FERNANDEZ ROMERO ANDRES El Manual del Consultor de Direccion recoge la experiencia de su autor como consultor durante mas de 45 anos en management planificacion creatividad y recursos humanos basicamente. La primera parte del libro define el papel del consultor sus cualidades sus principios con recomendaciones sobre la preparacion de ofertas la presentacion oral y escrita de los informes y propuestas y el trabajo de diagnostico junto con una descripcion muy detallada del proceso completo de las acciones de consultoria. Es la parte mas conceptual. La segunda parte ofrece una serie de tecnicas aplicables en los trabajos de consultoria. Para cada una de ellas indica el contenido cuando hay que aplicarla el proceso de aplicacion un ejemplo un ejercicio y unos consejos utiles. Es la parte mas operativa. No hay demasiados libros que traten con detalle este tema. Creemos que es una herramienta muy eficaz en especial para los consultores que inicien su actividad pero tambien para los consultores experimentados para contrastar sus ideas y experiencias.

David M. Beazley Python Essential Reference is the definitive reference guide to the Python programming language — the one authoritative handbook that reliably untangles and explains both the core Python language and the most essential parts of the Python library.

Designed for the professional programmer, the book is concise, to the point, and highly accessible. It also includes detailed information on the Python library and many advanced subjects that is not available in either the official Python documentation or any other single reference source.

 

Thoroughly updated to reflect the significant new programming language features and library modules that have been introduced in Python 2.6 and Python 3, the fourth edition of Python Essential Reference is the definitive guide for programmers who need to modernize existing Python code or who are planning an eventual migration to Python 3. Programmers starting a new Python project will find detailed coverage of contemporary Python programming idioms.

 

This fourth edition of Python Essential Reference features numerous improvements, additions, and updates: Coverage of new language features, libraries, and modules
Practical coverage of Python's more advanced features including generators, coroutines, closures, metaclasses, and decoratorsExpanded coverage of library modules related to concurrent programming including threads, subprocesses, and the new multiprocessing moduleUp-to-the-minute coverage of how to use Python 2.6’s forward compatibility mode to evaluate code for Python 3 compatibilityImproved organization for even faster answers and better usabilityUpdates to reflect modern Python programming style and idiomsUpdated and improved example codeDeep coverage of low-level system and networking library modules — including options not covered in the standard documentation

Joshua Bloch Are you looking for a deeper understanding of the Java™ programming language so that you can write code that is clearer, more correct, more robust, and more reusable? Look no further! Effective Java™, Second Edition, brings together seventy-eight indispensable programmer’s rules of thumb: working, best-practice solutions for the programming challenges you encounter every day.

 

This highly anticipated new edition of the classic, Jolt Award-winning work has been thoroughly updated to cover Java SE 5 and Java SE 6 features introduced since the first edition. Bloch explores new design patterns and language idioms, showing you how to make the most of features ranging from generics to enums, annotations to autoboxing.

 

Each chapter in the book consists of several “items” presented in the form of a short, standalone essay that provides specific advice, insight into Java platform subtleties, and outstanding code examples. The comprehensive descriptions and explanations for each item illuminate what to do, what not to do, and why.

 

Highlights include: New coverage of generics, enums, annotations, autoboxing, the for-each loop, varargs, concurrency utilities, and much more Updated techniques and best practices on classic topics, including objects, classes, libraries, methods, and serialization How to avoid the traps and pitfalls of commonly misunderstood subtleties of the language Focus on the language and its most fundamental libraries: java.lang, java.util, and, to a lesser extent, java.util.concurrent and java.io

Simply put, Effective Java™, Second Edition, presents the most practical, authoritative guidelines available for writing efficient, well-designed programs.

Grady Booch

Heather M Chandler As games become more popular in international markets, developers and publishers need to know how to capitalize on these opportunities quickly. The Game Localization Handbook is a comprehensive guide to producing localized games for any platform. Written for producers, translators, development personnel, studio management, publishers, and anyone involved directly or indirectly with the production of localized games, the book provides insightful guidelines to all the tasks involved.

The topics covered are divided into five main areas that provide details on the major aspects of game localization. The first part defines localizations and discusses how to start thinking in a global mindset. It provides a general overview of each phase of the localization process, including localization, internationalization, and software age ratings requirements. The next section discusses how to plan your localizations. You’ll also find details on what pre-production tasks are required, along with specifics on creating localization-friendly code, working with third-party vendors, console submissions processes, and determining budgets, schedules, and staffing needs. Part three delves into the core of the production process and discusses what is involved in producing final, code-released localized versions. Practical information is also presented on organizing assets for translations, asset integration, and testing. The next section focuses on the tasks that happen after the bulk of the games localization is finished, including marketing, creating localized demos, and assembling localization kits. In the final part, you’ll explore common localization pitfalls and ways to avoid them, including a case study of the localization of the Xbox® version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Island Thunder. If you’re part of the development teamed tasked with localizing your games, this is a must-have resource!

Features!
* Concentrates on software localization specifically for the game industry
* Discusses software localization for major gaming platforms
* Provides a detailed plan for planning and executing localized games
* Concentrates on localizations for European and Asian languages
* Offers advice from industry professionals on how to achieve localization-friendly development and offers real-world case studies

Daniel Sanchez-Crespo Dalmau To even try to keep pace with the rapid evolution of game development, you need a strong foundation in core programming techniques-not a hefty volume on one narrow topic or one that devotes itself to API-specific implementations. Finally, there's a guide that delivers! As a professor at the Spanish university that offered that country's first master's degree in video game creation, author Daniel Sanchez-Crespo recognizes that there's a core programming curriculum every game designer should be well versed in-and he's outlined it in these pages! By focusing on time-tested coding techniques-and providing code samples that use C++, and the OpenGL and DirectX APIs-Daniel has produced a guide whose shelf life will extend long beyond the latest industry trend. Code design, data structures, design patterns, AI, scripting engines, 3D pipelines, texture mapping, and more: They're all covered here-in clear, coherent fashion and with a focus on the essentials that will have you referring back to this volume for years to come.

Mark DeLoura Welcome to a collection of the most valuable and timeless articles from the essential reference series for game developers. "Best of Game Programming Gems" combines the greatest cutting-edge, ready-to-use techniques contributed by industry experts to volumes 1-6 of the Game Programming Gems series. Each article was carefully chosen by the editors and compiled into one best-of-the-best volume in an effort to share forty-nine timeless gems of game programming wisdom with you and to save you time and effort with a plethora of reliable methods to add to your developer’s tool box. The articles are organized into six sections covering the topics of general information, math and physics, artificial intelligence, graphics, networking, and audio.Whether you are new to game development or a practiced veteran, you’re sure to find inspiration and insight to make more entertaining and satisfying games in "Best of Game Programming Gems."

Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister Peopleware asserts that most software development projects fail because of failures within the team running them. This strikingly clear, direct book is written for software development team leaders and managers, but it's filled with enough common-sense wisdom to appeal to anyone working in technology. Authors Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister include plenty of illustrative, often amusing anecdotes; their writing is light, conversational, and filled with equal portions of humour and wisdom, and there is a refreshing absence of "new age" terms and multi-step programmes. The advice is presented straightforwardly and ranges from simple issues of prioritisation to complex ways of engendering harmony and productivity in your team. Peopleware is a short read that delivers more than many books on the subject twice its size. —Jake Bond

Fletcher Dunn, Ian Parberry 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development covers fundamental 3D math concepts that are especially useful for computer game developers and programmers. The authors discuss the mathematical theory in detail and then provide the geometric interpretation necessary to make 3D math intuitive. Working C++ classes illustrate how to put the techniques into practice, and exercises at the end of each chapter help reinforce the concepts. This book explains basic concepts such as vectors, coordinate spaces, matrices, transformations, Euler angles, homogenous coordinates, geometric primitives, intersection tests, and triangle meshes; discusses orientation in 3D, including thorough coverage of quaternions and a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of different representation techniques; describes working C++ classes for mathematical and geometric entities and several different matrix classes, each tailored to specific geometric tasks; includes complete derivations for all the primitive transformation matrices.

Pascal Durand

David H. Eberly Dave Eberly's 3D Game Engine Design was the first professional guide to the essential concepts and algorithms of real-time 3D engines and quickly became a classic of game development. Dave's new book 3D Game Engine Architecture continues the tradition with a comprehensive look at the software engineering and programming of 3D engines.

This book is a complete guide to the engineering process, starting with a walk-through of the graphics pipeline showing how to construct the core elements of 3D systems, including data structures, the math system, and the object system. Dave explains how to manage data with scene graphs, how to build rendering and camera systems, and how to handle level of detail, terrain, and animation.

Advanced rendering effects such as vertex and pixel shaders are also covered as well as collision detection and physics systems. The book concludes with a discussion of application design, development tools, and coding standards for the source code of the new version of the Wild Magic engine included on the CD-ROM. Wild Magic is a commercial-quality game engine used by many companies and is a unique resource for the game development community.

*CD-ROM with the complete C++ source code for Wild Magic version 3, a commercial-quality game engine for Windows, Linux, and OS X.
*A comprehensive, practical guide to all the steps necessary to build professional-quality real-time simulations with just minimal mathematics required.
*Emphasizes the application of software engineering principles and describes the architecture of large libraries.

Charlotte Fiell, Peter Fiell Knowledge is power: A to Z design definitions...

At last: a highly affordable, user-friendly handbook on design that covers all the major concepts, materials, and styles over the last 150 years with concise, easy-to-understand definitions. And as you'd expect from TASCHEN, it’s packed cover to cover with outstanding images too. An absolutely indispensable book for all design fans!

Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, Don Roberts As the application of object technology-particularly the Java programming language-has become commonplace, a new problem has emerged to confront the software development community. Significant numbers of poorly designed programs have been created by less-experienced developers, resulting in applications that are inefficient and hard to maintain and extend. Increasingly, software system professionals are discovering just how difficult it is to work with these inherited, "non-optimal" applications. For several years, expert-level object programmers have employed a growing collection of techniques to improve the structural integrity and performance of such existing software programs. Referred to as "refactoring," these practices have remained in the domain of experts because no attempt has been made to transcribe the lore into a form that all developers could use. . .until now. In Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Software, renowned object technology mentor Martin Fowler breaks new ground, demystifying these master practices and demonstrating how software practitioners can realize the significant benefits of this new process.

With proper training a skilled system designer can take a bad design and rework it into well-designed, robust code. In this book, Martin Fowler shows you where opportunities for refactoring typically can be found, and how to go about reworking a bad design into a good one. Each refactoring step is simple-seemingly too simple to be worth doing. Refactoring may involve moving a field from one class to another, or pulling some code out of a method to turn it into its own method, or even pushing some code up or down a hierarchy. While these individual steps may seem elementary, the cumulative effect of such small changes can radically improve the design. Refactoring is a proven way to prevent software decay.

In addition to discussing the various techniques of refactoring, the author provides a detailed catalog of more than seventy proven refactorings with helpful pointers that teach you when to apply them; step-by-step instructions for applying each refactoring; and an example illustrating how the refactoring works. The illustrative examples are written in Java, but the ideas are applicable to any object-oriented programming language.

Brent Fox The interface is the heart and soul of a video game: it is the integral piece that allows a player to interact with the game. In order to create a great interface, you must carefully plan every detail. "Game Interface Design" helps you outline each step and define the goals for your interface. It covers the interface from the first image that appears onscreen to the information displayed during game-play. You’ll cover basic design and art principles, explore the world of interface buttons as you learn how to create your own functioning button, and find out how to substitute images and icons for onscreen text. You’ll also learn how to incorporate animation and use Flash to create an amazing, interactive interface. Along the way, you'll get a glimpse into the video game industry, including developer and publisher relationships, schedules, budget constraints, and politics of the industry.

Sayed Y. Hashimi, Satya Komatineni Pro Android is the first book that includes coverage of the new Google Android 1.5 SDK (including the branch formerly called Cupcake). This essential book covers the fundamentals of building applications for embedded devices thru through to advanced concepts, such as, custom 3D components. Takes a pragmatic approach to developing Google Android applications.Examines the Android Virtual Device; the Input-Method Framework, special development considerations for touch screen vs. keyboard/traditional input, Voice Recognition, and Live Folders,Covers the Android media APIs (Media APIs, WI-FI APIs, etc), including the new simplified OpenGL, improved Media Framework and more.

With Android 1.5 and this book that includes Android 1.5 coverage, developersyou should will be able to build leading edge mobile applications ranging from Games to Google Apps like add-ons to Google Docs and more—no matter the device interface. Extend and run APIs of the new Google Chrome browser/WebOS on G1, G2 and other forthcoming next generation Google Phones and other Android enabled devices and Netbooks. What you’ll learn What is Android and how to use Android to build Java-based mobile applications for Google Phones with touch screen or keyboard,thanks to Cupcake's inclusion as of Android 1.5.Create applications that run on either or both touch and keyboard screens.How to design and architect a variety of mobile phone and device applications using Google's Android SDK.Build Multimedia and even Game applications using Android's Media APIs, improved Media Framework and Simplified OpenGL.How to use Android's Location Based Services, Networking (WI-FI APIs) and Security.Who is this book for?

This book is for professional software engineers/programmers looking to move their ideas and applications into the mobile space with Android. The author assumes the reader has a passable understanding of Java. They should be able to write classes and handle basic inheritance structures. This book also targets hobbyist developers looking to get their feet wet in the complex minefield of mobile software. About the Apress Pro Series

The Apress Pro series books are practical, professional tutorials to keep you on and moving up the professional ladder.

You have gotten the job, now you need to hone your skills in these tough competitive times. The Apress Pro series expands your skills and expertise in exactly the areas you need. Master the content of a Pro book, and you will always be able to get the job done in a professional development project. Written by experts in their field, Pro series books from Apress give you the hard–won solutions to problems you will face in your professional programming career.

Aaron Hillegass Suitable for anyone with a little C/C++ programming experience who wants to create software for the newest Mac platform, Cocoa Programming for Max OS X provides a slickly packaged and approachable tutorial that will get you started creating state-of-the-art Mac programs.

The smart presentation style and easy-to-understood code examples help make this text an excellent resource. (It also helps that Aaron Hillegass is a truly engaging writer.) He first explains how the legacy NeXTSTEP platform has evolved into Cocoa on the Mac OS X. Beginning with short examples illustrating the actual Cocoa tools in action, the author gets you started with simple programs for a random-number generator, a raise calculator, and other comprehensible examples. Rather than just listing APIs and classes, the emphasis is on hands-on Cocoa development. An early standout section provides a nice tour of essential Objective-C features you'll need to know to use Cocoa effectively.

This book covers the several dozen built-in Cocoa controls, from basic text and buttons to more advanced widgets (including lists and tables). Subsequent sections look at user interface design (using the Interface Builder to create nib files) and how to add programmatic processing behind the visual layout. Along the way, the author introduces coverage of essential Cocoa APIs for strings, arrays, and dictionaries. Later chapters look at saving and loading documents (and user defaults) and how to tap the powerful graphics abilities available in Cocoa. (Besides image and basic drawing, there are short sections on PDF support and printing.)

More advanced user interface features get their due by the end of the book, including cutting and pasting data through the Cocoa pasteboard and also adding drag-and-drop support. Final sections look at creating new controls for use with the Interface Builder palette, and, briefly, how to use Java with Cocoa (an option that the author doesn't necessarily recommend). Throughout this text, the author provides more advanced, challenging problems at the end of each chapter for the "more curious" reader. This approach keeps beginners from getting lost in the details of Cocoa development, but gives the more advanced reader something more to do.

While there are comparably fewer books on Mac OS X compared to other platforms, readers are lucky to have this one available. Anyone who wants to get onboard with Cocoa development will be well served by this title. It's a fine tutorial that earns high marks for its approachable, clear examples and an excellent presentation by an author who knows his stuff and, better yet, knows how to teach it to others. —Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Brief history of the Mac platform (from NeXTSTEP to Mac OS X), basic Cocoa development in Objective-C, using Project Builder and Interface Builder tools, tutorial to Objective-C (instances, variables, using classes, arrays and other containers, custom classes), the Objective-C debugger, basic Cocoa controls (building user interfaces), tables and data sources, event handling and delegates, archiving documents (encoding and decoding, saving and loading documents), Nib files, window panels, saving and retrieving user defaults (including using dictionary classes), notifications (observers and more on delegates), alert panels, localization (including string tables, a English and French example, the nibtool utility), custom views and drawing, drawing images and mouse events (plus coordinates systems and autoscrolling views), responders and keyboard events, fonts and strings (including attributed strings and PDF support), pasteboards and nil-targeted actions, using Objective-C categories (a code reuse feature), drag-and-drop support, timers, sheets and drawers, formatting strings, printing support, on-the-fly menu updating, text editing with text views, basic tutorial for using Java with Cocoa, and custom Interface Builder palettes (and inspectors).

Dan Irish Get a behind-the-scenes view of what it takes to succeed in the game industry with this unique guide written specifically for producers. This book serves as an ideal reference for students who want to acquire the knowledge and skills to succeed in this burgeoning industry, and in the future of entertainment. For veterans in the game industry, this book includes several valuable lessons that can help enhance their professional skills. Avoid the pitfalls behind some of the most common mistakes made in video game development. Get tips on how the financial aspects of a project govern a game producer's decisions. Learn what production techniques are used by top game developers. You'll even learn how to produce an excellent game soundtrack and will discover why the music is as important as the graphics. Excellence defines careers in the entertainment software industry. Use this one-of-a-kind guide to achieve that excellence.

Guy Kawasaki What does it take to turn ideas into action? What are the elements of a perfect pitch? How do you win the war for talent? How do you establish a brand without bucks? These are some of the issues everyone faces when starting or revitalizing any undertaking, and Guy Kawasaki, former marketing maven of Apple Computer, provides the answers.

The Art of the Start will give you the essential steps to launch great products, services, and companies—whether you are dreaming of starting the next Microsoft or a not-for-profit that’s going to change the world. It also shows managers how to unleash entrepreneurial thinking at established companies, helping them foster the pluck and creativity that their businesses need to stay ahead of the pack. Kawasaki provides readers with GIST—Great Ideas for Starting Things—including his field-tested insider’s techniques for bootstrapping, branding, networking, recruiting, pitching, rainmaking, and, most important in this fickle consumer climate, building buzz.

At Apple, Kawasaki helped turn ordinary customers into fanatics. As founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, he has tested his iconoclastic ideas on real- world start- ups. And as an irrepressible columnist for Forbes, he has honed his best thinking about The Art of the Start.

Gisela Kozak, Julius Widemann Big in Japan Exploding with eye-popping originality and freshness, today’s best Japanese graphics have been gathered together to make this must-have guide to contemporary aesthetics in Japan. With their unique perspective, the Japanese have a way of looking at the world that has long been a source of great interest for the Western mind. Here, Japan’s most talented creative professionals strut their stuff in the form of posters, advertisements, print media, visual identity, and print design. Divided into chapters by media type, this highly visual guide presents a diverse selection of graphics and includes an index of designers, complete with website addresses and contact information.

Ellen Lupton The organization of letters on a blank sheet — or screen — is the most basic challenge facing anyone who practices design. What type of font to use? How big? How should those letters, words, and paragraphs be aligned, spaced, ordered, shaped, and otherwise manipulated? In this groundbreaking new primer, leading design educator and historian Ellen Lupton provides clear and concise guidance for anyone learning or brushing up on their typographic skills. Thinking with Type is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life. Sections conclude with examples of work by leading practitioners that demonstrate creative possibilities (along with some classic no-no's to avoid).

Dave Mark, Jeff LaMarche Are you a programmer looking for a new challenge? Does the thought of building your very own iPhone app make your heart race and your pulse quicken? If so, Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK is just the book for you. Updated and revised for iPhone SDK 3, many of the discussions in the original book have been clarified to make some of the more complex topics easier to understand. In addition, all of the projects have been rebuilt from scratch using the SDK 3 templates.

Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, this book offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone and iPod touch programming. The book starts with the basics, walking you through the process of downloading and installing Apple's free iPhone SDK, and then stepping you though the creation of your first simple iPhone application. From there, you'll learn to integrate all the interface elements iPhone users have come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, and sliders. You'll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. The confusing art of table building will be demystified, and you'll see how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You'll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using SQLite, iPhone's built-in database management system. In addition, you'll also learn about Core Data, an important persistence mechanism that has just been added with SDK 3.

And there's much more! You'll learn to draw using Quartz 2D and OpenGL ES, add multitouch gestural support (pinches and swipes) to your applications, and work with the camera, photo library, accelerometer, and built-in GPS. You'll discover the fine points of application preferences and learn how to localize your apps for multiple languages. You can discover more about this book, download source code, and find support forums at the book's companion site, at www.iphonedevbook.com. The iPhone 3 update to the best-selling and most recommended book for iPhone developersPacked full of tricks, techniques, and enthusiasm for the new SDK from a developer perspectiveThe most complete, useful, and up-to-date guide to all things having to do with Apple's iPhone SDKWhat you'll learn Everything you need to know to develop your own best-selling iPhone appsBest practices for optimizing your code and delivering great user experiencesWho is this book for?

Anyone who wants to start developing for iPhone and iPod touch What's changed from the first edition of Beginning iPhone Development All code samples have been updated to follow current Apple coding conventionsThe autorotation code has been updated to use the new single-step fast autorotation instead of the original two-step methodA new section has been added introducing Core Data, covering basic principles and showing how to build a simple Core Data applicationAll the table view'related chapters have been updated to use table view cell styles. They've also been updated to use textLabel and detailTextLabel instead of the deprecated text property of the table view cell.All known errata have been correctedAll projects have been rebuilt from scratch using the SDK 3.0 templatesMany concepts have been clarified based on feedback and supplemented with information we've learned from another year of using the SDKSummary of Contents Welcome to the JungleAppeasing the Tiki GodsHandling Basic InteractionMore User Interface FunAutorotation and AutosizingMultiview ApplicationsTab Bars and PickersIntroduction to Table ViewsNavigation Controllers and Table ViewsApplication Settings and User DefaultsBasic Data PersistenceDrawing with Quartz and OpenGLTaps, Touches, and GesturesWhere Am I? Finding Your Way with Core LocationWhee! Accelerometer!iPhone Camera and Photo LibraryApplication LocalizationWhere to Next?Reviews

"People ask me again and again about how to get started in iPhone development, but I never had a very good answer for them until now. Dave and Jeff's book starts at the beginning in clear English, making sure you understand the fundamentals with many large illustrations. From there, they progress into key concepts such as the MVC pattern and ImageBuilder fundamentals. Additionally, I find myself flipping back to it as a reference guide—the plethora of code samples make it a must-have."

—Steve Demeter, Creator of "Trism" and owner of Demiforce LLC

"Beginning iPhone Development delivers a clear picture of the entire development process from registering as an iPhone developer through creation of complete applications. There is a wealth of examples illustrating each feature of the iPhone. The authors did an excellent job of demonstrating "best practice" coding methodology throughout the book. You would be hard pressed to find a better guide to creating software for the iPhone."

—Aaron Basil, iDev2.com

"Dave Mark has always been the king of Mac programming authors, and now he's proven to be the reigning king for books on iPhone development!

"Beginning iPhone Development is the definitive guide for iPhone development, and anyone aspiring to develop for the iPhone should get this invaluable reference."

—Brian Greenstone, President & CEO, Pangea Software, Inc.

"Jeff and Dave have done an exceptional job exploring the iPhone SDK. This book is far and away the single best resource for iPhone SDK development. Developers will latch on to this book and find it useful as they create the next great iPhone application. If you're a developer with an interest in this amazing new platform, this is a must buy."

—Chris Stewart, Founder, iPhoneDevSDK.com

"If you're planning on coding for the iPhone, start here. Dave and Jeff know their stuff and also know how to explain it. I was amazed how much stuff they cover, from Hello World through analyzing user gestures. Not only do they cover the fun stuff like playing with the camera, they cover real-world development issues like localization. I learned a huge amount from them"

—Mark Dalrymple, Co-founder, CocoaHeads, and Principal Author, Advanced Mac OS X Programming

"Starting with an overview of the technology, how to approach the device, the authors lead us straight into the heart of iPhone development. As you progress, you'll learn more about various layout engines and view managers, as well as the more meaty topics like accelerometer and GPS APIs. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in getting started quickly and efficiently with iPhone development!"

—Chris Pelsor, Manager, Tarantell:Hybrid

"All in all I was very surprised and pleased with the book. I've had the fortune of reading many technical books, and few do a great job of walking someone through the basics without making them feel like a dolt. It felt like every time I was stuck or unsure there was a tip, hint or paragraph which explained what was going on."

—Cory Foy, at Slashdot.org About the Apress Beginning Series

The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!

Reto Meier A hands-on guide to building mobile applications, Professional Android Application Development features concise and compelling examples that show you how to quickly construct real-world mobile applications for Android phones. Fully up-to-date for version 1.0 of the Android software development kit, it covers all the essential features, and explores the advanced capabilities of Android (including GPS, accelerometers, and background Services) to help you construct increasingly complex, useful, and innovative mobile applications for Android phones.

What this book includesAn introduction to mobile development, Android, and how to get started.An in-depth look at Android applications and their life cycle, the application manifest, Intents, and using external resources.Details for creating complex and compelling user interfaces by using, extending, and creating your own layouts and Views and using Menus.A detailed look at data storage, retrieval, and sharing using preferences, files, databases, and Content Providers.Instructions for making the most of mobile portability by creating rich map-based applications as well as using location-based services and the geocoder.A look at the power of background Services, using threads, and a detailed look at Notifications.Coverage of Android's communication abilities including SMS, the telephony APIs, network management, and a guide to using Internet resourcesDetails for using Android hardware, including media recording and playback, using the camera, accelerometers, and compass sensors.Advanced development topics including security, IPC, advanced 2D / 3D graphics techniques, and user–hardware interaction.

Who this book is for
This book is for anyone interested in creating applications for the Android mobile phone platform. It includes information that will be valuable whether you're an experienced mobile developer or making your first foray, via Android, into writing mobile applications. It will give the grounding and knowledge you need to write applications using the current SDK, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to future enhancements.

Hitoshi Nagasawa An essential, must-have reference and idea book for any designer or design student.

This is a replete, typography and logo collection, reflecting todayÆs urban aesthetic. The collection is a tour de force, brimming with individuality and selected from thousands of entries submitted from hundreds of designers worldwide. The content is divided into categories, including typographic, icons, and illustrations, and further classified into categories, like Hip-Hop, Neo-Baroque, kanji, kana, psychedelic, 60s to 70s, corporate, erotic, and other distinct groups. This book features more than 1,000 works and is not only an idea source book, but also is comprehensive in its coverage of typography and design fonts.

Designers featured are from 18 different countries including, Japan, USA, Sweden, Hungary, Germany, Turkey, UK, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, Ireland, France. Lebanon, Brazil, and RussiaContains chapter written by Art Director Hitoshi Nagasawa, tracing the development of modern typography and design from the Bauhaus in the 1920s to today

Jonathan Oxer, Hugh Blemings Create your own Arduino-based designs, gain in-depth knowledge of the architecture of Arduino, and learn the user-friendly Arduino language all in the context of practical projects that you can build yourself at home. Get hands-on experience using a variety of projects and recipes for everything from home automation to test equipment.

Arduino has taken off as an incredibly popular building block among ubicomp (ubiquitous computing) enthusiasts, robotics hobbyists, and DIY home automation developers. Authors Jonathan Oxer and Hugh Blemings provide detailed instructions for building a wide range of both practical and fun Arduino-related projects, covering areas such as hobbies, automotive, communications, home automation, and instrumentation. Take Arduino beyond "blink" to a wide variety of projects from simple to challengingHands-on recipes for everything from home automation to interfacing with your car engine management systemExplanations of techniques and references to handy resources for ubiquitous computing projects

Supplementary material includes a circuit schematic reference, introductions to a range of electronic engineering principles and general hints & tips. These combine with the projects themselves to make Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware an invaluable reference for Arduino users of all levels. You'll learn a wide variety of techniques that can be applied to your own projects.
What you'll learn Communication with serial devices including RFID readers, temperature sensors, and GPS modulesConnecting Arduino to Ethernet and WiFi networksAdding synthesized speech to ArduinoLinking Arduino to web servicesDecoding data streams from commercial wireless devicesHow to make DIY prototyping shields for only a couple of dollarsWho is this book for?

This book is for hobbyists and developers interested in physical computing using a low-cost, easy-to-learn platform.

Bob Nelson Ph.D. Weaving together case studies, examples, techniques, research highlights, and quotes from business leaders, this practical handbook is packed with suggestions for increasing employee involvement and enthusiasm. Original.

Garr Reynolds Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today's world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.

Gary Rosenzweig

Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games.. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.

Charles P. Schultz, Robert Bryant, Tim Langdell "Game Testing All in One" focuses on testing fundamentals, including how to create a test plan as well as how to set up a test case tree. It walks you through game testing basics, including topics like artificial intelligence, performance, and collision. You will explore each of the major game genres and discuss key elements to consider when testing. This book will also provide you with strategies to find a job testing games. You will walk away with a fundamental understanding of how the game industry works from the test perspective.

Adrian Shaughnessy Designers are quick to tell us about their sources of inspiration, but they are much less willing to reveal such critical matters as how to find work, how much they charge, and what to do when a client rejects three weeks of work and refuses to pay the bill. How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul addresses the concerns of young designers who want to earn a living by doing expressive and meaningful work, and who want to avoid becoming hired drones working on soulless projects. Written by a designer for designers, it combines practical advice with philosophical guidance to help young professionals embark on their careers. How should designers manage the creative process? What's the first step in the successful interpretation of a brief? How do you generate ideas when everything just seems blank? How to be a graphic designer offers clear, concise guidance for these questions, along with focused, no-nonsense strategies for setting up, running, and promoting a studio, finding work, and collaborating with clients. The book also includes inspiring interviews with ten leading designers, including Rudy VanderLans (Emigre), John Warwicker (Tomato), Neville Brody (Research Studios), and Andy Cruz (House Industries). All told, How to be a graphic designer covers just about every aspect of the profession, and stands as an indispensable guide for any young designer.

Vladimir Silva Do you remember landmark games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Asteroids? Well, here’s an exciting opportunity to build and/or port these games to one of the hottest mobile and netbooks platforms today: Google’s Android.

Pro Android Games teaches you how to build cool games like Space Blaster and the classic Asteroids from scratch on the latest Android platform. This book also shows you how to port other classic freeware/shareware games like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D from C using the Java Native Interface (JNI) for Android.

This book is all about a unique perspective in Android game development: a well-balanced, powerful combination of pure Java and hybrid game development, mixing Java and C. By combining the elegant object-oriented features of Java and the raw power of C, there is no limit to the types of games that you can build for the platform. With actionable real-world source code in hand, this book allows you to dive right into games development on Android. You’ll definitely have fun, and perhaps you’ll even make some money. Enjoy! What you’ll learn How to write/port advanced 3D games for any Android device.How to setup a Linux system for hybrid game compilation.How to combine Java and C code in an elegant manner by building a simple Java application on top of a native library.How to tackle pure Java gaming with two practical games: Space Blaster and the arcade classic Asteroids.How to mix OpenGL API calls in Java and C for high performance 3D graphics using the 3D cubes sample by Google.How to bring two of the greatest PC 3D shooters to the Android platform: Wolfenstein 3D and Doom using Java and C.Who is this book for?

This book is for Google Android developers interested in game application development in Java or porting existing C-based games via JNI into Android and developing/deploying from there. It is targeted to developers who already know such basics of Android development as activity, view, and layout. Additionally, it assumes that you are a seasoned game developer in Java and C, and have a basic knowledge of Linux and Shell Scripting.

Joel Spolsky Spolsky is knowledgeable, funny and free of unnecessary religious fervor. Joel on Software is a must-read. ...having (Joel on Software) in one place, edited, with an index, is probably the best twenty-five dollars you'll spend this year.

— Greg Wilson, Dr. (Joel Spolsky's) genuine desire to make the software world a better place keeps us coming back for more.

— Bruce Hadley, softwareCEO. This book will challenge, encourage, upset, and entertain you. Spolsky knows his stuff, and he's got the war wounds to prove it. This book is worth the price of admission...

— Tom Duff, Duffbert's Random Musings

An entertaining oportunity to get to know one of today's most influential developer/authors.Spolsky based these observations on years of personal experience.

The result just a handful of years later? Spolsky's technical knowledge, caustic wit, and extraordinary writing skills have earned him status as a programming guru! His blog has become renowned throughout the programming world&emdash;now linked to more than six hundred websites and translated into over thirty languages.

Joel on Software covers every conceivable aspect of software programming&emdash;from the best way to write code, to the best way to design an office in which to write code! All programmers, all people who want to enhance their knowledge of programmers, and all who are trying to manage programmers will surely relate to Joel's musings.

Bjarne Stroustrup This classic work shows a care and understanding of C++ that only Bjarne Stroustrup, the designer of the language, can achieve. It also conveys the punctilious and sometimes suffocating detail that only Stroustrup would desire to communicate. The novice programmer will have difficulty distinguishing between the essential and the dispensable material. However, experienced C++ programmers will appreciate the reference manual portion of the book, which contains an exact definition of C++ that even numerous examples cannot express. Stroustrup's book has several chapters on classes and the reference manual component of the book contains the complete grammar of classes. This is a book that every experienced C++ programmer needs to own.

Peter Walsh, Adrian Perez Microsoft's DirectX is a powerful set of application programming interfaces used for multimedia application development. The latest version offers increased performance, better usability, and more power to create the next generation of interactive entertainment products that rival anything seen in the past. This revision of the best-selling Advanced 3-D Game Programming Using DirectX 7.0 focuses on the new features of DirectX 8.0, providing plenty of code to help readers understand how to create computer games using this advanced multimedia application development platform.

Among the topics discussed are: * Lighting and shading schemes * Networking and multithreading * Texture mapping * Scene management

Along with several sample applications that target specific algorithms, full source code is provided for a client-server networked 3-D first-person game that demonstrates many of the techniques discussed in the book. This gives readers the opportunity to develop their own code easily, basing it upon the technology discussed in the book.

Stephen Wolfram Physics and computer science genius Stephen Wolfram, whose Mathematica computer language launched a multimillion-dollar company, now sets his sights on a more daunting goal: understanding the universe. Wolfram lets the world see his work in A New Kind of Science, a gorgeous, 1,280-page tome more than a decade in the making. With patience, insight, and self-confidence to spare, Wolfram outlines a fundamental new way of modeling complex systems.

On the frontier of complexity science since he was a boy, Wolfram is a champion of cellular automata—256 "programs" governed by simple nonmathematical rules. He points out that even the most complex equations fail to accurately model biological systems, but the simplest cellular automata can produce results straight out of nature—tree branches, stream eddies, and leopard spots, for instance. The graphics in A New Kind of Science show striking resemblance to the patterns we see in nature every day.

Wolfram wrote the book in a distinct style meant to make it easy to read, even for nontechies; a basic familiarity with logic is helpful but not essential. Readers will find themselves swept away by the elegant simplicity of Wolfram's ideas and the accidental artistry of the cellular automaton models. Whether or not Wolfram's revolution ultimately gives us the keys to the universe, his new science is absolutely awe-inspiring. —Therese Littleton