Wow! eBook – Blog

Book Description

Are you a programmer looking for a new challenge? Does the thought of building your very own iPhone app make your heart race and your pulse quicken? If so, then Beginning iPhone Development is just the book for you.

Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Beginning iPhone Development offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone and iPod Touch programming.

The book starts with the basics, walking you through the process of downloading and installing Apple’s free iPhone SDK, then stepping you though the creation of your first simple iPhone application. You’ll move on from there, mastering all the iPhone interface elements that you’ve come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, sliders, etc.

You’ll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. You’ll master the art of table-building and learn how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You’ll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using SQLite, iPhone’s built-in database management system.

You’ll learn how to draw using Quartz 2D and OpenGL ES. You’ll add MultiTouch Gestural Support (pinches and swipes) to your applications, and work with the Camera, Photo Library, and Accelerometer. You’ll master application preferences, learn how to localize your apps into other languages, and so much more.

Apple’s iPhone SDK, this book, and your imagination are all you’ll need to start building your very own best-selling iPhone applications.

You can discover more about this book, download source code, and find support forums at the book’s companion site: www.iphonedevbook.com Download Now »

Book Description

Joomla!, exclamation point and all, is one of the most searched–for and hired–for open source content management systems in the world. Since 2007, the combination of Joomla! and Dan Rahmel’s bestselling Beginning Joomla!, From Novice to Professional have made it so that all you have to do is read a single book to learn how to build sites that take community–authored content and turn it instantly into published web pages with all the latest features like rich templating, community member profile management, forums, photo management, and article commenting.

Now revised and updated for the new Joomla! 1.6, this second edition “job–in–a–book” provides the solid core of know–how that you’ll need to get the most out of your Joomla! deployment, written to fully exploit the features of latest version of Joomla!. More than just a simple “build a toy web site” guide, Beginning Joomla!, Second Edition will give you a wealth of life–saving tips, tricks, tools, and fixes that experienced Joomla! developers use to build powerful, popular web sites while avoiding major headaches. This book covers

• How to use content versioning and multi–blogger support, among the latest changes to Joomla!
• Access management and how documents, photos, and other content are managed in Joomla! 1.6
• E–commerce integration, search engine optimization, and even extending Joomla! by creating your own plug–ins
• And much more… Download Now »

Book Description

We are visual animals. But before we can see the world in its true splendor, our brains, just like our computers, have to sort and organize raw data, and then transform that data to produce new images of the world. Beginning Python Visualization: Crafting Visual Transformation Scripts talks about turning many types of small data sources into useful visual data. And you will learn Python as part of the bargain.

What you’ll learn

• Write ten lines of code and present visual information instead of data soup.
• Set up an open source environment ready for data visualization.
• Forget Excel: use Python.
• Learn numerical and textual processing.
• Draw graphs and plots based on textual and numerical data.
• Learn how to deal with images.

Download Now »

Book Description

Based on the best-selling first edition, Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition is the leading guide for every type of reader who wants to learn Ruby from the ground up.

The new edition of this book provides the same excellent introduction to Ruby as the first edition plus updates for the newest version of Ruby, including the addition of the Sinatra and Ramaze web application frameworks and a chapter on GUI development so developers can take advantage of these new trends.

Beginning Ruby starts by explaining the principles behind object-oriented programming and within a few chapters builds toward creating a full Ruby application. By the end of the book, in addition to in-depth knowledge of Ruby, you’ll also have basic understanding of many ancillary technologies such as SQL, XML, web frameworks, and networking.

• Introduces readers to the Ruby programming language
• Takes readers from basic programming skills to web development with topics like Ruby-based frameworks and GUI programming
• Covers many ancillary technologies in order to provide a broader picture (e.g., databases, XML, network daemons) Download Now »

Book Description

Would you like to create your own games, but never have the time to dig into the details of multimedia programming? Now you don’t have to! XNA 3.0 makes it simple to create your own games, which will run on your PC and Xbox 360 console. Even if you don’t know how to program at all, Beginning XNA 3.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional will teach you the basics of C# 2008 programming along the way. Don’t get overwhelmed with details you don’t need to know—just learn what you need to start creating your own games right now!

This fast–paced introduction to XNA 3.0 and the C# language provides you with a quick–start guide to creating high–quality XNA games. You’ll be introduced to the key concepts and ideas you need to know in a gradual fashion so that you master one concept before using it as a foundation for the next. Before long you will have the skills to create smooth, professional–looking results in a range of gaming genres. By the end of the book, you will have constructed several working games and have an excellent knowledge base from which to investigate more advanced techniques.

What you’ll learn

• Master game planning and programming basics.
• Understand 2–D graphics, audio, and input basics.
• Create your first 2–D game. Download Now »

Book Description

The book represents a well written, consistent and easy to follow view on the area of algorithm analysis. It gives an excellent overview of various mathematical and computer science areas, including but not limited to combinatorial geometry, NP-problems, complexity theory, graph theory, algorithm analysis, dynamic programming and even computational geometry.

Most of the chapters are intended for a senior level undergraduate and graduate student, but some (such as part 4 devoted to complexity problems) are more suitable for “mature” audience and require some preliminary knowledge in the area.

I found chapters on sorting, data structures, recursion and functional programming well written and structured, and examples to be practical as well as informative.

Sections on amortized analysis, randomized algorithms, approximation algorithms and iteration improvement deal with current directions in the algorithmic research and provide an excellent overview of the “state-of-the-art” in these areas. I also enjoyed reading through the section on greedy algorithms (shortest path and minimum spanning tree problems).

Section on computational complexity and analysis of the relationship between complexity classes seems to be a bit complicated, those who are interested in this area should probably do some preliminary reading. Download Now »