Wow! eBook – Blog

Book Description

What makes this book different from others on database design? Many resources on design practice do little to explain the underlying theory, and books on design theory are aimed primarily at theoreticians. In this book, renowned expert Chris Date bridges the gap by introducing design theory in ways practitioners can understand—drawing on lessons learned over four decades of experience to demonstrate why proper database design is so critical in the first place.

Every chapter includes a set of exercises that show how to apply the theoretical ideas in practice, provide additional information, or ask you to prove some simple theoretical result. If you’re a database professional familiar with the relational model, and have more than a passing interest in database design, this book is for you.

Questions this book answers include:

• Why is Heath’s Theorem so important?
• What is The Principle of Orthogonal Design?
• What makes some JDs reducible and others irreducible?
• Why does dependency preservation matter?
• Should data redundancy always be avoided? Can it be?

Databases often stay in production for decades Download Now »

Book Description

User Experience Innovation is a book about creating novel and engaging user experiences for new products and systems. User experience is what makes devices such as Apple’s iPhone and systems such as Amazon.com so successful. iPhone customers don’t buy just a phone; they buy into an experience enabled by the device. Similarly, Amazon.com customers enter a world of book reviews, interesting recommendations, instant downloads to their Kindle, and one-click purchasing. Products today are focal points, and it is the experience surrounding the product that matters the most. User Experience Innovation helps you create the right sort of experience around your products in order to be successful in the marketplace.

The approach in User Experience Innovation is backed by 18 years of experience from an author holding more than 100 patents relating to user experience. This is a book written by a practitioner for other practitioners. You’ll learn 17 specific methods for creating innovation; these methods run the gamut from targeting user needs to relieving pain points, to providing positive surprises, to innovating around paradoxes. Each method is one that the author has used successfully. Taken together, they can help you create truly successful user experience innovations to benefit your company or organization, and to help you grow as an experienced expert and innovator in your own right.

• Provides 17 proven methods for innovating around user experience
• Helps you think beyond the product to the sum total of a customer’s experience
• Written by an experienced practitioner holding more than 100 user-experience patents Download Now »

Book Description

Silverlight 5 is the latest iteration of Microsoft’s cross-browser technology for creating rich user experiences on the Web. Like its predecessor, Silverlight 4, it rides atop the .NET Framework for maximum ease of use and coding efficiency. The new technology carries forward much of the work that has been done before and augments it in many important respects, including support for H.264 video, major improvements to the graphics engine (including true 3D rendering), and much richer data-binding options for interfacing with other applications.

Pro Silverlight 5 in VB is an invaluable reference for professional developers wanting to discover the new features of Silverlight. Author Matthew MacDonald‘s expert advice guides you through creating rich media applications using Silverlight in the environment you’re most productive in—no matter what the target platform. As you learn about the features that put Silverlight in direct competition with Adobe Flash, such as rich support for 2D and 3D drawing, animations, and media playback, you’ll experience the plumbing of .NET and the design model of WPF through Silverlight—all of the same .NET technology that developers use to design next-generation Windows applications.

MacDonald provides a comprehensive tutorial written from professional developer to professional developer.

What you’ll learn

• Develop rich media applications using Silverlight across browsers and platforms
• Create a project, set up a layout, and use controls Download Now »

Book Description

You can’t truly understand Systems Analysis and Design (SAD) by only reading about it; you have to do it. In Systems Analysis and Design, Third Edition, Dennis, Wixom, and Roth offer a hands-on approach to actually doing SAD. Building on their experience as professional systems analysts and award-winning teachers, these three authors capture the experience of actually developing and analyzing systems. They focus on the core set of skills that all analysts must possess––from gathering requirements and modeling business needs, to creating blueprints for how the system should be built.

From the Back Cover
A modern, hands-on approach to doing SAD––in UML!Get the core skills you need to actually do systems analysis and design with this highly practical, hands-on approach to SAD using UML! Authors Alan Dennis, Barbara Haley Wixom, and David Tegarden guide you through each part of the SAD process, with clear explanations of what it is and how to implement it, along with detailed examples and exercises that allow you to practice what you’ve learned.

Now updated to include UML Version 2.0 and revised, this Second Edition features a new chapter on the Unified Process, increased coverage of project management, and more examples.

• Written in UML: The text takes a contemporary, object-oriented approach using UML.
• Focus on doing SAD: After presenting the how and what of each major technique, the text guides you through practice problems and then invites you to use the technique in a project.
• Rich examples of both success and failure Download Now »

Book Description

Veteran icon designer Kate McInnes introduces you to the wonderful world of icon design, so you too can become a Rockstar Icon Designer!

In this book Kate shares with you her experience and expertise by covering everything from the history and theory of icon design, to best practices and methods. She’ll also take you through the whole process of creating your own icon set, and walk you through actual tutorial exercises where you’ll design icons from scratch.

Hi, I’m Kate, the author of Rockstar Icon Designer.

When I first started out in icon design I found that there was very little information to help guide me though the design process. Through a lot of trial and error, I finally came to understand and really appreciate the wonderful world of icons.

During the course of this book, I will share my experiences in the field of icon design. I’ll look at rendering styles and ways to achieve them, and the many uses for icons today. This book won’t teach you how to emulate others. It won’t focus heavily on one OS over another; nor will it turn you into a master overnight. Instead it will help you create designs that will stand up to the test of time and help you better understand the constraints (and the joys) of pixel perfect rendering and icon design in general.

Here’s what I cover in each chapter of the book:

Download Now »

Book Description

This is the must-have book for designers who want to expand their skills and improve the quality of their designs. Learning CSS technology and continually improving one’s design and developer skills is essential for every Web designer in today’s marketplace. The goal of Professional Web Design: Techniques and Templates is to educate beginning-to-intermediate Web designers on the various issues involved with Web design through general discussion, case studies, and specific tips and techniques.

Using easy-to-understand language and concepts, the book teaches designers and developers how to create professional-quality CSS-based designs. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is explored, giving the reader a strong, basic understanding of how to get sites to rank better in search engines. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) also is explained, helping the designer create a more efficient site for the users who are already visiting. You’ll get the benefit of the author’s experience. With more than 15 years of experience as a Web designer for Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and small businesses alike, Eccher has learned numerous tips and techniques of the trade and discloses them here, saving you time and aggravation by alerting you to potential pitfalls.

About the Author
Clint Eccher (Fort Collins, CO) is an award winning Web designer with more than 15 years of experience designing and developing professional Web sites. Download Now »