3D Game Development with Microsoft Silverlight 3: Beginner's Guide. A practical guide to creating real-time responsive online 3D games in Silverlight 3 using C#, XBAP WPF, XAML, Balder, and Farseer Physics Engine

Gaston C. Hillar

Microsoft Silverlight is a programmable web browser plug-in that enables the animation, vector graphics, and audio-video playback features that characterize Rich Internet Applications. Silverlight is a great (and growing) RIA platform and games are the next level to exploit in it. But it doesn't offer 3D capabilities out of the box and integrating a 3D engine can involve lot of complex mathematics and matrix algebra. This book will help C# developers to get their fingers on the pulse of 3D in Silverlight.This book uses Balder, an open source 3D engine offering 3D capabilities for Silverlight 3. It leaves out boring matrix algebra and complex 3D mathematics. By the end of the book you will have explored the entire engine, and will be able to design and program your own 3D games with ease!The book begins by introducing you to the fundamental concepts of 2D games and then drives you into the 3D world, using easy-to-follow, step-by-step examples. The book employs amazing graphics and impressive performance, and increasingly adds more features to a 3D game giving you a rich interactive experience.By following the practical examples in this book, you will learn the important concepts, from the creation of the initial models, up to the addition of physics and artificial intelligence.The book helps you to provide realistic behaviors for 3D characters by enveloping models with different textures, using lights to create effects, animating multiple 3D characters using a physics engine (Farseer Physics Engine), and simulating real-life physics. Videos, music, and sounds associated with specific events offer the final touches to the 3D game development learning experience.

Building RESTful Python Web Services. Click here to enter text

Gaston C. Hillar

Python is the language of choice for millions of developers worldwide, due to its gentle learning curve as well as its vast applications in day-to-day programming. It serves the purpose of building great web services in the RESTful architecture. This book will show you the best tools you can use to build your own web services.Learn how to develop RESTful APIs using the popular Python frameworks and all the necessary stacks with Python, Django, Flask, and Tornado, combined with related libraries and tools. We will dive deep into each of these frameworks to build various web services, and will provide use cases and best practices on when to use a particular framework to get the best results. We will show you everything required to successfully develop RESTful APIs with the four frameworks such as request handling, URL mapping, serialization, validation, authentication, authorization, versioning, ORMs, databases, custom code for models and views, and asynchronous callbacks. At the end of each framework, we will add authentication and security to the RESTful APIs and prepare tests for it.By the end of the book, you will have a deep understanding of the stacks needed to build RESTful web services.

Django RESTful Web Services. The easiest way to build Python RESTful APIs and web services with Django

Gaston C. Hillar

Django is a Python web framework that makes the web development process very easy. It reduces the amount of trivial code, which simplifies the creation of web applications and results in faster development. It is very powerful and a great choice for creating RESTful web services.If you are a Python developer and want to efficiently create RESTful web services with Django for your apps, then this is the right book for you.The book starts off by showing you how to install and configure the environment, required software, and tools to create RESTful web services with Django and the Django REST framework. We then move on to working with advanced serialization and migrations to interact with SQLite and non-SQL data sources. We will use the features included in the Django REST framework to improve our simple web service.Further, we will create API views to process diverse HTTP requests on objects, go through relationships and hyperlinked API management, and then discover the necessary steps to include security and permissions related to data models and APIs. We will also apply throttling rules and run tests to check that versioning works as expected. Next we will run automated tests to improve code coverage. By the end of the book, you will be able to build RESTful web services with Django.

Guide to NoSQL with Azure Cosmos DB. Work with the massively scalable Azure database service with JSON, C#, LINQ, and .NET Core 2

Gaston C. Hillar, Daron Yöndem

Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database service included in Azure that is continuously adding new features and has quickly become one of the most innovative services found in Azure, targeting mission-critical applications at a global scale. This book starts off by showing you the main features of Cosmos DB, their supported NoSQL data models and the foundations of its scalable and distributed architecture. You will learn to work with the latest available tools that simplify your tasks with Cosmos DB and reduce development costs, such as the Data Explorer in the Azure portal, Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer, and the Cosmos DB Emulator.Next, move on to working with databases and document collections. We will use the tools to run schema agnostic queries against collections with the Cosmos DB SQL dialect and understand their results. Then, we will create a first version of an application that uses the latest .NET Core SDK to interact with Cosmos DB. Next, we will create a second version of the application that will take advantage of important features that the combination of C# and the .NET Core SDK provides, such as POCOs and LINQ queries. By the end of the book, you will be able to build an application that works with a Cosmos DB NoSQL document database with C#, the .NET Core SDK, LINQ, and JSON.

Hands-On MQTT Programming with Python. Work with the lightweight IoT protocol in Python

Gaston C. Hillar

MQTT is a lightweight messaging protocol for small sensors and mobile devices. This book explores the features of the latest versions of MQTT for IoT and M2M communications, how to use them with Python 3, and allow you to interact with sensors and actuators using Python.The book begins with the specific vocabulary of MQTT and its working modes, followed by installing a Mosquitto MQTT broker. You will use different utilities and diagrams to understand the most important concepts related to MQTT. You will learn to make all the necessary configuration to work with digital certificates for encrypting all data sent between the MQTT clients and the server. You will also work with the different Quality of Service levels and later analyze and compare their overheads.You will write Python 3.x code to control a vehicle with MQTT messages delivered through encrypted connections (TLS 1.2), and learn how leverage your knowledge of the MQTT protocol to build a solution based on requirements. Towards the end, you will write Python code to use the PubNub cloud-based real-time MQTT provider to monitor a surfing competition.In the end, you will have a solution that was built from scratch by analyzing the requirements and then write Python code that will run on water-proof IoT boards connected to multiple sensors in surfboards.

Hands-On RESTful Python Web Services. Develop RESTful web services or APIs with modern Python 3.7 - Second Edition

Gaston C. Hillar

Python is the language of choice for millions of developers worldwide that builds great web services in RESTful architecture. This second edition of Hands-On RESTful Python Web Services will cover the best tools you can use to build engaging web services.This book shows you how to develop RESTful APIs using the most popular Python frameworks and all the necessary stacks with Python, combined with related libraries and tools. You’ll learn to incorporate all new features of Python 3.7, Flask 1.0.2, Django 2.1, Tornado 5.1, and also a new framework, Pyramid. As you advance through the chapters, you will get to grips with each of these frameworks to build various web services, and be shown use cases and best practices covering when to use a particular framework.You’ll then successfully develop RESTful APIs with all frameworks and understand how each framework processes HTTP requests and routes URLs. You’ll also discover best practices for validation, serialization, and deserialization. In the concluding chapters, you will take advantage of specific features available in certain frameworks such as integrated ORMs, built-in authorization and authentication, and work with asynchronous code. At the end of each framework, you will write tests for RESTful APIs and improve code coverage.By the end of the book, you will have gained a deep understanding of the stacks needed to build RESTful web services.

Internet of Things with Python. Create exciting IoT solutions

Gaston C. Hillar

Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing the way devices/things interact with each other. And when you have IoT with Python on your side, you'll be able to build interactive objects and design them. This book lets you stay at the forefront of cutting-edge research on IoT. We'll open up the possibilities using tools that enable you to interact with the world, such as Intel Galileo Gen 2, sensors, and other hardware. You will learn how to read, write, and convert digital values to generate analog output by programming Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) in Python. You will get familiar with the complex communication system included in the board, so you can interact with any shield, actuator, or sensor. Later on, you will not only see how to work with data received from the sensors, but also perform actions by sending them to a specific shield. You'll be able to connect your IoT device to the entire world, by integrating WiFi, Bluetooth, and Internet settings. With everything ready, you will see how to work in real time on your IoT device using the MQTT protocol in python.By the end of the book, you will be able to develop IoT prototypes with Python, libraries, and tools.

Java 9 with JShell. Introducing the full range of Java 9's new features via JShell

Gaston C. Hillar

The release of Java 9 has brought many subtle and not-so-subtle changes to the way in which Java programmers approach their code. The most important ones are definitely the availability of a REPL, known as JShell, which will make experiments and prototyping much more straightforward than the old IDE-based project-led approach. Another, more subtle change can be seen in the module system, which will lead to more modularized, maintainable code. The techniques to take full advantage of object-oriented code, functional programming and the new modularity features in Java 9 form the main subjects of this book.Each chapter will add to the full picture of Java 9 programming starting out with classes and instances and ending with generics and modularity in Java.