Badass: Making Users Awesome
Our goal is to craft a strategy for creating successful users. And that strategy is full of surprising, counter-intuitive, and astonishingly simple techniques that don't depend on a massive marketing or development budget. Techniques typically overlooked by even the most well-funded, well-staffed product teams. Every role is a key player in this game. Product development, engineering, marketing, user experience, support—everyone on the team. Even if that team is a start-up of one. Armed with a surprisingly overlooked science and a unique POV, we can can reduce the role of luck. We can build sustainably successful products and services that rely not on unethical persuasive marketing tricks but on helping our users have deeper, richer experiences. Not just in the moments while they're using our product but, more importantly, in the moments when they aren't. ...
Our goal is to craft a strategy for creating successful users. And that strategy is full of surprising, counter-intuitive, and astonishingly simple techniques that don't depend on a massive marketing or development budget. Techniques typically overlooked by even the most well-funded, well-staffed product teams. Every role is a key player in this game. Product development, engineering, marketing, user experience, support—everyone on the team. Even if that team is a start-up of one. Armed with a surprisingly overlooked science and a unique POV, we can can reduce the role of luck. We can build sustainably successful products and services that rely not on unethical persuasive marketing tricks but on helping our users have deeper, richer experiences. Not just in the moments while they're using our product but, more importantly, in the moments when they aren't. ...
Beginning App Development with Parse and PhoneGap
Beginning App Development with Parse and PhoneGap teaches you how to start app development with Parse and PhoneGap: free and open source software. Using the building block languages of the web - HTML, JavaScript, and CSS - you'll be on your way to creating a fully working product with minimal effort as fast as possible. With over 25 years' of combined experience, the authors make daunting tasks seem trivial. There is no book on the market that can take you from designer to developer faster. Using Facebook's Parse as backend service, and Adobe's PhoneGap (or Cordova) as a mobile development framework, building a highly customizable application is easier than you can imagine. A basic understanding of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS is not required, but it will help you pick up concepts faster. This book is geared toward a designer who wants to explore the world of application development. If you do not know anything about design, that's OK! We will walk you through step by step on how to ...
Beginning App Development with Parse and PhoneGap teaches you how to start app development with Parse and PhoneGap: free and open source software. Using the building block languages of the web - HTML, JavaScript, and CSS - you'll be on your way to creating a fully working product with minimal effort as fast as possible. With over 25 years' of combined experience, the authors make daunting tasks seem trivial. There is no book on the market that can take you from designer to developer faster. Using Facebook's Parse as backend service, and Adobe's PhoneGap (or Cordova) as a mobile development framework, building a highly customizable application is easier than you can imagine. A basic understanding of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS is not required, but it will help you pick up concepts faster. This book is geared toward a designer who wants to explore the world of application development. If you do not know anything about design, that's OK! We will walk you through step by step on how to ...
Beginning HTML5 Media, 2nd Edition
Beginning HTML5 Media, 2nd Edition is a comprehensive introduction to HTML5 video and audio. The HTML5 video standard enables browsers to support audio and video elements natively. This makes it very easy for web developers to publish audio and video, integrating both within the general presentation of web pages. For example, media elements can be styled using CSS (style sheets), viewed on a mobile device, and manipulated in a Canvas or an audio filter graph. The book offers techniques for providing accessibility to media elements, enabling consistent handling of alternative representations of media resources. The update includes all of the changes and revisions since the first HTML5 draft. ...
Beginning HTML5 Media, 2nd Edition is a comprehensive introduction to HTML5 video and audio. The HTML5 video standard enables browsers to support audio and video elements natively. This makes it very easy for web developers to publish audio and video, integrating both within the general presentation of web pages. For example, media elements can be styled using CSS (style sheets), viewed on a mobile device, and manipulated in a Canvas or an audio filter graph. The book offers techniques for providing accessibility to media elements, enabling consistent handling of alternative representations of media resources. The update includes all of the changes and revisions since the first HTML5 draft. ...
Beginning Oracle PL/SQL, 2nd Edition
Beginning Oracle PL/SQL gets you started in using the built-in language that every Oracle developer and database administrator must know. Oracle Database is chock-full of built-in application features that are free for the using, and PL/SQL is your ticket to learning about and using those features from your own code. With it, you can centralize business logic in the database, you can offload application logic, and you can automate database- and application-administration tasks. Author Don Bales provides in Beginning Oracle PL/SQL a fast-paced and example-filled tutorial. Learn from Don's extensive experience to discover the most commonly used aspects of PL/SQL, without wasting time on obscure and obsolete features. ...
Beginning Oracle PL/SQL gets you started in using the built-in language that every Oracle developer and database administrator must know. Oracle Database is chock-full of built-in application features that are free for the using, and PL/SQL is your ticket to learning about and using those features from your own code. With it, you can centralize business logic in the database, you can offload application logic, and you can automate database- and application-administration tasks. Author Don Bales provides in Beginning Oracle PL/SQL a fast-paced and example-filled tutorial. Learn from Don's extensive experience to discover the most commonly used aspects of PL/SQL, without wasting time on obscure and obsolete features. ...
Build Your Own PaaS with Docker
Docker is a great tool in many ways for developers and people in DevOps. We begin by learning how easy it is to create and publish your own customized Docker images and making them available to everyone. We also see how practical it is to separate every service to its own container. When you have published separated service containers, the process of running all kinds of platforms in the same server is a walk in the park. This book walks you through a use case project that will teach you how to customize and create your own Docker image, allowing you to run any platform you want. The project evolves throughout the book and emerges as a complete three containers Wordpress/MySQL platform when finished. ...
Docker is a great tool in many ways for developers and people in DevOps. We begin by learning how easy it is to create and publish your own customized Docker images and making them available to everyone. We also see how practical it is to separate every service to its own container. When you have published separated service containers, the process of running all kinds of platforms in the same server is a walk in the park. This book walks you through a use case project that will teach you how to customize and create your own Docker image, allowing you to run any platform you want. The project evolves throughout the book and emerges as a complete three containers Wordpress/MySQL platform when finished. ...
Building Android Games with Cocos2d-x
Cocos2d-x is a multi-platform C++ gaming framework in active development maintained by Chukong technologies. It wraps all the essential elements needed for creating a game, making the task of game building very developer-friendly. Starting with a vital primer to get you up and running with your development environment, you will quickly dive in to exploring the latest version of this framework. You will understand major framework improvements to render objects at lightning speed, extend and maintain code easily, and improve the label API to add great functionality such as glow, shadows, and outlines to labels. Through the creation of a real game, you will explore the core components of development including Physics, enabling you to create realistic sprite movements, and particle systems to dynamically simulate explosions, fire, rain, and smoke, as well as exploring the sound engine to make your game more robust. Finish by integrating Cocos2d-x C++ code with native Android code to ...
Cocos2d-x is a multi-platform C++ gaming framework in active development maintained by Chukong technologies. It wraps all the essential elements needed for creating a game, making the task of game building very developer-friendly. Starting with a vital primer to get you up and running with your development environment, you will quickly dive in to exploring the latest version of this framework. You will understand major framework improvements to render objects at lightning speed, extend and maintain code easily, and improve the label API to add great functionality such as glow, shadows, and outlines to labels. Through the creation of a real game, you will explore the core components of development including Physics, enabling you to create realistic sprite movements, and particle systems to dynamically simulate explosions, fire, rain, and smoke, as well as exploring the sound engine to make your game more robust. Finish by integrating Cocos2d-x C++ code with native Android code to ...
Essential SQLAlchemy, 2nd Edition
This new edition of Essential SQLAlchemy is the tool developers need to understand the technology. Rather than being a simple tutorial or API reference, this book builds an application step by step. This application is comprised of many of the most common usages of SQLAlchemy, thus showing how to manage complexity and engaging in real world examples. Using easy, common language, the authors teach you how to turn knowledge into usable work. ...
This new edition of Essential SQLAlchemy is the tool developers need to understand the technology. Rather than being a simple tutorial or API reference, this book builds an application step by step. This application is comprised of many of the most common usages of SQLAlchemy, thus showing how to manage complexity and engaging in real world examples. Using easy, common language, the authors teach you how to turn knowledge into usable work. ...
Graph Databases
Discover how graph databases can help you manage and query highly connected data. With this practical book, you'll learn how to design and implement a graph database that brings the power of graphs to bear on a broad range of problem domains. Whether you want to speed up your response to user queries or build a database that can adapt as your business evolves, this book shows you how to apply the schema-free graph model to real-world problems. Learn how different organizations are using graph databases to outperform their competitors. With this book's data modeling, query, and code examples, you'll quickly be able to implement your own solution. ...
Discover how graph databases can help you manage and query highly connected data. With this practical book, you'll learn how to design and implement a graph database that brings the power of graphs to bear on a broad range of problem domains. Whether you want to speed up your response to user queries or build a database that can adapt as your business evolves, this book shows you how to apply the schema-free graph model to real-world problems. Learn how different organizations are using graph databases to outperform their competitors. With this book's data modeling, query, and code examples, you'll quickly be able to implement your own solution. ...
Introduction to Machine Learning with Python
Machine learning has become an integral part of many commercial applications and research projects, but this field is not exclusive to large companies with extensive research teams. If you use Python, even as a beginner, this book will teach you practical ways to build your own machine learning solutions. With all the data available today, machine learning applications are limited only by your imagination. You'll learn the steps necessary to create a successful machine-learning application with Python and the scikit-learn library. Authors Andreas Müller and Sarah Guido focus on the practical aspects of using machine learning algorithms, rather than the math behind them. Familiarity with the NumPy and matplotlib libraries will help you get even more from this book. Fundamental concepts and applications of machine learning; Advantages and shortcomings of widely used machine learning algorithms; How to represent data processed by machine learning, including which data aspects to fo ...
Machine learning has become an integral part of many commercial applications and research projects, but this field is not exclusive to large companies with extensive research teams. If you use Python, even as a beginner, this book will teach you practical ways to build your own machine learning solutions. With all the data available today, machine learning applications are limited only by your imagination. You'll learn the steps necessary to create a successful machine-learning application with Python and the scikit-learn library. Authors Andreas Müller and Sarah Guido focus on the practical aspects of using machine learning algorithms, rather than the math behind them. Familiarity with the NumPy and matplotlib libraries will help you get even more from this book. Fundamental concepts and applications of machine learning; Advantages and shortcomings of widely used machine learning algorithms; How to represent data processed by machine learning, including which data aspects to fo ...
Learn Android Studio 3
Build Android apps using the popular and efficient Android Studio 3 suite of tools, an integrated development environment (IDE) for Android developers using Java APIs. With this book, you'll learn the latest and most productive tools in the Android tools ecosystem, ensuring quick Android app development and minimal effort on your part. Along the way, you'll use Android Studio to develop Java-based Android apps, tier by tier through practical examples. These examples cover core Android topics such as notifications and toast; intents and broadcast receivers; and services. Then, you'll learn how to publish your apps and sell them online and in the Google Play store. Use Android Studio 3 to quickly and confidently build your first Android apps; Build an Android user interface using activities and layouts, event handling, images, menus and the action bar; Incorporate new elements including fragments; Integrate data with data persistence; Access the cloud. ...
Build Android apps using the popular and efficient Android Studio 3 suite of tools, an integrated development environment (IDE) for Android developers using Java APIs. With this book, you'll learn the latest and most productive tools in the Android tools ecosystem, ensuring quick Android app development and minimal effort on your part. Along the way, you'll use Android Studio to develop Java-based Android apps, tier by tier through practical examples. These examples cover core Android topics such as notifications and toast; intents and broadcast receivers; and services. Then, you'll learn how to publish your apps and sell them online and in the Google Play store. Use Android Studio 3 to quickly and confidently build your first Android apps; Build an Android user interface using activities and layouts, event handling, images, menus and the action bar; Incorporate new elements including fragments; Integrate data with data persistence; Access the cloud. ...