Funk

Funk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing it from R&B and soul songs centered around chord progressions.

Top Artists :


Jamiroquai
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Prince
James Brown
Sly & The Family Stone
Funkadelic

Trip-Hop

 A “type of dance music, played on electronic instruments and with a slow beat”, according to Longman Dictionary, trip-hop (also known in the past as the “Bristol sound”) is, in fact, a musical movement that started in Bristol, UK. The tag isn’t limited to Bristol-based bands though; bands as far as Canada (eg. Perfume Tree) or Costa Rica (eg. Úztari) have been considered ‘trip-hop’


Top Artists :


Massive Attack
Portishead
Tricky
Morcheeba
Archive
Hooverphonic

Post-Metal

Post-metal is a mixture of post-rock and heavy metal, with elements of shoegaze, industrial metal and sludge. It is broadly characterized by distorted guitar, atmospherics, gradual evolution of song structure and a minimal emphasis on vocals. Most songs follow the format of intense crescendos on simple chord sequences but may include sections of powerful riffing.



Top Artists :


Isis
Cult of Luna
Neurosis
Pelican
Callisto
Rosetta

Punk

Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY (do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels.


Top Artists :


The Clash
Ramones
Green Day
NOFX
Bad Religion
The Offspring

Lounge

Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s encompassing such genres as exotica, easy listening and space age pop. Lounge music ranges from beautiful music-influenced instrumentals, to modern electronica with chillout or downtempo influences, while maintaining its focus on retro-space-age cultural elements. The earliest forms of lounge music appeared in the 1920s and 1930s, known as light music.


Top Artists :


Thievery Corporation
De-Phazz
Richard Cheese
Pink Martini
Parov Stelar
Bonobo

Nu Jazz

Nu jazz is an umbrella term coined in the late 1990s to refer to music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, electronic dance music, and free improvisation[1]. Also written nü-jazz or NuJazz, it is sometimes called electronic jazz, electro-jazz, e-jazz, jazztronica, jazz house, phusion, electronic-lounge or future jazz.


Top Artists :


Parov Stelar
Jaga Jazzist
Skalpel
The Cinematic Orchestra
Jazzanova
De-Phazz

Downtempo

Downtempo (or Downbeat) is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling. Sometimes the beats are more complicated and more featured instead of being in the background, but even then they are usually less intense than other kinds of electronic music like Trance.


Top Artists :


Bonobo
Thievery Corporation
Zero 7
Massive Attack
The Cinematic Orchestra
Parov Stelar

Dark Ambient

Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of new synthesizer and sampling technology in the electronic music genre and other technical advances in music. Dark ambient is a diverse genre, related to industrial music, noise, ethereal wave, and black metal, yet generally free from derivatives and connections to other genres or styles.



Top Artists :


Nox Arcana
Burzum
Lustmord
Atrium Carceri
Arcana
Antimatter

Experimental Rock

Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, and/or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique.


Top Artists :


Frank Zappa
Sonic Youth
Brian Eno
Mr. Bungle
Ataxia
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

Noise Rock

Noise rock describes one variety of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the typical instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.


Top Artists :


Sonic Youth
Lightning Bolt
Big Black
The Jesus Lizard
No Age
Melt-Banana

Math Rock

Math Rock is a relatively new sub-genre of rock music, characterized by complex, atypical rhythms (often including irregular stopping and starting), frequent use of irregular time-signatures, and dissonant, angular guitars. Math rock peaked in the mid-’90s, when groups like Polvo and Chavez had small but dedicated followings among indie rockers on college campuses.


Top Artists :


Battles
65daysofstatic
Foals
Don Caballero
Shellac
Hella

Useful Books 2

Some Useful Books for Web Site QA
Some Useful Books for Web Site QA

The books on this page run the gammut from technical to philosophical. I value all of these books for what they can teach; your mileage may vary.
The Basics
A dictionary for whichever language you are writing in. Really. Invest in a good dictionary and keep it handy.
HTML & XHTML : The Definitive Guide by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy (O’Reilly). I work around books, and I’ve lost track of how many different approaches to explaining and documenting HTML I’ve seen. This is the best book on HTML, and it’s the only one I keep on my bookshelves.
Webmaster in a Nutshell Deluxe (O’Reilly). I’m not a webmaster, but I spend a lot of time researching errors and problems, so I have a bunch of webmaster books around in case I need to research some funky server-client bug. This book has almost all of the answers I need; the server error message listings are especially good.
Site Design Issues
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville (O’Reilly). This important reference forces you to examine the basic concepts behind the presentation and ordering of information on the web.
Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte. This is one of the classic references on information presentation. If you want to make the most of your information you must learn how to architect your site; this is the one of the books you should read.
Web Navigation: Designing the User Experience by Jennifer Fleming (O’Reilly). Another excellent book from O’Reilly, this time focusing on navigation schemes.
Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age from the Editors of Wired, edited by Constance Hale. A good example of a style guide from a major voice of the web culture, and a good source for definitions of “geek” terms. I also like their explanations behind Wired’s decisions on certain points of style, such as handling the hyphens common in new technological terms. This is not a guide for design, but rather a sample of a well-thought-out application of editorial choices and design strategies.
Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. An essential book for anyone who designs or tests interfaces.
More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor by George Lakoff and Mark Turner. This book continues the treatment of metaphors started in Metaphors We Live By, focusing specifically on the use of metaphors in poetry. This book is useful because it applies Lakoff’s (et al) theories to a particular domain of implementation.
Software Quality Issues
Constructing Superior Software edited by Paul C. Clements, and written by too many people to list here. This is the first book in the Software Quality Institute Series. The contributors are all experts in their areas of interest; this book is well worth reading for a good grounding in software quality and test project management.
Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design by Larry L. Constantine and Lucy A. D. Lockwood. This book from ACM Press describes the authors’ philosophy of usage-centered design — as distinct from user-centered design. The authors feel that the design focus should be on the tasks, not on the user, because after all, the user tries to accomplish tasks. An interesting book with good explanations of both schools of thought.
Testing Issues

Managing the Testing Process by Rex Black. The best book I have seen on managing the testing process. Mr. Black provides detailed explanations on everything having to do with the process of testing software as well as examples of the various kinds of essential test documentation. I’m amazed with how his suggestions dovetail with work I’m doing and seem to match report formats and testing structures. If you are a test manager, you can’t do better than this book.
Testing Computer Software, 2nd Edition by Cem Kaner, Jack Falk, and Hung Quoc Nguyen. This is the classic resource on software testing. Detailed, comprehensive, and well-organized information.
Usability Issues
Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen. Dr. Nielsen’s latest book, is a gorgeous book — great production values with this glossy book — dense with information. This will quickly become a classic in this field.
Usability Engineering by Jakob Nielsen. Very good book on usability issues, including rationales for usability engineering and useful testing methodology.
Web Site Usability: a Designer’s Guide by Jared Spool et al. Another very good book, covering usability issues for web sites.
Understanding People

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language by David Crystal. A top-notch linguisics and general language reference work. Well-written and approachable essays on the widest range of topics. You may never find yourself reading this book from cover to cover, but you will find yourself following a path from one essay to the next along a chain of interest unique to you.
The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. Excellent book on language and the human mind. You don’t have to be a trained linguist to understand and appreciate this work.
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker. Pinker’s done it again with this excellent book on how the human mind works. The mind may not be a computer, but it does compute; Pinker describes the computational theory of the mind.


philosophe.com

Useful books 1

When are books useful?
When are books useful?

Books are useful for:
providing an overview of the topic (e.g.: textbook, encyclopedia)
providing in-depth information from a variety of perspectives (books are usually longer than articles).
How do I search for books?

You will usually find books by searching online library catalogs, like ROGER. Electronic books are are increasing in number. Links to electronic books that the library has purchased can be found in ROGER. Links to freely available e-books can be found by searching the general Internet.
How do I critically evaluate a book?

When evaluating the usefulness or appropriateness of a book, pay attention to:
Scholarly or non-scholarly nature of the publication;
Date of publication, since information in some disciplines depends heavily upon current techniques or trends;
Subject headings, since they describe what the book's focus will be and should be looked at in conjunction with the title;
Author(s) and whether he/she has published extensively in this area;
Length of the work (i.e. 25 pages versus 550 pages);
Bibliography to lead you to further information on the topic;
Place of publication.

Development Books 9

David Geary, "Google Web Toolkit Solutions: More Cool & Useful Stuff"

 Prentice Hall PTR | 2007-11-17 | ISBN: 0132344815 | 

Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java development framework for building Ajax-enabled web applications. Instead of the hodgepodge of technologies that developers typically use for Ajax–JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XMLHttpRequest–GWT lets developers implement rich client applications with pure Java, using familiar idioms from the AWT, Swing, and SWT. GWT goes beyond most Ajax frameworks by making it easy to build desktop-like applications that run in the ubiquitous browser, where the richness of the user interface is limited only by the developer’s imagination.
This book focuses on the more advanced aspects of GWT that you need to implement real-world applications with rich user interfaces but without the heavy lifting of JavaScript and other Ajax-related technologies. Each solution in this practical, hands-on book is more than a recipe. The sample programs are carefully explained in detail to help you quickly master advanced GWT techniques, such as implementing drag-and-drop, integrating JavaScript libraries, and using advanced event handling methodologies.

Solutions covered include
• Building custom GWT widgets, including both high-level composites and low-level components
• Implementing a viewport class that includes iPhone-style automated scrolling
• Integrating web services with GWT applications
• Incorporating the Script.aculo.us JavaScript framework into GWT applications
• Combining Hibernate and GWT to implement database-backed web applications
• Extending the GWT PopupPanel class to implement a draggable and resizable window
• Creating a drag-and-drop module, complete with drag sources and drop targets
• Deploying GWT applications to an external server
• Dynamically resizing flex tables
• Using GWT widgets in legacy applications developed with other frameworks, such as Struts and JavaServer Faces 

James J. Maivald, "A Designer's Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML: Harness the Power of XML to Automate your Print and Web Workflows"

 Adobe Press | ISBN-10: 0321503554 | December 14, 2007 | 

Is this book for programmers? Written specifically for graphic designers and production artists already comfortable working with Adobe InDesign, this book teaches you how to automate publishing without learning a lot of scary code. XML simplifies the process of moving content in and out of your layouts and can speed up any print or Web assignment.
Why should I care about XML? If you99re managing data-intensive layout projects, and you want to keep that data consistent, accurate, and up-to-date, then incorporating XML can help. You can also use XML to automate processes like importing text and large numbers of graphics into a layout, or repurposing content from one application to another. Do I need additional plug-ins or special software? You need only the powerful features built into InDesign CS2 or CS3 to use this book.

Foundations of GTK+ Development

 Apress | by Andrew Krause | 2007 | ISBN: 1590597931 | 


GTK+ is one of the most influential graphical toolkits for the Linux operating system. It is the technology upon which the GNOME and XFCE desktop environments are based, and its crucial to have clear understanding of its complexities to build even a simple Linux desktop application. Foundations of GTK+ Development guides you through these complexities, laying the foundation that will allow you to cross from novice to professional.

Foundations of GTK+ Development is aimed at C programmers and presents numerous real-life examples that you can immediately put to use in your projects. Some familiarity with C programming is assumed, as the book delves into new topics from the beginning. Topics like object inheritance are covered early on to allow for complete understanding of code examples later. And the provided examples are real-life situations that can help you get a head start on your own applications.

Paul T. Kimmel, "Professional DevExpress ASP.NET Controls"

 Wrox | 2009 | ISBN: 0470500832 | 

Learn to use Devexpress ASP.NET controls, and get $250 worth of controls included with the book

Devexpress is a leading supplier of ASP.NET controls - the addins used in ASP.NET sites. Not only does this book show you how to make the most of them with Silverlight and Ajax, reporting, calendars, editors, and charts, but you also get actual controls worth $250 on the CD-ROM included with the book.

Regardless of your level of ASP.NET expertise, this complete reference will show you how to implement many award-winning and useful controls into your ASP.NET applications. Controls save time and effort as well as adding functionality, and this book helps you take full advantage of what they offer.
Devexpress is a leading vendor for ASP.NET controls that developers can use to add features, accomplish difficult tasks, and save development and testing time
This book addresses the all-important use of controls for Silverlight and Ajax, as well as classic essentials like reporting, editors, calendars, and charts
Covered controls include reports and charts, HTML editors, menus and treeviews, gridview, and many more
Explains when and where to use controls and how to add functionality without additional development
CD-ROM includes $250 worth of Devexpress controls ready for you to use right away

With Professional DevExpress ASP.NET Controls, you'll be a step ahead in developing powerful ASP.NET applications.

MacBook All-in-One For Dummies By Mark L. Chambers

 Publisher: For Dummies 2009-11-16 |  ISBN: 0470475684 | 

MacBook All-in-one for Dummies Makes Everything Easier!

With a MacBook, you can work and play anywhere. With 9 books in 1, MacBook All-in-one for Dummies shows you how! You'll find coverage of:

•Getting started -- choose the MacBook that suits your needs, set it up, customize your preferences, and organize files and folders.
•Using Mac OS X -- learn your way around Snow Leopard, get to know the Dock, find things with Spotlight, and back up your system with Time Machine.
•Customizing and Sharing.
•Going Mobile With iLife -- explore iLife, where photos, movies, music, and your very own Web site all hang out.
•iWork For the Road Warrior -- do it the Mac way with Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, the iWork productivity applications.
•Typical Internet Stuff -- browse with Safari, store your stuff on iDisk, use Apple Mail, and iChat with friends.
•Networking in Mac OS X -- set up a network, go wireless, and use AirPort Extreme.
•Expanding Your System -- see how to add memory and connect hard drives and printers using USB and FireWire.
•Advanced Mac OS X.
Learn the basics about using and maintaining your MacBook, how to work with Mac OS X, use the iWork productivity suite, enjoy the iLife, and cruise the Web from anywhere. Plus, you'll go under the hood and explore custom scripts and tweaks to help you get more from your MacBook and troubleshoot solutions.

Jiva DeVoe, "Cocoa Touch for iPhone OS 3 (Developer Reference)"

 Wiley | 2009-11-16 | ISBN: 0470481072 | 

Join the gold rush to developing cool iPhone apps with this complete iPhone OS 3 developer’s guide. Professional developer Jiva DeVoe speaks your language, and he talks you through the entire process—from explaining Cocoa Touch and the iPhone SDK to using Xcode and the Game Kit API. Follow step-by-step tutorials, then apply practical tips on signing and selling your applications. Even if you’re new to iPhone development you’ll soon be cranking out great code.

# Walk through Xcode, Interface Builder, and other key tools
# Build simple or complex GUIs with navigation and custom views
# Implement a database with Core Data, and design your schema in Xcode
# Learn to use the iPhone’s signature multi-touch capabilities in your applications
# Work with the Apple Push Notification Service
# Use the Map Kit API to create apps with embedded maps
# Record audio, play video, and access the iPod Library
# Set up your developer certificates and code sign your apps
# Use Store Kit to sell expanded features and content within your apps

Whether you're a new iPhone developer or seasoned veteran, this book is the perfect go-to reference for iPhone development-and one of an exciting new series for Apple developers.

Neal Goldstein, "iPhone Application Development For Dummies, Second Edition"

For Dummies | 2009-11-09 | ISBN: 0470568437 | 

Making Everything Easier!

With iPhone? Application Development for Dummies, Second Edition, you'll learn to:

# Design small- or large-scale iPhone applications for profit or fun
# Create new iPhone apps using Xcode?
# Get your applications into the App Store
# Work with frameworks

Got a good idea? Turn it into an app, have some fun, and pick up some cash!

Make the most of the new 3.1 OS and Apple's Xcode 3.2! Neal Goldstein shows you how, and even illustrates the process with one of his own apps that's currently being sold. Even if you're not a programming pro, you can turn your bright idea into an app you can market, and Neal even shows you how to get it into the App Store!

# Mobile is different ? learn what makes a great app for mobile devices and how an iPhone app is structured
# What you need ? download the free Software Development Kit, start using Xcode, and become an "official" iPhone developer
# The nitty-gritty ? get the hang of frameworks and iPhone architecture
# Get busy with apps ? discover how to make Xcode work for you to support app development
# Off to the store ? get valuable advice on getting your apps into the App Store
# Want to go further? ? explore what goes into industrial-strength apps

Open the book and find:

# What it takes to become a registered Apple developer
# How to debug your app
# What's new in iPhone 3.1 and Xcode 3.2
# What goes into a good interface for a small device
# How applications work in the iPhone environment
# Why you must think like a user
# What the App Store expects of you
# What makes a great iPhone app

Visit the companion Web site at www.dummies.com/go/iphoneappdevfd2e for source code and additional information on iPhone app development. 

Rajkumar Buyya, Kris Bubendorfer, "Market-Oriented Grid and Utility Computing"

 Wiley | 2009-10-26 | ISBN: 0470287683 |  

The first single-source reference covering the state of the art in grid and utility computing economy research

This book presents the first integrated, single-source reference on market-oriented grid and utility computing. Divided into four main parts—and with contributions from a panel of experts in the field—it systematically and carefully explores:

# Foundations—presents the fundamental concepts of market-oriented computing and the issues and challenges in allocating resources in a decentralized computing environment.
# Business models—covers business models for service providers and brokers supporting different types of distributed applications, as well as business rules-based models for managing virtual organizations and accounting operations and services in grid computing environments.
# Policies and agreements—introduces policies, agreements, and specifications for the negotiation and establishment of contracts between providers and consumers. It also covers different approaches for resource allocation based on service-level agreements (SLAs) and management of risks associated with SLA violations.
# Resource allocation and scheduling mechanisms—covers economic models, such as commodity models, reciprocation, auctions, and game theory, and middleware technologies, such as Nimrod/G and Gridbus, for market-oriented grid computing and utility-oriented resource allocation.

This book expertly captures the state of the art in the field while also identifying potential research directions and technologies that will facilitate the creation of global commercial grid and utility computing systems. It is an indispensable reference for systems architects, practitioners, developers, new researchers, and graduate students.

Thomas Myer, "Apple Automator with AppleScript Bible" 

 Wiley | 2009-11-16 | ISBN: 047052586X | 

One-stop reference helps you get the most out of AppleScript and Automator

One of the handiest ways to streamline your workload is to automate some of your most routine computer tasks. Mac users are lucky in that they have AppleScript and Automator automation tools built right in. This comprehensive guide shows you how to tap both these useful Mac features for Mac OS X and regularly perform such tasks as extracting unread e-mails from your Mail, scheduling workflows, and manually recording actions to create new automated routines.

# Brings you up to speed on Apple's built-in automation tools for Mac OS X, including a more thorough look at Automator than in many books, and shows you how you can automate many of your most repetitive or error-prone tasks
# Explains how to automate aspects of some of your favorite Mac features, such as iCal, Mail, iPhoto, iTunes, and iDVD
# Covers how to manipulate files and folders; work with PDFs, emails, and Web pages; schedule workflows; set up watch folders; create and use variables; manually record actions; and create AppleScripts that further automate functions

The instruction in this detailed guide will help you increase your productivity using Automator and AppleScript.

Macromedia Flash MX: Training from the Source

Publisher: Macromedia Press | ISBN: 0201794829 | 

With the introduction of Flash MX, the folks at Macromedia have transformed a pretty cool designer's tool for Web-based interaction into a full-fledged, professional-level application for developing sophisticated online content. Serious tools, however, typically require some serious instruction-and Flash MX is no exception. Luckily for you, there's Macromedia Flash: Training from the Source.
Using hands-on, project-based tutorials that you can tackle at your own pace, this invaluable reference provides the instruction you need to start designing professional-looking Web sites. Veteran author and Flash master Chrissy Rey takes you step-by-step through the development ofa complex Flash project, grounding you in the basics before moving on to more complex topics like ActionScripting and the use of video. In the process, she covers both the old and the new, including the revamped user interface, the text and graphic tools that make their debut in MX, and the brand-new Properties inspector. With Flash MX on your computer and Macromedia Flash: Training from the Source at your side, you're ready to take on the world of interactive online content. 

The Craft of Text Editing: Emacs for the Modern World 

 Publisher: Springer-Verlag | ISBN: 0387976167 | 

Never before has a book been published that describes the techniques and technology used in writing text editors, word processors and other software. Written for the working professional and serious student, this book covers all aspects of the task. The topics range from user psychology to selecting a language to implementing redisplay to designing the command set. More than just facts are involved, however, as this book also promotes insight into an understanding of the issues encountered when designing such software. After reading this book, you should have a clear understanding of how to go about writing text editing or word processing software. In addition, this book introduces the concepts and power of the Emacs-type of text editor. This type of editor can trace its roots to the first computer text editor written and is still by far the most powerful editor available.

Development Books 8

MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-310): Developing XML Web Services and Server Components with Visual Basic .NET and the .NET Framework

 Publisher: Que | ISBN: 0789728206 | 

This certification exam measures your ability to develop and implement middle-tier components, server components, and XML Web services by using Visual Studio .NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework. This exam counts as a core credit toward the new MCAD (Microsoft Certified Application Developer) certification as well as a core credit toward the new MCSD .NET track.
The Training Guide series is the most successful self-study tool in the market. Its teaching methodology is superior. The accompanying CD features PrepLogic testing software, which includes one complete PrepLogic Practice Test with approximately the same number of questions found on the actual vendor exam. Each question contains full, detailed explanations of the correct and incorrect answers. 

"Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development: Creating Modules, Components, and Plugins with PHP" by Joseph L. LeBlanc

Packt Publishing | English | June 12, 2007 | ISBN: 1847191304 

Joomla! is the world's hottest open-source content management system, and the winner of the 2006 Open Source CMS Prize.

While Joomla! is packed with features, its greatest quality is that it is extremely extensible, allowing any number of complex applications to be cleanly integrated. Shopping carts, forums, social networking profiles, job boards, and real estate listings are all examples of extensions developers have written for Joomla!. All of these can run off one Joomla! site, while only one database, template, and core need to be maintained. When you build an extension to Joomla!, it will inherit the look and feel of the overall site. Any type of program that can be coded in PHP is a potential component waiting to be written!

If you're eager to start creating extensions for Joomla!, this book is for you. Walk through the development of complete Joomla! components and modules with this tutorial for PHP programmers. Written for Joomla! version 1.5 and tested against pre-final releases, this book will get you started coding your first extensions as quickly as possible, and adds the features that will make your work look professional!

The book builds example extensions to create, find, promote, and cross-link restaurant reviews. A component will handle common data items seen across all reviews such as price range, reservations, cuisine type, and location. Your visitors will be able to search and sort through the reviews; adding their own criteria to zero in on their dining options for the evening.

Your modules will highlight new reviews, drawing the attention of frequent visitors. Finally, plugins will pull pieces of the reviews into feature articles and others will integrate them into searches. Even if you don't own a restaurant, you will still find the code applicable to your own development projects, and the skills you develop will make you a Joomla! developer to be reckoned with!

"Game Programming All in One" by Jonathan S. Harbour

 Course Technology PTR | English | June 17, 2004 | ISBN: 1592003834 | 

Create your own high-caliber games with some of the same tools used by professional game developers! If you have a working knowledge of C or C++, then "Game Programming All in One, 2nd Edition" can get you started on your journey. It uses hands-on projects to explain each new subject and includes many sample programs to reinforce the material in each chapter. Begin by learning about cross-platform game programming, writing code that will run under Windows®, Linux®, Mac OS® X, and many other systems. Enhance your skills by working through the core features of the Allegro game library and writing code to load images, manipulate sprites, scroll the background, use double-buffering, read a joystick, detect collisions, and implement other core features of any game. You will gain experience by creating a complete game and adding features to it in each new chapter. You will also learn how to write a scrolling platform game and a vertical shooter.
  

"Perl Power!: The Comprehensive Guide" by John P Flynt

 Course Technology PTR | English | March 15, 2006 | ISBN: 1598631616 | 

Perl Power! provides programmers with a learning and reference resource on Perl. All readers will find tutorials that utilize a "learn by doing" approach that they can work from as soon as they get the book home. The tutorials build upon each other throughout the book until a level of expertise is reached. All chapters offer complete programs to demonstrate the topics discussed, with source code available on the book's companion website. These programs are ready to run, and line-by-line commentary in the program and in the book allows programmers to understand the logic and syntax behind them. Additionally, each program is introduced in a way that provides a story about what the program does and what you can use the program to do after learning it. The topics covered begin with how to set up the DzSoft Perl Editor so that you can easily work with Perl programs. Then, through dozens of complete programs, the book explores the primary data categories of Perl: scalars, hashes, arrays, and handles. The topics of later chapters range from using references to working with data structures and incorporating data files into your programs. The final chapter comprehensively reviews regular expressions through a multitude of examples.

Mahara 1.2 E-Portfolios: Beginner's Guide By Derrin Michael Kent, Glenys Gillian Bradbury, Margaret Anne Kent, Richard William Hand

 Publisher: Packt Publishing 2010 | 263 Pages | ISBN: 1847199062 | 



Create and host educational and professional e-portfolios and personalized learning communities
Create, customize, and maintain an impressive personal digital portfolio with a simple point-and-click interface
Set customized access to share your text files, images, and videos with your family, friends, and others
Create online learning communities and social networks through groups, blogs, and forums
A step-by-step approach that takes you through examples with ample screenshots and clear explanations

In Detail
Mahara is a user-centred environment with a permissions framework that enables different views of an e-portfolio to be easily managed. These views helps you display your artefacts - text files, spreadsheets, images, and videos - in a way you choose and to the people you want. You can also create online communities and social networks through groups, blogs, and forums.
Being a novice, you will need a quick and easy implementation guide to set up your feature-rich digital portfolio.
This book is your step-by-step guide to building an impressive professional e-portfolio using Mahara. It covers the key features of Mahara that will help you set up your customized digital portfolio and display the artefacts in your preferred way allowing contribution from selected users only.
This book will introduce to the exciting features of Mahara framework and help you develop a feature-rich e-portfolio for yourself. You will see how easily you can create folders, upload multiple files like journals, project documents, pictures, and videos and share them with your friends. You will learn to set up views of these files, making these visible to your chosen friends only. And then, you will allow people to give their inputs.
You will learn to create blogs and forums and get connected to the rest of the world. Customization and administration of your Mahara site will become easy after you have gone through this book. Imagine how good you will feel when you will see your knowledge, success, and ideas going live and available to your chosen audiences for their inputs.

What you will learn from this book
You will learn to:
Create folders in Mahara - just like on your own computer - with an easy file search facility
Upload multiple files - journals, reports, presentations, videos, and sound clips - easily and set permissions for your group to view, edit, and delete them
Create a blog in Mahara and get connected to the rest of the world
Make an impressive profile using Mahara profile fields and tailor your own profile view
Create a new web page entirely from scratch and customize it to allow much more flexibility and control over who sees what and when
Set an environment to receive public or private feedback on your pictures, videos, and articles
Connect with other Mahara users and get social: discuss topics of common interest in forums and share views with each other
Customize and administer your Mahara site to our own preferences using a number of configuration settings for easy administration

Approach
This book will provide you with step-by-step instructions to get started with Mahara and create an impressive electronic portfolio. The book is packed with many useful examples and screenshots for easy and quick learning.

Who this book is written for
Pick this book up if you want to get started with Mahara. This book is for you if:
You are a student/learner wanting to maintain online documentation of your projects and share it with a particular teacher/trainer for feedback
You are a teacher wanting to set up an e-portfolio for your students in order to encourage and advance personalized and reflective learning
You are a professional wanting to share your journals and project documents with your team by sharing your existing knowledge and creating new knowledge in communities of professional practice
No previous experience of Mahara is required.

About the Author
Derrin Michael Kent
Derrin Kent describes himself as a cross between a trainer, a manager, a linguist, and a geek. Managing Director of TDM (tdm.info), Derrin has a Master's level teaching qualification from the University of Cambridge (DTEFLA) and is also a Linux-Certified professional (LPIC). A jack-of-all-trades in open source software, Derrin has extensive Moodle experience (already a reviewer of two Packt books on Moodle) and speaks both Spanish and English at home with his Peruvian wife and two bilingual children.
Glenys Gillian Bradbury
Glenys Bradbury is a Prince2-qualified Project Manager who also works as a Mahara (and Moodle) learning-designer, site-administrator and end-user trainer for TDM (tdm.info). Glenys has extensive working experience as a trainer and manager in both educational and business environments. She is a friendly and sensitive change-manager who really, really knows how to make a personal development planning/knowledge management implementation process come to life.
Margaret Anne Kent
Meg Kent has worked continuously as a corporate manager and director in a variety of Work-Based Learning contexts since the late 1980s. She is now a Mahara (and Moodle) learning-designer and end-user trainer for TDM (tdm.info). Also a Work-Based Learning assessor in her own right, Meg successfully blends support for individuals' achievement of government-funded qualifications alongside the development of their practical Web2.0 skills.
Richard William Hand
Richard Hand is a Mahara platform manager, module developer and theme/configuration designer for TDM (tdm.info), an official Mahara partner organization. Richard also supports and develops other Open Source Software platforms including Moodle, Drupal, and Joomla. He graduated with a first class honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Bristol in 2008 and won a national (UK) award for "Best Website Design" for one of his TDM Joomla! sites in 2009 (selected from 2000+ competitor sites).

Matt Lombard, "SolidWorks Administration Bible"

 Wiley | 2009 | ISBN: 0470537264 | 

What you need to prepare, install, and maintain SolidWorks

It's not enough to know how to use SolidWorks, if your job also requires you to install or maintain it, train new users, and implement standards. This in-depth guide was written for those of you who have to actually manage your company's SolidWorks system. From hardware selection to helping users to licensing and more, this is the everyday, bread-and-butter SolidWorks administration resource that IT and CAD managers have been seeking.
SolidWorks is a powerful 3D solid modeling system that is popular with CAD users everywhere, but often leaves IT administrators in the dark as to how to manage it; this essential guide covers SolidWorks admin for both IT staff and CAD users
Walks you through preparing, installing, and maintaining SolidWorks
Covers setting up shared libraries, automated deployment tools, licensing, updates and upgrades, support and troubleshooting, standardization, and collaboration

Get the high-level assistance you need to efficiently manage SolidWorks in your enterprise or small business. 

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server For Dummies By John Rizzo

 For Dummies | Pages: 432 | 2009-11-09 | ISBN 0470450363 | 

Making Everything Easier!

Mac OS® X Snow Leopard Server for Dummies

Learn to:


Set up and configure a Mac network with Snow Leopard Server
Administer, secure, and troubleshoot the network
Incorporate a Mac subnet into a Windows
Active Directory® domain
Take advantage of Unix® power and security

John Rizzo

Want to set up and administer a network even if you don't have an IT department? Read on!

Like everything Mac, Snow Leopard Server was designed to be easy to set up and use. Still, there are so many options and features that this book will save you heaps of time and effort. It walks you through installation, set-up on a virtual machine, directory services, managing clients, security, and everything necessary to keep your users happy.


Choose your hardware — get all the details on the best hardware for your specific needs
It does Windows too — manage Active Directory and Open Directory for a network with both Windows® and Mac® clients
Maintain control — create and maintain your User Directory and authenticate clients
Files, printers, and stuff — set up user categories and permissions, handle file sharing protocols, and configure client machines
Let's get together — help users collaborate with shared contacts and calendars, Podcast Producer, and iChat® instant messaging
The Web world — configure Web services
, set up Wiki Server, and enable blogging
Out of the office — create mobile accounts for notebook users and configure VPN access
Safety first — manage security with firewalls, encryption, and proxies

Open the book and find:


Various options for installation
The pros and cons of Dual Boot
How to set up and run an e-mail server
Tips on getting Macs and Windows to share files
The advantages of different permission types
How to manage Podcast Producer
Special stuff in Snow Leopard Server
  

Avinash Kaushik, "Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity"

 Sybex | 2009 | ISBN: 0470529393 | 

Adeptly address today’s business challenges with this powerful new book from web analytics thought leader Avinash Kaushik. Web Analytics 2.0 presents a new framework that will permanently change how you think about analytics. It provides specific recommendations for creating an actionable strategy, applying analytical techniques correctly, solving challenges such as measuring social media and multichannel campaigns, achieving optimal success by leveraging experimentation, and employing tactics for truly listening to your customers. The book will help your organization become more data driven while you become a super analysis ninja!


Summary: Very well written and actionable
Rating: 5

This book was very useful for me. Recommended by a co-worker, I enjoyed reading this and learnt the importance of web analytics and what we were doing wrong in our web analytics implementation. It gave an excellent framework to apply to all web initiatives to accurately measure its value to the company. A great read.

Summary: Just plain great!
Rating: 5

Unlike many of the others who have reviewed this book, I barely knew what Web Analytics was when I purchased this book. Despite this lack of knowledge, I was hooked from Page 1. Avinash explains complex concepts in a way that is clear and even entertaining. In fact, the book is so compelling that I have decided to add Web Analytics my company's service offerings. I have gone to many different sources to enhance my understanding of the subject but I still find that Web Analytics 2.0 does the best job of explaining both the big picture and the nuances of Web Analytics.

41 Amazon users Reviews
5 star: (41)
4 star: (0)
3 star: (0)
2 star: (0)
1 star: (0)

Parallel Programming Using C++

Publisher: The MIT Press | pages: 760 | 1996 | ISBN: 0262731185 | 

Parallel Programming Using C++ describes fifteen parallel programming systems based on C++, the most popular object-oriented language of today. These systems cover the whole spectrum of parallel programming paradigms, from data parallelism through dataflow and distributed shared memory to message-passing control parallelism. For the parallel programming community, a common parallel application is discussed in each chapter, as part of the description of the system itself. By comparing the implementations of the polygon overlay problem in each system, the reader can get a better sense of their expressiveness and functionality for a common problem.

Development Books 7

AGI Creative Team, "Photoshop Elements 8 Digital Classroom"

 Wiley | 2009-12-09 | ISBN: 0470566922 | 

A complete book-and-DVD training package covering Photoshop Elements 8.Photoshop Elements combines an easy-to-use set of features and enhancements combined with image editing power in an affordable program. The newest version—Photoshop Elements 8—features more online integration with products like the new Flash-based Web galleries. This unique full-color book and instructional DVD provides you with an exciting learning tool that will help you get working with Elements 8 quickly and easily.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 Digital Classroom is like having your own personal instructor guiding you through each lesson, while you work at your own pace.

Thirteen self-paced lessons encourage you to discover essential skills and explore new features and capabilities of Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.

A team of Adobe Certified Instructors escort you through the in and outs of working with Photoshop Elements 8, the user-friendly image-editing program.

This full-color book and instructional DVD package includes step-by-step instructions, lesson files, and video tutorials that complement the topics covered in each lesson.

Discusses the most important features of Photoshop Elements 8 including: importing photos from digital cameras and scanners, retouching and repairing damaged photos, enhancing digital images, and perfecting group shots with Photomerge.

Addresses editing images for posting on the Web, using the sharpness interface to correct blurry images, exploring the Curves tool to adjust contract and brightness, and organizing images with auto-stacking.

The DVD demonstrates how to edit and apply effects for stellar digital images, painting and retouching, and exploring the different filters and techniques that tap into your creative side to produce great images.

Get in the digital classroom and get started using Photoshop Elements 8 today!

Arthur Kordon, "Applying Computational Intelligence: How to Create Value"

Springer 2009 | ISBN-10: 3540699104 | 

The flow of academic ideas in the area of computational intelligence is impacting industrial practice at considerable speed. Practitioners face the challenge of tracking, understanding and applying the latest techniques, which often prove their value even before the underlying theories are fully understood. This book offers realistic guidelines on creating value from the application of computational intelligence methods.

In Part I, the author offers simple explanations of the key computational intelligence technologies: fuzzy logic, neural networks, support vector machines, evolutionary computation, swarm intelligence, and intelligent agents. In Part II, he defines the typical business environment and analyzes the competitive advantages these techniques offer. In Part III, he introduces a methodology for effective real-world application of computational intelligence while minimizing development cost, and he outlines the critical, underestimated technology marketing efforts required. The methodology can improve the existing capabilities of Six Sigma, one of the most popular work processes in industry. Finally, in Part IV the author looks to technologies still in the research domain, such as perception-based computing, artificial immune systems, and systems with evolved structure, and he examines the future for computational intelligence applications while taking into account projected industrial needs.

The author adopts a light tone in the book, visualizes many of the techniques and ideas, and supports the text with notes from successful implementations. The book is ideal for engineers implementing these techniques in the real world, managers charged with creating value and reducing costs in the related industries, and scientists in computational intelligence looking towards the application of their research.

Beginning Illustration and Storyboarding for Games By Les Pardew

Publisher: Premier Press 2004 |  ISBN: 1592004954 

Creating enticing game art can mean the difference between getting a game published or rejected. Great game art can also be a very rewarding to the game designer! "Beginning Illustration and Storyboarding for Games" focuses on specific issues surrounding developing concept art for games. It emphasizes artistic development using computer drawing and painting programs such as Corel Painter, Corel Draw, and Corel Photo Paint. This book is ideal for beginning art students who wish to learn the fundamental techniques used in creating concept art for game designs. It covers basic game design elements, storyboards, character designs, game world designs, level layouts, and other key visual elements typically used in game designs. As you work your way through the book, you will learn how to create art as well as how the art is used in a game design document.

The only book to specifically address illustration and storyboarding for games.
Full of illustrations and step-by-step projects.
Offers real-world instruction for game concept art development.
Also touches on basic art skill development. 

IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1

Publisher: Packt Publishing | ISBN: 1847199283 | edition 2010 | PDF | 335 pages | 12,1 mb

Upgrade your system and embrace the exciting new features of the Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 platform
* Upgrade to the latest version of Lotus Notes and Domino
* Understand the new features and put them to work in your business
* Thoroughly covers Domino Attachment Object Service (DAOS), Domino Configuration Tuner (DCT) and iNotes
* Explore other useful Lotus products, such as Lotus Sametime, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections, and IBM WebSphere Portal
* Packed with expert tips and useful screenshots

Microsoft Expression Web For Dummies

For dummies | ISBN: 0470115092 | 

Expression Web is Microsoft's newest tool for creating and maintaining dynamic Web sites. This FrontPage replacement offers all the simple "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" tools for creating a Web site along with some pumped up new features for working with Cascading Style Sheets and other design options. Microsoft Expression Web For Dummies arrives in time for early adopters to get a feel for how to build an attractive Web site. Author Linda Hefferman teams up with longtime FrontPage For Dummies author Asha Dornfest to show the easy way for first-time Web designers, FrontPage vets, or users of other Web design tools how to get results from Expression Web. 

Beginning XML, 4th Edition (Programmer to Programmer)

 Publisher: Wrox | ISBN: 0470114878 | 

Beginning XML provides a complete course in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) with an unusually gradual learning curve. In fact, the introduction states that the book is "for people who know that it would be a pretty good idea to learn the language, but aren't 100 percent sure why." Despite its recognition of the fuzziness of readers' understanding of the technology, the book delivers a rather comprehensive study of XML.
Very little space is wasted detailing the history of XML and its relation to SGML, as is the case in many other titles. The argument for the importance of XML is made quickly, and the basics of well-formed syntax are tackled right off. One notable distinction of this book is its excellent coverage of related technologies, such as cascading style sheets (CSS) and relational databases.

Hans Petter Langtangen, "A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python

 Springer | 2009 | ISBN: 3642024742 | 

The book serves as a first introduction to computer programming of scientific applications, using the high-level Python language. The exposition is example- and problem-oriented, where the applications are taken from mathematics, numerical calculus, statistics, physics, biology, and finance. The book teaches "Matlab-style" and procedural programming as well as object-oriented programming. High school mathematics is a required background, and it is advantageous to study classical and numerical one-variable calculus in parallel with reading this book. Besides learning how to program computers, the reader will also learn how to solve mathematical problems, arising in various branches of science and engineering, with the aid of numerical methods and programming. By blending programming, mathematics and scientific applications, the book lays a solid foundation for practicing computational science.

Professional Live Communications Server

 Publisher: Wrox | ISBN: 0471773212 | 

* Live Communications Server is an emerging technology that will be an important component of Microsoft's business solutions in the coming years; this book is the ultimate guide to LCS
* The expert authors cover audio and video conferencing and explain how to integrate VoIP and other telephone systems
* Shows readers how to secure instant messaging both within and outside of a company
* Explains how LCS integrates comfortably with products such as
* Office, Exchange Server, and Active Directory, a factor that makes LCS a must-know technology

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 Unleashed

 Publisher: Sams | ISBN: 0672325985 | 

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 Unleashed is your tool to unleash the power of Microsoft's BizTalk Server 2004. Learn how to use the server as an enterprise application integration tool and how to exploit its key strengths to orchestrate e-commerce business processes in B2B and B2C environments. Providing complete coverage of system architecture, application integration, messaging and migration, Unleashed also illustrates practical application of the server through an entire section dedicated to real-world case studies of businesses using BizTalk Server 2004 on a daily basis. As seen in these examples, there can be obstacles along the way to success, but Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 Unleashed will help you overcome each one.

Java efficace

Vuibert (14 juin 2002) | ISBN: 2711748057 |

Si vous êtes un professionnel du développement JAVA, achetez ce livre. Pourquoi ? Etes-vous sûr de savoir redéfinir correctement les méthodes equals(), clone(), hashcode() ?Savez-vous rendre sérializable de façon correcte vos classes ?Utilisez-vous judicieusement les interfaces ? Si pensez que vos réponses à ces questions sont oui, ce livre pourrait bien vous faire changer d'avis tellement ses indications sont précises, intelligentes, argumentées...
L'auteur est le développeur du package java.util.* du JDK. C'est un véritable maître de la programmation JAVA. Il en connait tous les pièges (ou presque) et nous les livre dans son ouvrage de référence qui aborde de nombreux sujets variés en plus de ceux décrit plus haut.