Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional


Magnus Lie Hetland - 2005
    Based on "Practical Python," this newly-revised book is both an introduction and practical reference for a swath of Python-related programming topics, including addressing language internals, database integration, network programming, and web services. Advanced topics, such as extending Python and packaging/distributing Python applications, are also covered.Ten different projects illustrate the concepts introduced in the book. You will learn how to create a P2P file-sharing application and a web-based bulletin board, and how to remotely edit web-based documents and create games. Author Magnus Lie Hetland is an authority on Python and previously authored "Practical Python." He also authored the popular online guide, Instant Python Hacking, on which both books are based.

Data Structures and Algorithms in Python


Michael T. Goodrich - 2012
     Data Structures and Algorithms in Python is the first mainstream object-oriented book available for the Python data structures course. Designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to data structures and algorithms, including their design, analysis, and implementation, the text will maintain the same general structure as Data Structures and Algorithms in Java and Data Structures and Algorithms in C++.

Handbook of Applied Cryptography


Alfred J. Menezes - 1996
    Standards are emerging to meet the demands for cryptographic protection in most areas of data communications. Public-key cryptographic techniques are now in widespread use, especially in the financial services industry, in the public sector, and by individuals for their personal privacy, such as in electronic mail. This Handbook will serve as a valuable reference for the novice as well as for the expert who needs a wider scope of coverage within the area of cryptography. It is a necessary and timely guide for professionals who practice the art of cryptography. The Handbook of Applied Cryptography provides a treatment that is multifunctional: It serves as an introduction to the more practical aspects of both conventional and public-key cryptographyIt is a valuable source of the latest techniques and algorithms for the serious practitionerIt provides an integrated treatment of the field, while still presenting each major topic as a self-contained unitIt provides a mathematical treatment to accompany practical discussionsIt contains enough abstraction to be a valuable reference for theoreticians while containing enough detail to actually allow implementation of the algorithms discussedNow in its third printing, this is the definitive cryptography reference that the novice as well as experienced developers, designers, researchers, engineers, computer scientists, and mathematicians alike will use.

Simplifying Street Fighter: A New Player's Guide to Preparing for Street Fighter 5


gootecks - 2015
    If you're like most players, you struggle with nearly every aspect of the game: offense, defense, execution and combos, and generally having a game plan that is more complex than just mashing buttons at every opportunity. A Road Map Toward Improvement Street Fighter is a game that requires practice, finesse, and knowledge. Unfortunately, most players don't have any guidance on where to begin when learning the game which leads to lots of frustration and losses. This guide is designed to give you a road map for improving your skills so that when SF5 drops you can hit the ground running!Lots of players are under the misconception that since SF5 is a brand new game, there's no point in playing SF4 and improving. While it is true that there will be lots to learn in SF5 such as new engines and characters, this is not a reason not to improve on your Street Fighter fundamentals in the meantime. The Importance of a Solid Foundation Like anything else worth doing in life, developing a foundation of solid fundamentals is the key to improving. Even though SF5 will have brand new characters and mechanics, the core elements of Street Fighter remain the same throughout the franchise. Execution, footsies and space control, combos, punishing, and resource management are important in all Street Fighter games and this guide will show you how to use SF4 to improve on these aspects of your game. Who is gootecks and why should I bother? I've played Street Fighter competitively since 2003, starting with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and continuing with Street Fighter 4. I've traveled to compete in tournaments around the world, including places like Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and Europe.A lot of people may know me as the co-host of Excellent Adventures of gootecks & Mike Ross, or perhaps from my work on Cross Counter TV, the entertainment network for fighting game fans.Recently, I've begun training players just like yourself through Cross Counter Training, where players like EG.Justin Wong, EG.K-Brad, Alex Myers are available for helping players of all skill levels improve. Through working with my students, I've developed what I believe to be an extremely effective method of learning how to play Street Fighter. This method is based on the idea of learning one tiny aspect of the game at a time through the eyes of the poster boy of Street Fighter, Ryu. "But Ryu is boring, gootecks!" I know, I know, you think Ryu is boring and everybody plays him and you want to play a cool, flashy character so you can style on people on stage at Evo someday. Unfortunately, you'll need to learn how to walk before you can run and there is no better investment of time as a new player than to learn Ryu in order to build a strong foundation.Taking this time now to develop your fundamentals will serve you well as you transition to Street Fighter 5. Ryu is definitely different in SF5, but the tools and concepts you'll learn in this guide will give you a leg up on the competition when SF5 drops.

The Tangled Web: A Guide to Securing Modern Web Applications


Michal Zalewski - 2011
    Every piece of the web application stack, from HTTP requests to browser-side scripts, comes with important yet subtle security consequences. To keep users safe, it is essential for developers to confidently navigate this landscape.In The Tangled Web, Michal Zalewski, one of the world's top browser security experts, offers a compelling narrative that explains exactly how browsers work and why they're fundamentally insecure. Rather than dispense simplistic advice on vulnerabilities, Zalewski examines the entire browser security model, revealing weak points and providing crucial information for shoring up web application security. You'll learn how to:Perform common but surprisingly complex tasks such as URL parsing and HTML sanitization Use modern security features like Strict Transport Security, Content Security Policy, and Cross-Origin Resource Sharing Leverage many variants of the same-origin policy to safely compartmentalize complex web applications and protect user credentials in case of XSS bugs Build mashups and embed gadgets without getting stung by the tricky frame navigation policy Embed or host user-supplied content without running into the trap of content sniffing For quick reference, "Security Engineering Cheat Sheets" at the end of each chapter offer ready solutions to problems you're most likely to encounter. With coverage extending as far as planned HTML5 features, The Tangled Web will help you create secure web applications that stand the test of time.

Practical Django Projects


James Bennett - 2008
    You'll work through the development of each project, implementing and running the applications while learning new features along the way.Web frameworks are playing a major role in the creation of today's most compelling web applications, because they automate many of the tedious tasks, allowing developers to instead focus on providing users with creative and powerful features. Python developers have been particularly fortunate in this area, having been able to take advantage of Django, a very popular open source web framework whose stated goal is to make it easier to build better web applications more quickly with less code.Practical Django Projects is the first book to introduce this popular framework by way of a series of realworld projects. What you'll learn Capitalize upon Django's welldefined framework architecture to build web applications faster than ever before Learn by doing by working through the creation of three realworld projects, including a content management system, blog, and social networking site Build userfriendly web sites with wellstructured URLs, session tracking, and syndication options Let Django handle tedious tasks such as database interaction while you focus on building compelling applications Who this book is forWeb developers seeking to use the powerful Django framework to build powerful web sites. "

The Soul of a New Machine


Tracy Kidder - 1981
    Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful, prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old "veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to work harder and faster on complex and difficult projects, exploiting the youngsters' ignorance of normal scheduling processes while engendering a new kind of work ethic.These days, we are used to the "total commitment" philosophy of managing technical creation, but Kidder was surprised and even a little alarmed at the obsessions and compulsions he found. From in-house political struggles to workers being permitted to tease management to marathon 24-hour work sessions, The Soul of a New Machine explores concepts that already seem familiar, even old-hat, less than 20 years later. Kidder plainly admires his subjects; while he admits to hopeless confusion about their work, he finds their dedication heroic. The reader wonders, though, what will become of it all, now and in the future. —Rob Lightner

Introduction to Machine Learning with Python: A Guide for Data Scientists


Andreas C. Müller - 2015
    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 Muller 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.With this book, you'll learn:Fundamental concepts and applications of machine learningAdvantages and shortcomings of widely used machine learning algorithmsHow to represent data processed by machine learning, including which data aspects to focus onAdvanced methods for model evaluation and parameter tuningThe concept of pipelines for chaining models and encapsulating your workflowMethods for working with text data, including text-specific processing techniquesSuggestions for improving your machine learning and data science skills

Head First Design Patterns


Eric Freeman - 2004
     At any given moment, somewhere in the world someone struggles with the same software design problems you have. You know you don't want to reinvent the wheel (or worse, a flat tire), so you look to Design Patterns--the lessons learned by those who've faced the same problems. With Design Patterns, you get to take advantage of the best practices and experience of others, so that you can spend your time on...something else. Something more challenging. Something more complex. Something more fun. You want to learn about the patterns that matter--why to use them, when to use them, how to use them (and when NOT to use them). But you don't just want to see how patterns look in a book, you want to know how they look "in the wild". In their native environment. In other words, in real world applications. You also want to learn how patterns are used in the Java API, and how to exploit Java's built-in pattern support in your own code. You want to learn the real OO design principles and why everything your boss told you about inheritance might be wrong (and what to do instead). You want to learn how those principles will help the next time you're up a creek without a design pattern. Most importantly, you want to learn the "secret language" of Design Patterns so that you can hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail party guests) when he casually mentions his stunningly clever use of Command, Facade, Proxy, and Factory in between sips of a martini. You'll easily counter with your deep understanding of why Singleton isn't as simple as it sounds, how the Factory is so often misunderstood, or on the real relationship between Decorator, Facade and Adapter. With Head First Design Patterns, you'll avoid the embarrassment of thinking Decorator is something from the "Trading Spaces" show. Best of all, in a way that won't put you to sleep! We think your time is too important (and too short) to spend it struggling with academic texts. If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect--a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, Head First Design Patterns will load patterns into your brain in a way that sticks. In a way that lets you put them to work immediately. In a way that makes you better at solving software design problems, and better at speaking the language of patterns with others on your team.

Akka in Action


Raymond Roestenburg - 2012
    Akka uses Actors-independently executing processes that communicate via message passing—as the foundation for fault-tolerant applications where individual actors can fail without crashing everything. Perfect for high-volume applications that need to scale rapidly, Akka is an efficient foundation for event-driven systems that want to scale elastically up and out on demand, both on multi-core processors and across server nodes.Akka in Action is a comprehensive tutorial on building message-oriented systems using Akka. The book takes a hands-on approach, where each new concept is followed by an example that shows you how it works, how to implement the code, and how to (unit) test it. You'll learn to test and deploy an actor system and scale it up and out, showing off Akka's fault tolerance. As you move along, you'll explore a message-oriented event-driven application in Akka. You'll also tackle key issues like how to model immutable messages and domain models, and apply patterns like Event Sourcing, and CQRS. The book concludes with practical advice on how to tune and customize a system built with Akka.

What's New in Java 7?


Madhusudhan Konda - 2011
    Madhusudhan Konda provides an overview of these, including strings in switch statements, multi-catch exception handling, try-with-resource statements, the new File System API, extensions of the JVM, support for dynamically-typed languages, and the fork and join framework for task parallelism.

Serial Killers: Horrifying True-Life Cases of Pure Evil


Charlotte Greig - 2012
    From perverse acts of cannibalism and dark sexual fantasies to vicious acts motivated by greed and a simple lust for blood, this book reveals the methods and motivations of some of the world's most notorious serial killers, including Juan Corona, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Pee Wee Gaskins, and Ivan Milat.

How to Prove It: A Structured Approach


Daniel J. Velleman - 1994
    The book begins with the basic concepts of logic and set theory, to familiarize students with the language of mathematics and how it is interpreted. These concepts are used as the basis for a step-by-step breakdown of the most important techniques used in constructing proofs. To help students construct their own proofs, this new edition contains over 200 new exercises, selected solutions, and an introduction to Proof Designer software. No background beyond standard high school mathematics is assumed. Previous Edition Hb (1994) 0-521-44116-1 Previous Edition Pb (1994) 0-521-44663-5

R for Everyone: Advanced Analytics and Graphics


Jared P. Lander - 2013
    R has traditionally been difficult for non-statisticians to learn, and most R books assume far too much knowledge to be of help. R for Everyone is the solution. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience teaching new users, professional data scientist Jared P. Lander has written the perfect tutorial for anyone new to statistical programming and modeling. Organized to make learning easy and intuitive, this guide focuses on the 20 percent of R functionality you'll need to accomplish 80 percent of modern data tasks. Lander's self-contained chapters start with the absolute basics, offering extensive hands-on practice and sample code. You'll download and install R; navigate and use the R environment; master basic program control, data import, and manipulation; and walk through several essential tests. Then, building on this foundation, you'll construct several complete models, both linear and nonlinear, and use some data mining techniques. By the time you're done, you won't just know how to write R programs, you'll be ready to tackle the statistical problems you care about most. COVERAGE INCLUDES - Exploring R, RStudio, and R packages - Using R for math: variable types, vectors, calling functions, and more - Exploiting data structures, including data.frames, matrices, and lists - Creating attractive, intuitive statistical graphics - Writing user-defined functions - Controlling program flow with if, ifelse, and complex checks - Improving program efficiency with group manipulations - Combining and reshaping multiple datasets - Manipulating strings using R's facilities and regular expressions - Creating normal, binomial, and Poisson probability distributions - Programming basic statistics: mean, standard deviation, and t-tests - Building linear, generalized linear, and nonlinear models - Assessing the quality of models and variable selection - Preventing overfitting, using the Elastic Net and Bayesian methods - Analyzing univariate and multivariate time series data - Grouping data via K-means and hierarchical clustering - Preparing reports, slideshows, and web pages with knitr - Building reusable R packages with devtools and Rcpp - Getting involved with the R global community

Code Complete


Steve McConnell - 1993
    Now this classic book has been fully updated and revised with leading-edge practices--and hundreds of new code samples--illustrating the art and science of software construction. Capturing the body of knowledge available from research, academia, and everyday commercial practice, McConnell synthesizes the most effective techniques and must-know principles into clear, pragmatic guidance. No matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking--and help you build the highest quality code. Discover the timeless techniques and strategies that help you: Design for minimum complexity and maximum creativity Reap the benefits of collaborative development Apply defensive programming techniques to reduce and flush out errors Exploit opportunities to refactor--or evolve--code, and do it safely Use construction practices that are right-weight for your project Debug problems quickly and effectively Resolve critical construction issues early and correctly Build quality into the beginning, middle, and end of your project