Games, Diversions & Perl Culture
The Perl Journal (TPJ) did something most print journals aspire to, but few succeed. Within a remarkable short time, TPJ acquired a cult-following and became the voice of the Perl community. Every serious Perl programmer subscribed to it, and every notable Perl guru jumped at the opportunity to write for it. Back issues were swapped like trading cards. No longer in print format, TPJ remains the quintessential spirit of Perl - a publication for and by Perl programmers who see fun and beauty in an admittedly quirky little language. Games, Diversions, and Perl Culture is the third volume of The Best of the Perl Journal, compiled and re-edited by the original editor and publisher of The Perl Journal, Jon Orwant. In this series, we've taken the very best (and still relevant) articles published in TPJ over its 5 years of publication and immortalized them into three volumes. ...
The Perl Journal (TPJ) did something most print journals aspire to, but few succeed. Within a remarkable short time, TPJ acquired a cult-following and became the voice of the Perl community. Every serious Perl programmer subscribed to it, and every notable Perl guru jumped at the opportunity to write for it. Back issues were swapped like trading cards. No longer in print format, TPJ remains the quintessential spirit of Perl - a publication for and by Perl programmers who see fun and beauty in an admittedly quirky little language. Games, Diversions, and Perl Culture is the third volume of The Best of the Perl Journal, compiled and re-edited by the original editor and publisher of The Perl Journal, Jon Orwant. In this series, we've taken the very best (and still relevant) articles published in TPJ over its 5 years of publication and immortalized them into three volumes. ...
HTML5 Canvas
No matter what platform or tools you use, the HTML5 revolution will soon change the way you build web applications, if it hasn't already. HTML5 is jam-packed with features, and there's a lot to learn. This book gets you started with the Canvas element, perhaps HTML5's most exciting feature. Learn how to build interactive multimedia applications using this element to draw, render text, manipulate images, and create animation. Whether you currently use Flash, Silverlight, or just HTML and JavaScript, you'll quickly pick up the basics. Practical examples show you how to create various games and entertainment applications with Canvas as you learn. Gain valuable experience with HTML5, and discover why leading application developers rave about this specification as the future of truly innovative web development. ...
No matter what platform or tools you use, the HTML5 revolution will soon change the way you build web applications, if it hasn't already. HTML5 is jam-packed with features, and there's a lot to learn. This book gets you started with the Canvas element, perhaps HTML5's most exciting feature. Learn how to build interactive multimedia applications using this element to draw, render text, manipulate images, and create animation. Whether you currently use Flash, Silverlight, or just HTML and JavaScript, you'll quickly pick up the basics. Practical examples show you how to create various games and entertainment applications with Canvas as you learn. Gain valuable experience with HTML5, and discover why leading application developers rave about this specification as the future of truly innovative web development. ...
App Inventor
Yes, you can create your own apps for Android phones-and it's easy to do. This extraordinary book introduces App Inventor for Android, a powerful visual tool that lets anyone build apps for Android-based devices. Learn the basics of App Inventor with step-by-step instructions for more than a dozen fun projects, such as creating location-aware apps, data storage, and apps that include decision-making logic. The second half of the book features an Inventor's manual to help you understand the fundamentals of app building and computer science. App Inventor makes an excellent textbook for beginners and experienced developers alike. ...
Yes, you can create your own apps for Android phones-and it's easy to do. This extraordinary book introduces App Inventor for Android, a powerful visual tool that lets anyone build apps for Android-based devices. Learn the basics of App Inventor with step-by-step instructions for more than a dozen fun projects, such as creating location-aware apps, data storage, and apps that include decision-making logic. The second half of the book features an Inventor's manual to help you understand the fundamentals of app building and computer science. App Inventor makes an excellent textbook for beginners and experienced developers alike. ...
Writing Game Center Apps in iOS
Now that Apple has introduced the GameKit framework to its iOS SDK, you can integrate Game Center features directly into your iPhone and iPad apps. This concise cookbook shows you how it's done, with 18 targeted recipes for adding leaderboards, user authentication, achievements, multiplayer games, and many other features. How do you display players' scores and achievements? How do you create Game Center accounts and add friends? Each recipe in this book includes a simple code solution you can put to work immediately, along with a detailed discussion that offers insight into why and how the recipe works. ...
Now that Apple has introduced the GameKit framework to its iOS SDK, you can integrate Game Center features directly into your iPhone and iPad apps. This concise cookbook shows you how it's done, with 18 targeted recipes for adding leaderboards, user authentication, achievements, multiplayer games, and many other features. How do you display players' scores and achievements? How do you create Game Center accounts and add friends? Each recipe in this book includes a simple code solution you can put to work immediately, along with a detailed discussion that offers insight into why and how the recipe works. ...
The Art of Readable Code
As programmers, we've all seen source code that's so ugly and buggy it makes our brain ache. Over the past five years, authors Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher have analyzed hundreds of examples of bad code (much of it their own) to determine why they're bad and how they could be improved. Their conclusion? You need to write code that minimizes the time it would take someone else to understand it-even if that someone else is you. This book focuses on basic principles and practical techniques you can apply every time you write code. Using easy-to-digest code examples from different languages, each chapter dives into a different aspect of coding, and demonstrates how you can make your code easy to understand. ...
As programmers, we've all seen source code that's so ugly and buggy it makes our brain ache. Over the past five years, authors Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher have analyzed hundreds of examples of bad code (much of it their own) to determine why they're bad and how they could be improved. Their conclusion? You need to write code that minimizes the time it would take someone else to understand it-even if that someone else is you. This book focuses on basic principles and practical techniques you can apply every time you write code. Using easy-to-digest code examples from different languages, each chapter dives into a different aspect of coding, and demonstrates how you can make your code easy to understand. ...
Just Spring
Get a concise introduction to Spring, the increasingly popular open source framework for building lightweight enterprise applications on the Java platform. This example - driven book for Java developers delves into the framework's basic features, as well as advanced concepts such as containers. You'll learn how Spring makes Java Messaging Service easier to work with, and how its support for Hibernate helps you work with data persistence and retrieval. Throughout Just Spring, you'll get your hands deep into sample code, beginning with a problem that illustrates dependency injection, Spring's core principle. In the chapters that follow, author Madhusudhan Konda walks you through features that underlie the solution. ...
Get a concise introduction to Spring, the increasingly popular open source framework for building lightweight enterprise applications on the Java platform. This example - driven book for Java developers delves into the framework's basic features, as well as advanced concepts such as containers. You'll learn how Spring makes Java Messaging Service easier to work with, and how its support for Hibernate helps you work with data persistence and retrieval. Throughout Just Spring, you'll get your hands deep into sample code, beginning with a problem that illustrates dependency injection, Spring's core principle. In the chapters that follow, author Madhusudhan Konda walks you through features that underlie the solution. ...
HTML5: Up and Running
If you don't know about the new features available in HTML5, now's the time to find out. This book provides practical information about how and why the latest version of this markup language will significantly change the way you develop for the Web. HTML5 is still evolving, yet browsers such as Safari, Mozilla, Opera, and Chrome already support many of its features - and mobile browsers are even farther ahead. HTML5: Up & Running carefully guides you though the important changes in this version with lots of hands-on examples, including markup, graphics, and screenshots. You'll learn how to use HTML5 markup to add video, offline capabilities, and more - and you'll be able to put that functionality to work right away. ...
If you don't know about the new features available in HTML5, now's the time to find out. This book provides practical information about how and why the latest version of this markup language will significantly change the way you develop for the Web. HTML5 is still evolving, yet browsers such as Safari, Mozilla, Opera, and Chrome already support many of its features - and mobile browsers are even farther ahead. HTML5: Up & Running carefully guides you though the important changes in this version with lots of hands-on examples, including markup, graphics, and screenshots. You'll learn how to use HTML5 markup to add video, offline capabilities, and more - and you'll be able to put that functionality to work right away. ...
Java: The Good Parts
What if you could condense Java down to its very best features and build better applications with that simpler version? In this book, veteran Sun Labs engineer Jim Waldo reveals which parts of Java are most useful, and why those features make Java among the best programming languages available. Every language eventually builds up crud, Java included. The core language has become increasingly large and complex, and the libraries associated with it have grown even more. Learn how to take advantage of Java's best features by working with an example application throughout the book. You may not like some of the features Jim Waldo considers good, but they'll actually help you write better code. ...
What if you could condense Java down to its very best features and build better applications with that simpler version? In this book, veteran Sun Labs engineer Jim Waldo reveals which parts of Java are most useful, and why those features make Java among the best programming languages available. Every language eventually builds up crud, Java included. The core language has become increasingly large and complex, and the libraries associated with it have grown even more. Learn how to take advantage of Java's best features by working with an example application throughout the book. You may not like some of the features Jim Waldo considers good, but they'll actually help you write better code. ...
Understanding PaaS
The least understood feature of cloud computing, Platform as a Service (PaaS), is also the most powerful and cost effective. This concise overview shows you why organizations that properly wield PaaS can quickly gain a strong competitive advantage. You'll learn how PaaS enables developers to pursue low cost R&D projects, lets system administrators focus on systems rather than servers, and helps architects evaluate new technology quickly and directly. Many reliable PaaS providers are available today, including services from Amazon, Red Hat, and Google. This book offers valuable advice for technically and not-so-technically minded people who want to understand how PaaS can change the way organizations do computing. ...
The least understood feature of cloud computing, Platform as a Service (PaaS), is also the most powerful and cost effective. This concise overview shows you why organizations that properly wield PaaS can quickly gain a strong competitive advantage. You'll learn how PaaS enables developers to pursue low cost R&D projects, lets system administrators focus on systems rather than servers, and helps architects evaluate new technology quickly and directly. Many reliable PaaS providers are available today, including services from Amazon, Red Hat, and Google. This book offers valuable advice for technically and not-so-technically minded people who want to understand how PaaS can change the way organizations do computing. ...
Lean from the Trenches
Find out how the Swedish police combined XP, Scrum, and Kanban in a 60-person project. From start to finish, you'll see how to deliver a successful product using Lean principles. We start with an organization in desperate need of a new way of doing things and finish with a group of sixty, all working in sync to develop a scalable, complex system. You'll walk through the project step by step, from customer engagement, to the daily cocktail party, version control, bug tracking, and release. ...
Find out how the Swedish police combined XP, Scrum, and Kanban in a 60-person project. From start to finish, you'll see how to deliver a successful product using Lean principles. We start with an organization in desperate need of a new way of doing things and finish with a group of sixty, all working in sync to develop a scalable, complex system. You'll walk through the project step by step, from customer engagement, to the daily cocktail party, version control, bug tracking, and release. ...