Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress may be the most complex video game ever made, but all that detail makes for fascinating game play, as various elements collide in interesting and challenging ways. The trick is getting started. In this guide, Fortress geek Peter Tyson takes you through the basics of this menacing realm, and helps you overcome the formidable learning curve. The book's focus is the game's simulation mode, in which you're tasked with building a dwarf city. Once you learn how to establish and maintain your very first fortress, you can consult the more advanced chapters on resource management and training a dwarf military. You'll soon have stories to share from your interactions with the Dwarf Fortress universe. Create your own world, then locate a site for an underground fortress; Equip your party of dwarves and have them build workshops and rooms; Produce a healthy food supply so your dwarves won't starve (or go insane); Retain control over a fortress and dozens of dwarves, their chil ...
Dwarf Fortress may be the most complex video game ever made, but all that detail makes for fascinating game play, as various elements collide in interesting and challenging ways. The trick is getting started. In this guide, Fortress geek Peter Tyson takes you through the basics of this menacing realm, and helps you overcome the formidable learning curve. The book's focus is the game's simulation mode, in which you're tasked with building a dwarf city. Once you learn how to establish and maintain your very first fortress, you can consult the more advanced chapters on resource management and training a dwarf military. You'll soon have stories to share from your interactions with the Dwarf Fortress universe. Create your own world, then locate a site for an underground fortress; Equip your party of dwarves and have them build workshops and rooms; Produce a healthy food supply so your dwarves won't starve (or go insane); Retain control over a fortress and dozens of dwarves, their chil ...
Articulating Design Decisions
Talking to people about your designs might seem like a basic skill, but it can be difficult to do efficiently and well. And, in many cases, how you communicate about your work with stakeholders, clients, and other non-designers is more critical than the designs themselves - simply because the most articulate person usually wins. This practical guide focuses on principles, tactics, and actionable methods for presenting your designs. Whether you design UX, websites, or products, you'll learn how to win over anyone who has influence over the project - with the goal of creating the best experience for the end user. Walk through the process of preparing for and presenting your designs; Understand stakeholder perspectives, and learn how to empathize with them; Cultivate both implicit and explicit listening skills; Learn tactics and formulas for expressing the most effective response to feedback; Discover why the way you follow through is just as crucial as the meeting itself; Educate y ...
Talking to people about your designs might seem like a basic skill, but it can be difficult to do efficiently and well. And, in many cases, how you communicate about your work with stakeholders, clients, and other non-designers is more critical than the designs themselves - simply because the most articulate person usually wins. This practical guide focuses on principles, tactics, and actionable methods for presenting your designs. Whether you design UX, websites, or products, you'll learn how to win over anyone who has influence over the project - with the goal of creating the best experience for the end user. Walk through the process of preparing for and presenting your designs; Understand stakeholder perspectives, and learn how to empathize with them; Cultivate both implicit and explicit listening skills; Learn tactics and formulas for expressing the most effective response to feedback; Discover why the way you follow through is just as crucial as the meeting itself; Educate y ...
The DAM Book, 2nd Edition
One of the main concerns for digital photographers today is asset management: how to file, find, protect, and re-use their photos. The best solutions can be found in The DAM Book, our bestselling guide to managing digital images efficiently and effectively. Anyone who shoots, scans, or stores digital photographs is practicing digital asset management (DAM), but few people do it in a way that makes sense. In this second edition, photographer Peter Krogh - the leading expert on DAM - provides new tools and techniques to help professionals, amateurs, and students: Understand the image file lifecycle (from shooting to editing, output, and permanent storage); Learn new ways to use metadata and key words to track photo files; Create a digital archive and name files clearly; Determine a strategy for backing up and validating image data; Learn a catalog workflow strategy, using Adobe Bridge, Camera Raw, Adobe Lightroom, Microsoft Expression Media, and Photoshop CS4 together; Migrate images ...
One of the main concerns for digital photographers today is asset management: how to file, find, protect, and re-use their photos. The best solutions can be found in The DAM Book, our bestselling guide to managing digital images efficiently and effectively. Anyone who shoots, scans, or stores digital photographs is practicing digital asset management (DAM), but few people do it in a way that makes sense. In this second edition, photographer Peter Krogh - the leading expert on DAM - provides new tools and techniques to help professionals, amateurs, and students: Understand the image file lifecycle (from shooting to editing, output, and permanent storage); Learn new ways to use metadata and key words to track photo files; Create a digital archive and name files clearly; Determine a strategy for backing up and validating image data; Learn a catalog workflow strategy, using Adobe Bridge, Camera Raw, Adobe Lightroom, Microsoft Expression Media, and Photoshop CS4 together; Migrate images ...
Programming Groovy 2
You don't have to leave the rich Java Platform to take advantage of Groovy. Groovy preserves Java's semantics and extends the JDK, so programming in Groovy feels like the Java language has been augmented; it's like working with a lighter, more elegant Java. If you're an experienced Java developer who wants to learn how Groovy works, you'll find exactly what you need in this book. You'll start with the fundamentals of programming in Groovy and how it works with Java, and then you'll explore advanced concepts such as unit testing with mock objects, using Builders, working with databases and XML, and creating DSLs. You'll master Groovy's powerful yet complex run-time and compile-time metaprogramming features. ...
You don't have to leave the rich Java Platform to take advantage of Groovy. Groovy preserves Java's semantics and extends the JDK, so programming in Groovy feels like the Java language has been augmented; it's like working with a lighter, more elegant Java. If you're an experienced Java developer who wants to learn how Groovy works, you'll find exactly what you need in this book. You'll start with the fundamentals of programming in Groovy and how it works with Java, and then you'll explore advanced concepts such as unit testing with mock objects, using Builders, working with databases and XML, and creating DSLs. You'll master Groovy's powerful yet complex run-time and compile-time metaprogramming features. ...
Redis Essentials
Redis is the most popular in-memory key-value data store. It's very lightweight and its data types give it an edge over the other competitors. If you need an in-memory database or a high-performance cache system that is simple to use and highly scalable, Redis is what you need. Redis Essentials is a fast-paced guide that teaches the fundamentals on data types, explains how to manage data through commands, and shares experiences from big players in the industry. We start off by explaining the basics of Redis followed by the various data types such as Strings, hashes, lists, and more. Next, Common pitfalls for various scenarios are described, followed by solutions to ensure you do not fall into common traps. After this, major differences between client implementations in PHP, Python, and Ruby are presented. Next, you will learn how to extend Redis with Lua, get to know security techniques such as basic authorization, firewall rules, and SSL encryption, and discover how to use Tw ...
Redis is the most popular in-memory key-value data store. It's very lightweight and its data types give it an edge over the other competitors. If you need an in-memory database or a high-performance cache system that is simple to use and highly scalable, Redis is what you need. Redis Essentials is a fast-paced guide that teaches the fundamentals on data types, explains how to manage data through commands, and shares experiences from big players in the industry. We start off by explaining the basics of Redis followed by the various data types such as Strings, hashes, lists, and more. Next, Common pitfalls for various scenarios are described, followed by solutions to ensure you do not fall into common traps. After this, major differences between client implementations in PHP, Python, and Ruby are presented. Next, you will learn how to extend Redis with Lua, get to know security techniques such as basic authorization, firewall rules, and SSL encryption, and discover how to use Tw ...
Sass and Compass for Designers
The CSS preprocessor, Sass, is becoming the de-facto standard for producing cross-browser CSS more maintainable and with more ease. It supercharges CSS with features that make previously difficult and time-consuming tasks trivial. This book concentrates on distilling the techniques in a straightforward manner making it accessible to all, even to those that only know HTML and CSS. We will start with a completely unstyled HTML document and build a responsive Sass and Compass powered website step by step. Sass and Compass make CSS easy. You'll learn how to manipulate color in the stylesheet with a single command, create responsive grids with ease, automatically create image sprites, and create CSS3 powered rules that work across all modern browsers. ...
The CSS preprocessor, Sass, is becoming the de-facto standard for producing cross-browser CSS more maintainable and with more ease. It supercharges CSS with features that make previously difficult and time-consuming tasks trivial. This book concentrates on distilling the techniques in a straightforward manner making it accessible to all, even to those that only know HTML and CSS. We will start with a completely unstyled HTML document and build a responsive Sass and Compass powered website step by step. Sass and Compass make CSS easy. You'll learn how to manipulate color in the stylesheet with a single command, create responsive grids with ease, automatically create image sprites, and create CSS3 powered rules that work across all modern browsers. ...
Away3D 3.6 Essentials
Create stunning 3D environments with highly detailed textures. Animate and transform all types of 3D objects, including 3D Text. Eliminate the need for expensive hardware with proven Away3D optimization techniques, without compromising on visual appeal. Written in a practical and illustrative style, which will appeal to Away3D beginners and Flash developers alike. ...
Create stunning 3D environments with highly detailed textures. Animate and transform all types of 3D objects, including 3D Text. Eliminate the need for expensive hardware with proven Away3D optimization techniques, without compromising on visual appeal. Written in a practical and illustrative style, which will appeal to Away3D beginners and Flash developers alike. ...
Advanced Java EE Development with WildFly
This book starts with an introduction to EJB 3 and how to set up the environment, including the configuration of a MySQL database for use with WildFly. We will then develop object-relational mapping with Hibernate 4, build and package the application with Maven, and then deploy it in WildFly 8.1, followed by a demonstration of the use of Facelets in a web application. Moving on from that, we will create an Ajax application in the Eclipse IDE, compile and package it using Maven, and run the web application on WildFly 8.1 with a MySQL database. In the final leg of this book, we will discuss support for generating and parsing JSON with WildFly 8.1. ...
This book starts with an introduction to EJB 3 and how to set up the environment, including the configuration of a MySQL database for use with WildFly. We will then develop object-relational mapping with Hibernate 4, build and package the application with Maven, and then deploy it in WildFly 8.1, followed by a demonstration of the use of Facelets in a web application. Moving on from that, we will create an Ajax application in the Eclipse IDE, compile and package it using Maven, and run the web application on WildFly 8.1 with a MySQL database. In the final leg of this book, we will discuss support for generating and parsing JSON with WildFly 8.1. ...
Beginning iPhone Development with Swift
The team that brought you the bestselling Beginning iPhone Development, the book that taught the world how to program on the iPhone, is back again for Beginning iPhone Development with Swift.This definitive guide is up to date with Apple's new Swift programming language and the latest and greatest iOS 8 SDK, and Xcode 6.1. There's coverage of brand-new technologies, including Swift playgrounds, as well as significant updates to existing material. You'll have everything you need to create your very own apps for the latest iOS devices. Every single sample app in the book has been rebuilt from scratch using the latest Xcode and the latest 64-bit iOS 8-specific project templates, and designed to take advantage of the latest Xcode features. ...
The team that brought you the bestselling Beginning iPhone Development, the book that taught the world how to program on the iPhone, is back again for Beginning iPhone Development with Swift.This definitive guide is up to date with Apple's new Swift programming language and the latest and greatest iOS 8 SDK, and Xcode 6.1. There's coverage of brand-new technologies, including Swift playgrounds, as well as significant updates to existing material. You'll have everything you need to create your very own apps for the latest iOS devices. Every single sample app in the book has been rebuilt from scratch using the latest Xcode and the latest 64-bit iOS 8-specific project templates, and designed to take advantage of the latest Xcode features. ...
Programming Ruby 1.9, 3rd Edition
Ruby is the fastest growing and most exciting dynamic language out there. If you need to get working programs delivered fast, you should add Ruby to your toolbox. This book is the only complete reference for Ruby 1.9, the very latest version of Ruby. (If you are still using Ruby 1.8, you'll want to check out the original PickAxe.) ...
Ruby is the fastest growing and most exciting dynamic language out there. If you need to get working programs delivered fast, you should add Ruby to your toolbox. This book is the only complete reference for Ruby 1.9, the very latest version of Ruby. (If you are still using Ruby 1.8, you'll want to check out the original PickAxe.) ...