Remember what a wild frontier the early days of home gaming were? Manufacturers releasing new consoles at a breakneck pace; developers creating games that kept us up all night, then going bankrupt the next day; and what self-respecting kid didn't beg their parents for an Atari or a Nintendo? This explosion of computers, consoles, and games was genuinely unlike anything the tech world has seen before or since.This thoroughly researched and geeky trip down memory lane pulls together the most entertaining stories from this dynamic era, and brings you the classic tech that should never be forgotten.

    From creating new data-driven products through to increasing operational efficiency, big data has the potential to makeyour organization both more competitive and more innovative.As this emerging field transitions from the bleeding edge to enterprise infrastructure, it's vital to understand not only the technologies involved, but the organizational and cultural demands of being data-driven.Written by O'Reilly Radar's experts on big data, this anthology describes:- The broad industry changes heralded by the big data era- What big data is, what it means to your business, and how to start solving data problems- The software that makes up the Hadoop big data stack, and the major enterprise vendors' Hadoop solutions- The landscape of NoSQL databases and their relative merits- How visualization plays an important part in data work

    More and more often, those companies look to technology consultants to fulfill their needs. There are real advantages to being a consultant. You make contacts with a lot of different people; you get exposure to many industries; and most important, unlike a software developer in the IT department for a brick-and-mortar company, as a technology consultant, you are the profit center…so long as you are billing. Consulting can be hugely rewarding—but it’s easy to fail if you are unprepared. To succeed, you need a mentor who knows the lay of the land. Aaron Erickson is your mentor, and this is your guidebook. Erickson has done it all—from Practice Leadership to the lowest level project work. In The Nomadic Developer, he brings together his hardwon insights on becoming successful and achieving success through tough times and relentless change. You’ll find 100% practical advice and real experiences—his own and annotations from those in the trenches. In addition, renowned consultants—such as David Chappell, Bruce Eckel, Deborah Kurata, and Ted Neward—share some of their hard-earned lessons. With this useful guidebook, you can Objectively assess whether the consultant’s life makes sense for you Break into thebusiness and build a career path that works Avoid the Seven Deadly Firms by identifying unscrupulous technology consultancies and avoiding their traps and pitfalls Understand the business models and mechanics that virtually all consulting firms use Master secret consulting success tips that are typically left unstated or overlooked Gain a competitive advantage by adding more value than your competitors Continue your professional development so you stay billable even during bad times Profit from both fixed-bid and time-and-materials projects Build a personal brand that improves your resiliency no matter what happens

    Although many developers feel that XP is rooted in commonsense, its vastly different approach can bring challenges, frustrations, and constant demands on your patience.Unless you've got unlimited time (and who does these days?), you can't always stop to thumb through hundreds of pages to find the piece of information you need. The Extreme Programming Pocket Guide is the answer. Concise and easy to use, this handy pocket guide to XP is a must-have quick reference for anyone implementing a test-driven development environment.The Extreme Programming Pocket Guide covers XP assumptions, principles, events, artifacts, roles, and resources, and more. It concisely explains the relationships between the XP practices. If you want to adopt XP in stages, the Extreme Programming Pocket Guide will help you choose what to apply and when. You'll be surprised at how much practical information is crammed into this slim volume.O'Reilly's Pocket Guides have become a favorite among developers everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and need to get to a solution quickly, the new Extreme Programming Pocket Guide is the book you'll want to have beside your keyboard.

    Comprehensive in its coverage, the book focuses on the fundamentals to build a strong foundation of how to write effective C programs.

    With this fun and friendly beginners guide, you will quickly grasp how to play Minecraft in the three modes of game play: survival, creative, and hardcore. The easy-to-understand writing style walks you through every step of the way, from downloading the game to choosing a gaming platform to defending your creations against monsters and winning the game by defeating the Ender Dragon. Explains how to use blocks to build amazing creations and engage in gameplay with other players Details techniques for travelling across the biomes Zeroes in on playing wisely in Survival mode so you can acquire resources to maintain your health and hunger Shares tips for playing carefully in Creative mode, using your unlimited supply of resources, the ability to fly, and more Helps you play in Hardcore mode Minecraft For Dummies, Portable Edition goes where you go as you create a world you won't want to leave!

    But this high-level language is relatively difficult to master, even if you already know the C programming language.The 2nd edition of Practical C++ Programming is a complete introduction to the C++ language for programmers who are learning C++. Reflecting the latest changes to the C++ standard, this 2nd edition takes a useful down-to-earth approach, placing a strong emphasis on how to design clean, elegant code.In short, to-the-point chapters, all aspects of programming are covered including style, software engineering, programming design, object-oriented design, and debugging. It also covers common mistakes and how to find (and avoid) them. End of chapter exercises help you ensure you've mastered the material.Practical C++ Programming thoroughly covers: C++ Syntax Coding standards and style Creation and use of object classes Templates Debugging and optimization Use of the C++ preprocessor File input/output Steve Oualline's clear, easy-going writing style and hands-on approach to learning make Practical C++ Programming a nearly painless way to master this complex but powerful programming language.

    Maybe you’ve played with the basics or written a few macros. Now you want to take it to the next level. This book is a guided series of metaprogramming tutorials that take you step by step to metaprogramming mastery. You’ll extend Elixir with powerful features and write faster, more maintainable programs in ways unmatched by other languages.You’ll start with the basics of Elixir’s metaprogramming system and find out how macros interact with Elixir’s abstract format. Then you’ll extend Elixir with your own first-class features, write a testing framework, and discover how Elixir treats source code as building blocks, rather than rote lines of instructions. You’ll continue your journey by using advanced code generation to create essential libraries in strikingly few lines of code. Finally, you’ll create domain-specific languages and learn when and where to apply your skills effectively.When you’re done, you will have mastered metaprogramming, gained insights into Elixir’s internals, and have the confidence to leverage macros to their full potential in your own projects.

    This is not a handbook. It’s more like a history book.Marshall McLuhan once said:We look at the present through a rear‐view mirror. We march backwards into the future.But in the world of web design, we are mostly preoccupied with the here and now. When we think beyond our present moment, it is usually to contemplate the future—to imagine the devices, features, and interfaces that don’t yet exist. We don’t have time to look back upon our past, and yet the history of web design is filled with interesting ideas.The World Wide Web has been around for long enough now that we can begin to evaluate the twists and turns of its evolution. I wrote this book to highlight some of the approaches to web design that have proven to be resilient. I didn’t do this purely out of historical interest (although I am fascinated by the already rich history of our young industry). In learning from the past, I believe we can better prepare for the future.You won’t find any code in here to help you build better websites. But you will find ideas and approaches. Ideas are more resilient than code. I’ve tried to combine the most resilient ideas from the history of web design into an approach for building the websites of the future.I hope you will join me in building a web that lasts; a web that’s resilient.

    It's friendly, accessible, and reliable -- all qualities that apply to its official guidebook, too. This book captures the welcoming feel of the Ubuntu community, inviting you to get involved both as user and participant. But it also covers all the techniques you need to succeed happily with Ubuntu: from installation and configuration to "office applications," CD burning to instant messaging, networking to troubleshooting. There are plenty of specific answers: how to make Ubuntu run faster on older computers; better coexistence with Windows; fixes for balky microphones and scroll-wheel mice; tips for recovering lost system passwords, and much more. You'll even find chapters on Kubuntu (Ubuntu preconfigured with the KDE graphical user interface) and Edubuntu (Ubuntu optimized for schools). Plus, instant gratification: This book's DVD contains the full 7.0.4 "Feisty Fawn" distribution. Bill Camarda, from the October 2007 href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/newslet... Only

    You'll be guided through the entire process of creating a gorgeous, usable web site by applying the timeless principles of user-centered design.Even if you're short on design skills, with this book you'll be creating your own stunning web sites in no time at all.Throughout, the focus is on simple and practical techniques that anyone can use - you don't need to have gone to art school or have artistic flair to create stunning designs using the methods outlined in this book.The book's full-color layout and large format (8" x 10") make Sexy Web Design a pleasure to read.Master key web interface design principles Design amazing web interfaces from scratch Create beautiful, yet functional, web sites Unleash your artistic talents And much more Who should read this book? Whether you're completely new to web design, a seasoned pro looking for inspiration, or a developer wanting to improve your sites' aesthetics, there's something for everyone here.How? Because instead of trying to cover every possible area of creating a web site, we've focused purely on the design stage; that is, everything that happens before a single line of code is written.However, great design is more than just aesthetics. Long before we open our graphics program of choice, we'll be conducting research, dealing with clients, responding to briefs, sketching out sitemaps, planning information architecture, moving from doodles to diagrams, exploring different ways of interactivity, and building upon design traditions.But ultimately, you'll be finding out how to create web sites that look drop-dead gorgeous.

    That means you can't tap into the full power of Rails unless you master the Ruby language. ""Ruby for Rails,"" written by Ruby expert David Black (with a forward by David Heinemeier Hansson), helps Rails developers achieve Ruby mastery. Each chapter deepens your Ruby knowledge and shows you how it connects to Rails. You'll gain confidence working with objects and classes and learn how to leverage Ruby's elegant, expressive syntax for Rails application power. And you'll become a better Rails developer through a deep understanding of the design of Rails itself and how to take advantage of it.Newcomers to Ruby will find a Rails-oriented Ruby introduction that's easy to read and that includes dynamic programming techniques, an exploration of Ruby objects, classes, and data structures, and many neat examples of Ruby and Rails code in action. ""Ruby for Rails"": the Ruby guide for Rails developers!What's Inside Classes, modules, and objects Collection handling and filtering String and regular expression manipulation Exploration of the Rails source code Ruby dynamics Many more programming concepts and techniques!

    Praised for providing an engaging balance of thoughtful examples and explanatory discussion, ?best-selling author Walter Savitch explains concepts and techniques in a straightforward style using understandable language and code enhanced by a suite of pedagogical tools.? "Absolute Java "is appropriate for both introductory and intermediate programming courses introducing Java.

    The twelve-factor app is a methodology for building software-as-a-service apps that: - Use declarative formats for setup automation, to minimize time and cost for new developers joining the project; - Have a clean contract with the underlying operating system, offering maximum portability between execution environments; - Are suitable for deployment on modern cloud platforms, obviating the need for servers and systems administration; - Minimize divergence between development and production, enabling continuous deployment for maximum agility; - And can scale up without significant changes to tooling, architecture, or development practices.The twelve-factor methodology can be applied to apps written in any programming language, and which use any combination of backing services (database, queue, memory cache, etc).

    The text relates the fundamentals to three real-world examples: Intel's 8085, Motorola's 6800, and the 6502 chip used by Apple Computers. This edition includes a student version of the TASM cross-assembler software program, experiments for Digital Computer Electronics and more.