize Trove to provision your first database instance Back up and restore your databases with the help of Trove In Detail OpenStack has become an extremely popular solution to build public and private clouds with. Database as a Service (DBaaS) enables the delivery of more agile database services at lower costs. Some other benefits of DBaaS are secure database deployments and compliance to standards and best practices. Trove is a DBaaS built on OpenStack and is becoming more popular by the day. Since Trove is one of the most recent projects of OpenStack, DBAs and system administrators can find it difficult to set up and run a DBaaS using OpenStack Trove. This book helps DBAs make that step. We start by introducing you to the concepts of DBaaS and how is it implemented using OpenStack Trove. Following this, we look at implementing OpenStack and deploying Trove. Moving on, you will learn to create guest images to be used with Trove. We then look at how to provision databases in self-service mode, and how to perform administration tasks such as backup and recovery, and fine-tuning databases. At the end of the book, we will examine some advanced features of Trove such as replication. Style and approach This fast-paced, step-by-step guide introduces you to DBaaS, OpenStack Trove, and its components, leading you through building your own Cloud-based DBaaS. Using the DevStack deployment method, you will spend less time on installing OpenStack so you can devote more time to learning how to provision and manage databases in a DBaaS environment.

Over 120 practical and easy-to-understand recipes that explain how to use Sass and Compass to write efficient, maintainable, and reusable CSS code for your web development projects About This Book Leverage Sass to make your CSS code maintainable, reusable and prevent code duplications Shorten debug time with Sass when creating complex CSS code for different browsers and devices Write easy and bullet-proof CSS with Compass using this step-by-step and detailed guide Who This Book Is For This book is mainly intended for web developers and designers who are comfortable with CSS and HTML. If you are someone with some experience with CSS, you will find the learning curve of learning Sass syntax to be less steep. Basic knowledge of web development is helpful but you don't have to be a programmer to understand Sass. What You Will Learn Spend less time debugging code Compile Sass code into readable and maintainable CSS Integrate Sass in your own projects Reuse your code to prevent code duplications Write reusable and portable CSS code Make use of pre-built and established code written by other developers Reduce development and maintenance time of your projects Set up a development environment with Gulp In Detail Sass and Compass Designer's Cookbook helps you to get most out of CSS3 and harness its benefits to create engaging and receptive applications. This book will help you develop faster and reduce the maintenance time for your web development projects by using Sass and Compass. You will learn how to use with CSS frameworks such as Bootstrap and Foundation and understand how to use other libraries of pre-built mixins. You will also learn setting up a development environment with Gulp. This book guides you through all the concepts and gives you practical examples for full understanding. Style and approach This book is the perfect mix of essential theory combined with real-life examples and problems, with clear explanations of the more sophisticated Sass concepts. Learn Sass and Compass with practical and well-explained example code. This book follows a problem and solution approach that is convenient to understand and follow.

Master the art of writing beautiful and powerful Python by using all of the features that Python 3.5 offers About This Book Become familiar with the most important and advanced parts of the Python code style Learn the trickier aspects of Python and put it in a structured context for deeper understanding of the language Offers an expert's-eye overview of how these advanced tasks fit together in Python as a whole along with practical examples Who This Book Is For Almost anyone can learn to write working * and create high quality code but they might lack a structured understanding of what it means to be 'Pythonic'. If you are a Python programmer who wants to code efficiently by getting the syntax and usage of a few intricate Python techniques exactly right, this book is for you. What You Will Learn Create a virtualenv and start a new project Understand how and when to use the functional programming paradigm Get familiar with the different ways the decorators can be written in Understand the power of generators and coroutines without digressing into lambda calculus Create metaclasses and how it makes working with Python far easier Generate HTML documentation out of documents and code using Sphinx Learn how to track and optimize application performance, both memory and cpu Use the multiprocessing library, not just locally but also across multiple machines Get a basic understanding of packaging and creating your own libraries/applications In Detail Python is a dynamic programming language. It is known for its high readability and hence it is often the first language learned by new programmers. Python being multi-paradigm, it can be used to achieve the same thing in different ways and it is compatible across different platforms. Even if you find writing Python code easy, writing code that is efficient, easy to maintain, and reuse is not so straightforward. This book is an authoritative guide that will help you learn new advanced methods in a clear and contextualised way. It starts off by creating a project-specific environment using venv, introducing you to different Pythonic syntax and common pitfalls before moving on to cover the functional features in Python. It covers how to create different decorators, generators, and metaclasses. It also introduces you to functools.wraps and coroutines and how they work. Later on you will learn to use asyncio module for asynchronous clients and servers. You will also get familiar with different testing systems such as py.test, doctest, and unittest, and debugging tools such as Python debugger and faulthandler. You will learn to optimize application performance so that it works efficiently across multiple machines and Python versions. Finally, it will teach you how to access C functions with a simple Python call. By the end of the book, you will be able to write more advanced *s and take on bigger challenges. Style and Approach This book is a comprehensive guide that covers advanced features of the Python language, and communicate them with an authoritative understanding of the underlying rationale for how, when, and why to use them.