The Art of Readable Code


Dustin Boswell - 2010
    Over the past five years, authors Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher have analyzed hundreds of examples of "bad code" (much of it their own) to determine why they’re bad and how they could be improved. Their conclusion? You need to write code that minimizes the time it would take someone else to understand it—even if that someone else is you.This book focuses on basic principles and practical techniques you can apply every time you write code. Using easy-to-digest code examples from different languages, each chapter dives into a different aspect of coding, and demonstrates how you can make your code easy to understand.Simplify naming, commenting, and formatting with tips that apply to every line of codeRefine your program’s loops, logic, and variables to reduce complexity and confusionAttack problems at the function level, such as reorganizing blocks of code to do one task at a timeWrite effective test code that is thorough and concise—as well as readable"Being aware of how the code you create affects those who look at it later is an important part of developing software. The authors did a great job in taking you through the different aspects of this challenge, explaining the details with instructive examples." —Michael Hunger, passionate Software Developer

Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation


Blake J. Harris - 2014
    Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But that would all change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a man who knew nothing about videogames and everything about fighting uphill battles. His unconventional tactics, combined with the blood, sweat and bold ideas of his renegade employees, transformed Sega and eventually led to a ruthless David-and-Goliath showdown with rival Nintendo.The battle was vicious, relentless, and highly profitable, eventually sparking a global corporate war that would be fought on several fronts: from living rooms and schoolyards to boardrooms and Congress. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, no-holds-barred conflict that pitted brother against brother, kid against adult, Sonic against Mario, and the US against Japan.Based on over two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, Console Wars is the underdog tale of how Kalinske miraculously turned an industry punchline into a market leader. It's the story of how a humble family man, with an extraordinary imagination and a gift for turning problems into competitive advantages, inspired a team of underdogs to slay a giant and, as a result, birth a $60 billion dollar industry.

The Good Son


Greg Fleet - 2018
    To make up for that missed final conversation - and in the hopes of impressing beautiful nurse Sophie - he engages in some good-willed acts of deception- posing as the neglectful relatives of lonely old people in the Peggy Day Aged Cared Home. But when he meets Tamara, a frail and sick 76-year-old with a son she hasn't seen in twelve years, who will really be deceiving who? The Good Son is a story about people fulfilling each other's needs, sometimes unexpectedly. It is about love and fear and relationships, and how we treat the elderly people in our lives. And it is about the difference between blood relatives and the families that we make by choice rather than by birth. And, like all good stories, it involves a road trip.

Time Master


Wyatt Kane - 2019
    Alien bug-monsters. Beautiful women. Not bad for a strip-club bouncer with a talent for slowing down time.I never thought my power was good for anything really important. It was useful for helping me win fistfights against drunken customers, and for ogling the girls onstage. But saving the multiverse against a plague of inter-dimensional monsters?That was a bit out of my league. Or so I believed. But then a massive time-rift opened up behind the club, and a mad old time wizard saved my life. Now, here I am, careening through time in an old hippie van, with two crazy-hot strippers and an AI at my side, trying to level up enough to defeat the monsters.Sure, there’s a damn good chance I’ll die trying, but it ought to be one hell of a ride.Note: This book contains harem elements.

The Forgotten Seamstress Free Preview (The First 4 Chapters)


Liz Trenow - 2014
    A shy girl with no family, Maria knows she's lucky to have landed in the sewing room of the royal household. Before World War I casts its shadow, she catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace. Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic. When she can't figure out the meaning of the message embroidered into its lining, she embarks on a quest to reveal its mystery, a puzzle that only seems to grow more important to her own heart. As Caroline pieces together the secret history of the quilt, she comes closer and closer to the truth about Maria. Page-turning and heartbreaking, The Forgotten Seamstress weaves together past and present in an unforgettable journey. This free ebook preview includes the first four chapters.

Matchmaker


Bella Grant - 2016
    The job has it perks - a great salary, unlimited credit cards, fancy shopping, and trips around the world. And if I find him the right woman in time, and he’ll pay off my college loans and even consider sponsoring my dream PhD program! Working for him is a no-brainer. I need the cash, he needs a perfect woman. Armed with details of what his ideal woman is, this has to be the easiest job in the world, right? Find a couple of girls that fit his preferences and set him up on dates with them. Make him fall in love with one of them. Get paid and go back to school. Well, I was wrong! Sterling Waters knew what he wanted, or so I thought, but I didn’t bargain on the possibility that I wasn’t entirely sure of what my job entailed, or what I wanted. I need a wife, but I don’t believe in love. I have to marry, but I feel no need to pretend that I’d ever love someone as much as I love my precious dog. I needed a personal matchmaker to help me find the right woman – I have no time for the nonsense called love. As long as the woman is a perfect match and has all the qualities I desire, I’ll marry her and get on with my life. That was my plan until I hired the sexy grad student, Cherise Myers, to find me a wife. I knew what I wanted; all she had to do was match me up with the perfect girl, get paid, and move on with her life. Except, the perfect girl wanted more than I could give and goodness knows I could never fall in love! Not with her, not with anyone. Ever. *** For a limited time, this edition of MATCHMAKER contains one free bad boy billionaire romance book.***

The Academy


Jonathan Yanez - 2018
    And Earth’s about to be blindsided with annihilation...It’s up to Emma to rise up.Her problems go far beyond carb-counting mean girls. She’s got ears pointy enough to pass for an elf and a stuttering problem brought on by anxiety. A mother not of this world is about to enter her life with dire news. And by “dire news,” we mean Earth is about to get an atomic wedgie by the bully of the universe. If Emma is going to step up and help her home planet survive the oncoming invasion, she’s going to have to say, “#byefelicia” to unicorn Frappuccinos and gluten-free pizza and “Heyo” to new blasters and ancient martial arts.

Forging On


Catherine Robinson - 2017
    He's in his element when he's outside in the country air, not stuck in a classroom wasting his youth and the beauty of Yorkshire. When he starts as an apprentice farrier, his first few days are a baptism of fire. His fellow apprentice is a wind-up merchant and his gruff boss, Stanley, ribs him mercilessly about his tea drinking habit. But in this chaotic environment, the three of them form a brotherhood, and soon, Will realises that the coming year is going to teach him a lot more than how to shoe a horse properly...

Thicker Than Water


Michael McDonnell - 2012
    This peaceful life is upended when death comes to town. And not just any death. O'Hara's career is on the line as the corpse of a US Senator is found. The Senator, while searching for his ancestors, has uncovered an old, still burning hatred from the time of the Great Famine. Dermot needs all the help he can get to solve the crime but as he starts to unravel the mystery it becomes clear that those around him are not what they seem. This first book in the series introduces us to Dermot, his long suffering wife Jo and his disreputable friends in the local bar.

Land of Last Chances


Joan Cohen - 2019
    Though accomplished at managing risk professionally, Jeanne realizes her skills don’t extend to her personal life, where she has allowed the professional and the personal to become intertwined. She’s not even sure which of two men in her life is the father. Worse yet, a previously undisclosed family secret reveals that she may carry a rare hereditary gene for early-onset Alzheimer’s―and it’s too late to get genetic tests. This leaves Jeanne to cope with her intense fear of risk without the aid of the mountain of data she’s accustomed to relying upon. Wrestling with the question of whether her own needs, or those of her child, should prevail takes Jeanne on an intensely emotional journey―one that ultimately leads to growth and enlightenment.

Solar Plexus: (A Dystopian EMP Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Novel)


Victor Zugg - 2018
    Transportation, communications, and constraints on human nature are gone. Within hours, store shelves are empty; gangs and desperate people with guns rampage. Survival for those ill-equipped and unprepared will be short-lived. This will be the new normal for many months, possibly years.Tiffany Conway sets out alone from Florida to join her parents in Ohio. She's young, strong, armed, and, with a Marine Corps background, skilled. She'll walk the entire distance if necessary.Sam Pratt and Chet Evans, best friends and business partners, are luckier than most. Retired from the military, they too have skills. But they have something more--a running vehicle. With it, they set out from central Florida heading for the safety of Sam's cabin in the sparsely populated foothills of Tennessee.With society crumbling, will they make it in one piece? Will they make it at all?"This was one of the best survival post apocalyptic books I have ever read. The characters were like real people doing what was necessary to survive. I most definitely recommend this to anyone that enjoys this genre." Amazon Reviewer"A really good read. A solid page turner from beginning to end. A very realistic scenario. Hope to see more books from this author." Amazon Reviewer"Great read! One of the best in this genre since A American began. Fast paced, great characters, unexpected situations. A fast read!" Amazon Reviewer

Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems


Sam Newman - 2014
    But developing these systems brings its own set of headaches. With lots of examples and practical advice, this book takes a holistic view of the topics that system architects and administrators must consider when building, managing, and evolving microservice architectures.Microservice technologies are moving quickly. Author Sam Newman provides you with a firm grounding in the concepts while diving into current solutions for modeling, integrating, testing, deploying, and monitoring your own autonomous services. You'll follow a fictional company throughout the book to learn how building a microservice architecture affects a single domain.Discover how microservices allow you to align your system design with your organization's goalsLearn options for integrating a service with the rest of your systemTake an incremental approach when splitting monolithic codebasesDeploy individual microservices through continuous integrationExamine the complexities of testing and monitoring distributed servicesManage security with user-to-service and service-to-service modelsUnderstand the challenges of scaling microservice architectures

Poisonwood Bible (Tap Instructional Materials)


Ruth L. Van Arsdale
    

Triple Duty: A military reverse harem


Katie Douglas - 2021
    

Git Pocket Guide


Richard E. Silverman - 2013
    It provides a compact, readable introduction to Git for new users, as well as a reference to common commands and procedures for those of you with Git experience.Written for Git version 1.8.2, this handy task-oriented guide is organized around the basic version control functions you need, such as making commits, fixing mistakes, merging, and searching history.Examine the state of your project at earlier points in timeLearn the basics of creating and making changes to a repositoryCreate branches so many people can work on a project simultaneouslyMerge branches and reconcile the changes among themClone an existing repository and share changes with push/pull commandsExamine and change your repository’s commit historyAccess remote repositories, using different network protocolsGet recipes for accomplishing a variety of common tasks