You d be up to your neck in normal forms before you even had a chance to wade. When Michael J. Hernandez needed a database design book to teach mere mortals like himself, there were none. So he began a personal quest to learn enough to write one. And he did.Now in its Second Edition, Database Design for Mere Mortals is a miracle for today s generation of database users who don t have the background -- or the time -- to learn database design the hard way. It s also a secret pleasure for working pros who are occasionally still trying to figure out what they were taught.Drawing on 13 years of database teaching experience, Hernandez has organized database design into several key principles that are surprisingly easy to understand and remember. He illuminates those principles using examples that are generic enough to help you with virtually any application.Hernandez s goals are simple. You ll learn how to create a sound database structure as easily as possible. You ll learn how to optimize your structure for efficiency and data integrity. You ll learn how to avoid problems like missing, incorrect, mismatched, or inaccurate data. You ll learn how to relate tables together to make it possible to get whatever answers you need in the future -- even if you haven t thought of the questions yet.If -- as is often the case -- you already have a database, Hernandez explains how to analyze it -- and leverage it. You ll learn how to identify new information requirements, determine new business rules that need to be applied, and apply them.Hernandez starts with an introduction to databases, relational databases, and the idea and objectives of database design. Next, you ll walk through the key elements of the database design process: establishing table structures and relationships, assigning primary keys, setting field specifications, and setting up views. Hernandez s extensive coverage of data integrity includes a full chapter on establishing business rules and using validation tables.Hernandez surveys bad design techniques in a chapter on what not to do -- and finally, helps you identify those rare instances when it makes sense to bend or even break the conventional rules of database design.There s plenty that s new in this edition. Hernandez has gone over his text and illustrations with a fine-tooth comb to improve their already impressive clarity. You ll find updates to reflect new advances in technology, including web database applications. There are expanded and improved discussions of nulls and many-to-many relationships; multivalued fields; primary keys; and SQL data type fields. There s a new Quick Reference database design flowchart. A new glossary. New review questions at the end of every chapter.Finally, it s worth mentioning what this book isn t. It isn t a guide to any specific database platform -- so you can use it whether you re running Access, SQL Server, or Oracle, MySQL or PostgreSQL. And it isn t an SQL guide. (If that s what you need, Michael J. Hernandez has also coauthored the superb SQL Queries for Mere Mortals). But if database design is what you need to learn, this book s worth its weight in gold. Bill CamardaBill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

    R in a Nutshell provides a quick and practical way to learn this increasingly popular open source language and environment. You'll not only learn how to program in R, but also how to find the right user-contributed R packages for statistical modeling, visualization, and bioinformatics.The author introduces you to the R environment, including the R graphical user interface and console, and takes you through the fundamentals of the object-oriented R language. Then, through a variety of practical examples from medicine, business, and sports, you'll learn how you can use this remarkable tool to solve your own data analysis problems.Understand the basics of the language, including the nature of R objectsLearn how to write R functions and build your own packagesWork with data through visualization, statistical analysis, and other methodsExplore the wealth of packages contributed by the R communityBecome familiar with the lattice graphics package for high-level data visualizationLearn about bioinformatics packages provided by Bioconductor"I am excited about this book. R in a Nutshell is a great introduction to R, as well as a comprehensive reference for using R in data analytics and visualization. Adler provides 'real world' examples, practical advice, and scripts, making it accessible to anyone working with data, not just professional statisticians."

    Take advantage of several preloaded programming languages. Use the Raspberry Pi with Arduino. Create Internet-connected projects. Play with multimedia. With Raspberry Pi, you can do all of this and more.Get acquainted with hardware features on the Pi’s boardLearn enough Linux to move around the operating systemPick up the basics of Python and Scratch—and start programmingDraw graphics, play sounds, and handle mouse events with the Pygame frameworkUse the Pi’s input and output pins to do some hardware hackingDiscover how Arduino and the Raspberry Pi complement each otherIntegrate USB webcams and other peripherals into your projectsCreate your own Pi-based web server with Python

    You'll systematically discover each technology in the MEAN stack as you build up an application one layer at a time, just as you'd do in a real project.Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.About the TechnologyTraditional web dev stacks use a different programming language in every layer, resulting in a complex mashup of code and frameworks. Together, the MongoDB database, the Express and AngularJS frameworks, and Node.js constitute the MEAN stack--a powerful platform that uses only one language, top to bottom: JavaScript. Developers and businesses love it because it's scalable and cost-effective. End users love it because the apps created with it are fast and responsive. It's a win-win-win!About the BookGetting MEAN with Mongo, Express, Angular, and Node teaches you how to develop web applications using the MEAN stack. First, you'll create the skeleton of a static site in Express and Node, and then push it up to a live web server. Next, you'll add a MongoDB database and build an API before using Angular to handle data manipulation and application logic in the browser. Finally you'll add an authentication system to the application, using the whole stack. When you finish, you'll have all the skills you need to build a dynamic data-driven web application.What's InsideFull-stack development using JavaScriptResponsive web techniquesEverything you need to get started with MEANBest practices for efficiency and reusabilityAbout the ReaderReaders should have some web development experience. This book is based on MongoDB 2, Express 4, Angular 1, and Node.js 4.About the AuthorSimon Holmes has been a full-stack developer since the late 1990s and runs Full Stack Training Ltd.Table of ContentsPART 1 SETTING THE BASELINEIntroducing full-stack developmentDesigning a MEAN stack architecturePART 2 BUILDING A NODE WEB APPLICATIONCreating and setting up a MEAN projectBuilding a static site with Node and ExpressBuilding a data model with MongoDB and MongooseWriting a REST API: Exposing the MongoDB database to the applicationConsuming a REST API: Using an API from inside ExpressPART 3 ADDING A DYNAMIC FRONT END WITH ANGULARAdding Angular components to an Express applicationBuilding a single-page application with Angular: FoundationsBuilding an SPA with Angular: The next levelPART 4 MANAGING AUTHENTICATION AND USER SESSIONSAuthenticating users, managing sessions, and securing APIsAPPENDIXESInstalling the stackInstalling and preparing the supporting castDealing with all of the viewsReintroducing JavaScript - available online only

    In the Mastering Emacs ebook you will learn the answers to all the concepts that take weeks, months or even years to truly learn, all in one place.“Emacs is such a hard editor to learn”But why is it so hard to learn? As it turns out, it's almost always the same handful of issues that everyone faces.If you have tried to learn Emacs you will have struggled with the same problems everyone faces, and few tutorials to see you through it.I have dedicated the first half of the book to explaining the essence of Emacs — and in doing so, how to overcome these issues:Memorizing Emacs’s keys: You will learn Emacs one key at a time, starting with the arrow keys. To feel productive in Emacs, it’s important you start on an equal footing — without too many new concepts and keys to memorize. Each chapter will introduce more keys and concepts so you can learn at your own pace. Discovering new modes and features: Emacs is a self-documenting editor, and I will teach you how to use the apropos, info, and describe system to discover new modes and features, or help you find things you forgot! Customizing Emacs: You don’t have to learn Emacs Lisp to alter a lot of Emacs’s functionality. Most changes you want to make are possible using Emacs’s Customize interface and I will show you how to use it efficiently. Understanding the terminology: Emacs is so old it predates almost every other editor and all modern user interfaces. I have an entire chapter dedicated to the unique terminology in Emacs; how it is different from other editors, and what that means to you.

    The book progresses into a discussion of the Xbox security mechanisms and other advanced hacking topics, with an emphasis on educating the readers on the important subjects of computer security and reverse engineering. Hacking the Xbox includes numerous practical guides, such as where to get hacking gear, soldering techniques, debugging tips and an Xbox hardware reference guide.Hacking the Xbox also confronts the social and political issues facing today's hacker by looking forward and discussing the impact of today's legal challenges on legitimate reverse engineering activities. The book includes a chapter written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) about the rights and responsibilities of hackers, and concludes by discussing the latest trends and vulnerabilities in secure PC platforms.

    This text includes coverage of I/O control, video/graphics control, text display, and OS/2. Its also illustrates examples of structured programming.

    Learn how easy it is to handle data as self-contained JSON-style documents, rather than as records in a relational database.Explore ways that document-oriented storage will work for your projectLearn how MongoDB’s schema-free data model handles documents, collections, and multiple databasesExecute basic write operations, and create complex queries to find data with any criteriaUse indexes, aggregation tools, and other advanced query techniquesLearn about monitoring, security and authentication, backup and repair, and moreSet up master-slave and automatic failover replication in MongoDBUse sharding to scale MongoDB horizontally, and learn how it impacts applicationsGet example applications written in Java, PHP, Python, and Ruby

    If your job requires you to manage and analyze all kinds of data, turn to Head First Data Analysis, where you'll quickly learn how to collect and organize data, sort the distractions from the truth, find meaningful patterns, draw conclusions, predict the future, and present your findings to others. Whether you're a product developer researching the market viability of a new product or service, a marketing manager gauging or predicting the effectiveness of a campaign, a salesperson who needs data to support product presentations, or a lone entrepreneur responsible for all of these data-intensive functions and more, the unique approach in Head First Data Analysis is by far the most efficient way to learn what you need to know to convert raw data into a vital business tool. You'll learn how to:Determine which data sources to use for collecting information Assess data quality and distinguish signal from noise Build basic data models to illuminate patterns, and assimilate new information into the models Cope with ambiguous information Design experiments to test hypotheses and draw conclusions Use segmentation to organize your data within discrete market groups Visualize data distributions to reveal new relationships and persuade others Predict the future with sampling and probability models Clean your data to make it useful Communicate the results of your analysis to your audience Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First Data Analysis uses a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

    Fortunately, there s a solution: Erik T. Ray s Learning XML, Second Edition. This book presents an outstanding birds-eye view of the XML landscape. It s definitely not a programming book (though it does introduce some key XML programming issues). Rather, it s focused on key ideas you need to understand whatever you want to do with XML. That could be document management, web or print content delivery, application integration, B2B commerce, data storage, internationalization -- you name it.Ray s day job is software developer and XML specialist at O Reilly. There, he s helped to implement a complete publishing solution, using DocBook-XML and Perl to produce books in print, on CD-ROM, and for online delivery. So he understands XML from the real-world point of view of someone with a job to do. His first goal is to take on the big questions. First, What is XML? Ray attacks this question from multiple angles, introducing XML as a general-purpose information storage system, a markup language toolkit, and an open standard (or, increasingly, a collection of standards). What can (and can t) you do with XML? What s the history that led us here? And what tools do you need to get started? Next, he introduces the basic building blocks of XML markup and all XML-derived languages: stuff you ll need to know regardless of your goals. Through easy examples, you ll understand elements, attributes, entities, and processing instructions -- and how they fit together in a well-formed XML document. Then, it s on to representing information with XML -- in other words, understanding the nature and planning the structure of the documents you ll be using. Ray starts simply, then builds on his basic examples to discuss narrative documents with text flows, block and inline elements, and titled sections. Once you can handle those, he discusses more complex information modeling, as used in specialized markup languages such as VML. This edition contains an entirely new chapter on XML Schemas -- what he calls the shepherds that keep documents from straying outside of the herd and causing trouble. Schemas, of course, have become hugely important. This is one of the best plain-English introductions to the topic we ve seen. Ray then turns to presentation, introducing CSS stylesheets, basic usage, rule matching, properties, and more. A little later on, he returns to the subject -- this time with a complete introduction to XSL-FO that illuminates two powerful examples. The first is TEI-XML, a markup language for scholarly documents (Ray presents a Shakespearean sonnet, appropriately coded). The second is the immensely powerful DocBook -- which, as we ve observed, Ray knows inside and out. Learning XML is superbly written. Clear explanations. Simple examples. Great metaphors and analogies. And excellent introductions to nearly every topic that matters, from links to presentation, transformation to internationalization. If you re just starting out with XML, you re lucky to have it. Bill CamardaBill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

    Cryptography is vital to keeping information safe, in an era when the formula to do so becomes more and more challenging. Written by a team of world-renowned cryptography experts, this essential guide is the definitive introduction to all major areas of cryptography: message security, key negotiation, and key management. You'll learn how to think like a cryptographer. You'll discover techniques for building cryptography into products from the start and you'll examine the many technical changes in the field.After a basic overview of cryptography and what it means today, this indispensable resource covers such topics as block ciphers, block modes, hash functions, encryption modes, message authentication codes, implementation issues, negotiation protocols, and more. Helpful examples and hands-on exercises enhance your understanding of the multi-faceted field of cryptography.An author team of internationally recognized cryptography experts updates you on vital topics in the field of cryptography Shows you how to build cryptography into products from the start Examines updates and changes to cryptography Includes coverage on key servers, message security, authentication codes, new standards, block ciphers, message authentication codes, and more Cryptography Engineering gets you up to speed in the ever-evolving field of cryptography.

    Ideal as a quick reference, Regular Expression Pocket Reference covers the regular expression APIs for Perl 5.8, Ruby (including some upcoming 1.9 features), Java, PHP, .NET and C#, Python, vi, JavaScript, and the PCRE regular expression libraries. This concise and easy-to-use reference puts a very powerful tool for manipulating text and data right at your fingertips. Composed of a mixture of symbols and text, regular expressions can be an outlet for creativity, for brilliant programming, and for the elegant solution. Regular Expression Pocket Reference offers an introduction to regular expressions, pattern matching, metacharacters, modes and constructs, and then provides separate sections for each of the language APIs, with complete regex listings including:Supported metacharacters for each language API Regular expression classes and interfaces for Ruby, Java, .NET, and C# Regular expression operators for Perl 5.8 Regular expression module objects and functions for Python Pattern-matching functions for PHP and the vi editor Pattern-matching methods and objects for JavaScript Unicode Support for each of the languages With plenty of examples and other resources, Regular Expression Pocket Reference summarizes the complex rules for performing this critical text-processing function, and presents this often-confusing topic in a friendly and well-organized format. This guide makes an ideal on-the-job companion.

    Pioneering physicists are on the brink of unlocking a new quantum universe which provides a better representation of reality than our everyday experiences and common sense ever could. The birth of quantum computers – which, like Schrödinger’s famous ‘dead and alive’ cat, rely on entities like electrons, photons or atoms existing in two states at the same time – is set to turn the computing world on its head.In his fascinating study of this cutting-edge technology, John Gribbin updates his previous views on the nature of quantum reality, arguing for a universe of many parallel worlds where ‘everything is real’. Looking back to Alan Turing’s work on the Enigma machine and the first electronic computer, Gribbin explains how quantum theory developed to make quantum computers work in practice as well as in principle. He takes us beyond the arena of theoretical physics to explore their practical applications – from machines which learn through ‘intuition’ and trial and error to unhackable laptops and smartphones. And he investigates the potential for this extraordinary science to create a world where communication occurs faster than light and teleportation is possible.

    Spammers, virus writers, phishermen, money launderers, and spies now trade busily with each other in a lively online criminal economy and as they specialize, they get better. In this indispensable, fully updated guide, Ross Anderson reveals how to build systems that stay dependable whether faced with error or malice. Here's straight talk on critical topics such as technical engineering basics, types of attack, specialized protection mechanisms, security psychology, policy, and more.

    More than any other language, Python was created with the philosophy of simplicity and parsimony. Now 25 years old, Python has become the primary or secondary language (after SQL) for many business users. With popularity comes diversity--and possibly dilution.This guide, collaboratively written by over a hundred members of the Python community, describes best practices currently used by package and application developers. Unlike other books for this audience, The Hitchhiker's Guide is light on reusable code and heavier on design philosophy, directing the reader to excellent sources that already exist.