He shares what it's like to manage a creative process that has ballooned from a low-six-figure expense with a team of a half dozen people to a transatlantic production of five hundred employees on a single project with a production budget of over a hundred million dollars.A rare firsthand account of the golden age of game development told in vivid detail, The Dream Architects is a seminal work about the biggest entertainment medium of today.

    Want to impress your coworkers and write the fastest, most efficient, stable code you ever have? Don't reinvent the wheel. Reuse decades of research into battle-tested, highly optimized, and proven techniques available on any Unix system.This book will teach you what you need to know so that you can write your own servers, debug your entire stack when things go awry, and understand how things are working under the hood.http://www.jstorimer.com/products/wor...

    I loved the tutorial-style game-like program development. This book rekindled my earliest joys of programming. Plus, JavaScript!" —Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScriptJavaScript is the language of the Web, and it's at the heart of every modern website from the lowliest personal blog to the mighty Google Apps. Though it's simple for beginners to pick up and play with, JavaScript is not a toy—it's a flexible and complex language, capable of much more than the showy tricks most programmers use it for.Eloquent JavaScript goes beyond the cut-and-paste scripts of the recipe books and teaches you to write code that's elegant and effective. You'll start with the basics of programming, and learn to use variables, control structures, functions, and data structures. Then you'll dive into the real JavaScript artistry: higher-order functions, closures, and object-oriented programming.Along the way you'll learn to:Master basic programming techniques and best practices Harness the power of functional and object-oriented programming Use regular expressions to quickly parse and manipulate strings Gracefully deal with errors and browser incompatibilities Handle browser events and alter the DOM structure Most importantly, Eloquent JavaScript will teach you to express yourself in code with precision and beauty. After all, great programming is an art, not a science—so why settle for a killer app when you can create a masterpiece?

    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

    When Ruby first burst onto the scene in the Western world, the Pragmatic Programmers were there with the definitive reference manual, Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide.Now in its second edition, author Dave Thomas has expanded the famous Pickaxe book with over 200 pages of new content, covering all the improved language features of Ruby 1.8 and standard library modules. The Pickaxe contains four major sections:An acclaimed tutorial on using Ruby.The definitive reference to the language.Complete documentation on all built-in classes, modules, and methodsComplete descriptions of all 98 standard libraries.If you enjoyed the First Edition, you'll appreciate the expanded content, including enhanced coverage of installation, packaging, documenting Ruby source code, threading and synchronization, and enhancing Ruby's capabilities using C-language extensions. Programming for the World Wide Web is easy in Ruby, with new chapters on XML/RPC, SOAP, distributed Ruby, templating systems, and other web services. There's even a new chapter on unit testing.This is the definitive reference manual for Ruby, including a description of all the standard library modules, a complete reference to all built-in classes and modules (including more than 250 significant changes since the First Edition). Coverage of other features has grown tremendously, including details on how to harness the sophisticated capabilities of irb, so you can dynamically examine and experiment with your running code. Ruby is a wonderfully powerful and useful language, and whenever I'm working with it this book is at my side --Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist, ThoughtWorks

    It has become adevelopment platform in it own right. Applications written using Excel are partof many corporations' core suites of business-critical applications. In spite ofthis, Excel is too often thought of as a hobbyist's platform. While there arenumerous titles on Excel and VBA, until now there have been none thatprovide an overall explanation of how to develop professional-quality Excel-basedapplications. All three authors are professional Excel developers who runtheir own companies developing Excel-based apps for clients ranging fromindividuals to the largest multinational corporations. In this book they showhow anyone from power users to professional developers can increase thespeed and usefulness of their Excel-based apps.

    Now, Core JavaServer™ Faces–the #1 guide to JSF–has been thoroughly updated in this second edition, covering the latest feature enhancements, the powerful Ajax development techniques, and open source innovations that make JSF even more valuable. Authors David Geary and Cay Horstmann delve into all facets of JSF 1.2 development, offering systematic best practices for building robust applications, minimizing handcoding, and maximizing productivity. Drawing on unsurpassed insider knowledge of the Java platform, they present solutions, hints, tips, and “how-tos” for writing superior JSF 1.2 production code, even if you’re new to JSF, JavaServer Pages™, or servlets.The second edition’s extensive new coverage includes: JSF 1.2’s improved alignment with the broader Java EE 5 platform; enhancements to the JSF APIs; controlling Web flow with Shale; and using Facelets to replace JSP with XHTML markup. The authors also introduce Ajax development with JSF–from real-time validation and Direct Web Remoting to wrapping Ajax in JSF components and using the popular Ajax4jsf framework.This book will help you Automate low-level details and eliminate unnecessary complexity in server-side development Discover JSF best practices, ranging from effective UI design and style sheets to internationalization Use JSF with Tiles to build consistent, reusable user interfaces Leverage external services such as databases, LDAP directories, authentication/authorization, and Webservices Use JBoss Seam to greatly simplify development of database-backed applications Implement custom components, converters, and validators Master the JSF 1.2 tag libararies, and extend JSF with additional tag libraries Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Getting Started Chapter 2: Managed Beans Chapter 3: Navigation Chapter 4: Standard JSF Tags Chapter 5: Data Tables Chapter 6: Conversion and Validation Chapter 7: Event Handling Chapter 8: Subviews and Tiles Chapter 9: Custom Components, Converters, and Validators Chapter 10: External Services Chapter 11: Ajax Chapter 12: Open Source Chapter 13: How Do I . . . Index

    Emphasis is placed on the basic principles and priorities of the software process. Sections are organized in a natural way for managers and professionals to implement improvement activities.

    You'll progress from a complete beginner regarding Arduino programming and electronics knowledge to intermediate skills and the confidence to create your own amazing Arduino projects. Absolutely no experience in programming or electronics required!Rather than requiring you to wade through pages of theory before you start making things, this book has a hands-on approach. You will dive into making projects right from the start, learning how to use various electronic components and how to program the Arduino to control or communicate with those components.Each project is designed to build upon the knowledge learned in earlier projects and to further your knowledge in programming as well as skills with electronics. By the end of the book you will be able create your own projects confidently and with creativity.Please note: the print version of this title is black & white; the eBook is full color. You can download the color diagrams in the book from http: //www.apress.com/9781430232407

    Test-driven development (TDD) is a modern software development practice that can dramatically reduce the number of defects in systems, produce more maintainable code, and give you the confidence to change your software to meet changing needs. But C++ programmers have been ignored by those promoting TDD--until now. In this book, Jeff Langr gives you hands-on lessons in the challenges and rewards of doing TDD in C++.Modern C++ Programming With Test-Driven Development, the only comprehensive treatment on TDD in C++ provides you with everything you need to know about TDD, and the challenges and benefits of implementing it in your C++ systems. Its many detailed code examples take you step-by-step from TDD basics to advanced concepts. As a veteran C++ programmer, you're already writing high-quality code, and you work hard to maintain code quality. It doesn't have to be that hard. In this book, you'll learn: how to use TDD to improve legacy C++ systems how to identify and deal with troublesome system dependencies how to do dependency injection, which is particularly tricky in C++ how to use testing tools for C++ that aid TDD new C++11 features that facilitate TDD As you grow in TDD mastery, you'll discover how to keep a massive C++ system from becoming a design mess over time, as well as particular C++ trouble spots to avoid. You'll find out how to prevent your tests from being a maintenance burden and how to think in TDD without giving up your hard-won C++ skills. Finally, you'll see how to grow and sustain TDD in your team. Whether you're a complete unit-testing novice or an experienced tester, this book will lead you to mastery of test-driven development in C++.What You Need A C++ compiler running under Windows or Linux, preferably one that supports C++11. Examples presented in the book were built under gcc 4.7.2. Google Mock 1.6 (downloadable for free; it contains Google Test as well) or an alternate C++ unit testing tool. Most examples in the book are written for Google Mock, but it isn't difficult to translate them to your tool of choice. A good programmer's editor or IDE. cmake, preferably. Of course, you can use your own preferred make too. CMakeLists.txt files are provided for each project. Examples provided were built using cmake version 2.8.9. Various freely-available third-party libraries are used as the basis for examples in the book. These include: - cURL - JsonCpp - Boost (filesystem, date_time/gregorian, algorithm, assign) Several examples use the boost headers/libraries. Only one example uses cURL and JsonCpp.

    This design workshop begins with an examination of the fundamental elements of game design; then puts you to work in prototyping, playtesting and redesigning your own games with exercises that teach essential design skills. Workshop exercises require no background in programming or artwork, releasing you from the intricacies of electronic game production, so you can develop a working understanding of the essentials of game design.Features:* A design methodology used in the USC Interactive Media program, a cutting edge program funded in part of Electronic Arts. * Hands-on exercises demonstrate key concepts, and the design methodology* Insights from top industry game designers, including Noah Falstein, American McGee, Peter Molyneux

    Written by two internationally acclaimed experts on requirements, this text provides software engineers with the insights, techniques and templates to discover exactly what their customers desire for their systems.

    Through computers, the Internet, the media, and even our daily newspapers, we are awash in a seemingly endless stream of charts, maps, infographics, diagrams, and data. Visual Explanations is a navigational guide through this turbulent sea of information. The book is an essential reference for anyone involved in graphic, web, or multimedia design, as well as for educators and lecturers who use graphics in presentations or classes.Jacket design: Dmitry Krasny.Other artwork by Bonnie Scranton, Dmitry Krasny, and Weilin Wu.

    In this concise book, JavaScript expert Cody Lindley (jQuery Cookbook) provides an accurate view of the language by examining its objects and supporting nuances.Libraries and frameworks help you build web applications quickly and efficiently, but when things go wrong or performance becomes an issue, knowing how and why they work is critical. If you're ready to go under the hood and get your hands dirty with JavaScript internals, this is your book. Get a short and digestible summary of ECMA-262, Edition 3, backed by real code you can run instantly Examine the creation of JavaScript objects Learn complex values, primitive values, scope, and inheritance Understand the importance of the head object Work with string, number, and Boolean objects and values Discover how to use the null value and the built-in math object Get into the details--beyond Mozilla's reference guide for JavaScript 1.5

    This is necessary because, in the words of Michael Polanyi, "we can know more than we can tell." Our design choices are not the result of an ineluctable chain of logic; they come from a deeper place, one which is visceral and inarticulate.Polanyi calls this "tacit knowledge", a thing which we only understand as part of something else. When we speak, we do not focus on making sounds, we focus on our words. We understand the muscular act of speech, but would struggle to explain it.To write software, we must learn where to draw boundaries. Good software is built through effective indirection. We seem to have decided that this skill can only be learned through practice; it cannot be taught, except by example. Our decisions may improve with time, but not our ability to explain them. It's true that the study of these questions cannot yield a closed-form solution for judging software design. We can make our software simple, but we cannot do the same to its problem domain, its users, or the physical world. Our tacit knowledge of this environment will always inform our designs.This doesn't mean that we can simply ignore our design process. Polanyi tells us that tacit knowledge only suffices until we fail, and the software industry is awash with failure. Our designs may never be provably correct, but we can give voice to the intuition that shaped them. Our process may always be visceral, but it doesn't have to be inarticulate.And so this book does not offer knowledge, it offers clarity. It is aimed at readers who know Clojure, but struggle to articulate the rationale of their designs to themselves and others. Readers who use other languages, but have a passing familiarity with Clojure, may also find this book useful.