Now you can get in on the action as well. This book describes metaprogramming as an essential component of Ruby. Once you understand the principles of Ruby, including the object model, scopes, and eigenclasses, you're on your way to applying metaprogramming both in your daily work and in your fun, after-hours projects. Learning metaprogramming doesn't have to be difficult or boring. By taking you on a Monday-through-Friday workweek adventure with a pair of programmers, Paolo Perrotta helps make mastering the art of metaprogramming both straightforward and entertaining. The book is packed with:Pragmatic examples of metaprogramming in action, many of which come straight from popular libraries or frameworks, such as Rails. Programming challenges that let you experiment and play with some of the most fun, "out-there" metaprogramming concepts. Metaprogramming spells--34 practical recipes and idioms that you can study and apply right now, to write code that is sure to impress. Whether you're a Ruby apprentice on the path to mastering the language or a Ruby wiz in search of new tips, this book is for you.

    Uniquely organized around concepts and use cases, this updated fifth edition features a reorganized section on concurrency, threading, and parallel programming—including in-depth coverage of C# 5.0’s new asynchronous functions.Shaped by more than 20 expert reviewers, including Microsoft’s Eric Lippert, Stephen Toub, Chris Burrows, and Jon Skeet, this book has all you need to stay on track with C# 5.0. It’s widely known as the definitive reference on the language.Get up to speed on C# language basics, including syntax, types, and variablesExplore advanced topics such as unsafe code and type varianceDig deep into LINQ via three chapters dedicated to the topicLearn about code contracts, dynamic programming, and parallel programmingWork with .NET features, including reflection, assemblies, memory management, security, I/O, XML, collections, networking, and native interoperability"C# 5.0 in a Nutshell is one of the few books I keep on my desk as a quick reference." —Scott Guthrie, Microsoft"Whether you’re a novice programmer or an expert who wants to improve your knowledge of modern asynchronous programming techniques, this book has the information you need to get the job done in C#." —Eric Lippert, Microsoft

    Get the most out of BDD in Ruby with The RSpec Book, written by the lead developer of RSpec, David Chelimsky. You'll get started right away with RSpec 2 and Cucumber by developing a simple game, using Cucumber to express high-level requirements in language your customer understands, and RSpec to express more granular requirements that focus on the behavior of individual objects in the system. You'll learn how to use test doubles (mocks and stubs) to control the environment and focus the RSpec examples on one object at a time, and how to customize RSpec to "speak" in the language of your domain. You'll develop Rails 3 applications and use companion tools such as Webrat and Selenium to express requirements for web applications both in memory and in the browser. And you'll learn to specify Rails views, controllers, and models, each in complete isolation from the other. Whether you're developing applications, frameworks, or the libraries that power them, The RSpec Book will help you write better code, better tests, and deliver better software to happier users.

    Hibernate, the most popular Java persistence tool, provides automatic and transparent object/relational mapping making it a snap to work with SQL databases in Java applications. Hibernate applications are cheaper, more portable, and more resilient to change. Because it conforms to the new EJB 3.0 and Java Persistence 1.0 standard, Hibernate allows the developer to seamlessly create efficient, scalable Java EE applications.Java Persistence with Hibernate explores Hibernate by developing an application that ties together hundreds of individual examples. You'll immediately dig into the rich programming model of Hibernate 3.2 and Java Persistence, working through queries, fetching strategies, caching, transactions, conversations, and more. You'll also appreciate the well-illustrated discussion of best practices in database design, object/relational mapping, and optimization techniques.In this revised edition of the bestselling Hibernate in Action, authors Christian Bauer and Gavin King-the founder of the Hibernate project-cover Hibernate 3.2 in detail along with the EJB 3.0 and Java Persistence standard.

    This practical "how-to" handbook, written by experienced programmer Hal Fulton, has been updated to not only explain the newest features of Ruby, but also to show how people use Ruby today, including coverage of Ruby on Rails.

    More than four dozen architects -- including Neal Ford, Michael Nygard, and Bill de hOra -- offer advice for communicating with stakeholders, eliminating complexity, empowering developers, and many more practical lessons they've learned from years of experience. Among the 97 principles in this book, you'll find useful advice such as:Don't Put Your Resume Ahead of the Requirements (Nitin Borwankar) Chances Are, Your Biggest Problem Isn't Technical (Mark Ramm) Communication Is King; Clarity and Leadership, Its Humble Servants (Mark Richards) Simplicity Before Generality, Use Before Reuse (Kevlin Henney) For the End User, the Interface Is the System (Vinayak Hegde) It's Never Too Early to Think About Performance (Rebecca Parsons) To be successful as a software architect, you need to master both business and technology. This book tells you what top software architects think is important and how they approach a project. If you want to enhance your career, 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know is essential reading.

    Advocates of NoSQL databases claim they can be used to build systems that are more performant, scale better, and are easier to program." ""NoSQL Distilled" is a concise but thorough introduction to this rapidly emerging technology. Pramod J. Sadalage and Martin Fowler explain how NoSQL databases work and the ways that they may be a superior alternative to a traditional RDBMS. The authors provide a fast-paced guide to the concepts you need to know in order to evaluate whether NoSQL databases are right for your needs and, if so, which technologies you should explore further. The first part of the book concentrates on core concepts, including schemaless data models, aggregates, new distribution models, the CAP theorem, and map-reduce. In the second part, the authors explore architectural and design issues associated with implementing NoSQL. They also present realistic use cases that demonstrate NoSQL databases at work and feature representative examples using Riak, MongoDB, Cassandra, and Neo4j. In addition, by drawing on Pramod Sadalage's pioneering work, "NoSQL Distilled" shows how to implement evolutionary design with schema migration: an essential technique for applying NoSQL databases. The book concludes by describing how NoSQL is ushering in a new age of Polyglot Persistence, where multiple data-storage worlds coexist, and architects can choose the technology best optimized for each type of data access.

    Head First Ajax gives you an up-to-date perspective that lets you see exactly what you can do--and has been done--with Ajax. With it, you get a highly practical, in-depth, and mature view of what is now a mature development approach. Using the unique and highly effective visual format that has turned Head First titles into runaway bestsellers, this book offers a big picture overview to introduce Ajax, and then explores the use of individual Ajax components--including the JavaScript event model, DOM, XML, JSON, and more--as it progresses. You'll find plenty of sample applications that illustrate the concepts, along with exercises, quizzes, and other interactive features to help you retain what you've learned.Head First Ajax covers:The JavaScript event modelMaking Ajax requests with XMLHTTPREQUEST objectsThe asynchronous application modelThe Document Object Model (DOM)Manipulating the DOM in JavaScriptControlling the browser with the Browser Object ModelXHTML FormsPOST RequestsXML Syntax and the XML DOM treeXML Requests & ResponsesJSON -- an alternative to XMLAjax architecture & patternsThe Prototype LibraryThe book also discusses the server-side implications of building Ajax applications, and uses a black box approach to server-side components.Head First Ajax is the ideal guide for experienced web developers comfortable with scripting--particularly those who have completed the exercises in Head First JavaScript--and for experienced programmers in Java, PHP, and C# who want to learn client-side programming.

    However, it is an extremely powerful and versatile programming language in its own right. It focuses on simplicity and offers a fully object-oriented environment."Beginning Ruby" is a thoroughly contemporary guide for every type of reader who wants to learn Ruby, from novice programmers to web developers to Ruby newcomers. It starts by explaining the principles behind object-oriented programming and within a few chapters builds toward creating a genuine Ruby application.The book then explains key Ruby principles, such as classes and objects, projects, modules, and libraries, and other aspects of Ruby such as database access. In addition, Ruby on Rails is covered in depth, and the books appendixes provide essential reference information as well as a primer for experienced programmers. What you'll learn Understand the basics of Ruby and object-oriented building blocks. Work with Ruby libraries, gems, and documentation. Work with files and databases. Write and deploy Ruby applications. Explore Ruby web frameworks and aspects of network programming with Ruby. Develop desktop and GUI applications with Ruby. Who this book is forBeginning programmers, programmers new to Ruby, and web developers interested in knowing the foundations of the language. "

    Once you have thoroughly covered the basics, the book returns to each concept to cover more advanced examples and techniques. This book is for web designers who want to create interactive elements for their designs, and for developers who want to create the best user interface for their web applications. Basic JavaScript programming and knowledge of HTML and CSS is required. No knowledge of jQuery is assumed, nor is experience with any other JavaScript libraries.

    Mastering Algorithms with C offers you a unique combination of theoretical background and working code. With robust solutions for everyday programming tasks, this book avoids the abstract style of most classic data structures and algorithms texts, but still provides all of the information you need to understand the purpose and use of common programming techniques.Implementations, as well as interesting, real-world examples of each data structure and algorithm, are included.Using both a programming style and a writing style that are exceptionally clean, Kyle Loudon shows you how to use such essential data structures as lists, stacks, queues, sets, trees, heaps, priority queues, and graphs. He explains how to use algorithms for sorting, searching, numerical analysis, data compression, data encryption, common graph problems, and computational geometry. And he describes the relative efficiency of all implementations. The compression and encryption chapters not only give you working code for reasonably efficient solutions, they offer explanations of concepts in an approachable manner for people who never have had the time or expertise to study them in depth.Anyone with a basic understanding of the C language can use this book. In order to provide maintainable and extendible code, an extra level of abstraction (such as pointers to functions) is used in examples where appropriate. Understanding that these techniques may be unfamiliar to some programmers, Loudon explains them clearly in the introductory chapters.Contents include:PointersRecursionAnalysis of algorithmsData structures (lists, stacks, queues, sets, hash tables, trees, heaps, priority queues, graphs)Sorting and searchingNumerical methodsData compressionData encryptionGraph algorithmsGeometric algorithms

    Grokking Simplicity is a friendly, practical guide that will change the way you approach software design and development. It introduces a unique approach to functional programming that explains why certain features of software are prone to complexity, and teaches you the functional techniques you can use to simplify these systems so that they’re easier to test and debug.

    Aiming to tell the dark secrets of computer arithmetic, this title is suitable for library developers, compiler writers, and lovers of elegant hacks.

    Relentlessly practical, the book delivers insight, not documentation, to teach developers what they need to know to build the next generation of SOAs.After explaining the advantages of service-orientation for application design and teaching the basics of how to develop SOAs using WCF, the book shows how you can take advantage of built-in features such as service hosting, instance management, asynchronous calls, synchronization, reliability, transaction management, disconnected queued calls and security to build best in class applications. "Programming WCF Services" focuses on the rationale behind particular design decisions, often shedding light on poorly-documented and little-understood aspects of SOA development. Developers and architects will learn not only the "how" of WCF programming, but also relevant design guidelines, best practices, and pitfalls. Original techniques and utilities provided by the author throughout the book go well beyond anything that can be found in conventional sources.Based on experience and insight gained while taking part in the strategic design of WCF and working with the team that implemented it, "Programming WCF Services" provides experienced working professionals with the definitive work on WCF. Not only will this book make you a WCF expert, it will make you a better software engineer. It's the Rosetta Stone of WCF.

    As a modern application developer you need to understand the emerging field of data management, both RDBMS and NoSQL. Seven Databases in Seven Weeks takes you on a tour of some of the hottest open source databases today. In the tradition of Bruce A. Tate's Seven Languages in Seven Weeks, this book goes beyond your basic tutorial to explore the essential concepts at the core each technology. Redis, Neo4J, CouchDB, MongoDB, HBase, Riak and Postgres. With each database, you'll tackle a real-world data problem that highlights the concepts and features that make it shine. You'll explore the five data models employed by these databases-relational, key/value, columnar, document and graph-and which kinds of problems are best suited to each. You'll learn how MongoDB and CouchDB are strikingly different, and discover the Dynamo heritage at the heart of Riak. Make your applications faster with Redis and more connected with Neo4J. Use MapReduce to solve Big Data problems. Build clusters of servers using scalable services like Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Discover the CAP theorem and its implications for your distributed data. Understand the tradeoffs between consistency and availability, and when you can use them to your advantage. Use multiple databases in concert to create a platform that's more than the sum of its parts, or find one that meets all your needs at once.Seven Databases in Seven Weeks will take you on a deep dive into each of the databases, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to choose the ones that fit your needs.What You Need: To get the most of of this book you'll have to follow along, and that means you'll need a *nix shell (Mac OSX or Linux preferred, Windows users will need Cygwin), and Java 6 (or greater) and Ruby 1.8.7 (or greater). Each chapter will list the downloads required for that database.