Clean Code in PHP. Expert tips and best practices to write beautiful, human-friendly, and maintainable PHP

Carsten Windler, Alexandre Daubois

PHP is a beginner-friendly language, but also one that is rife with complaints of bad code,;yet no clean code books are specific to PHP. Enter Clean Code in PHP. This book is a one-stop guide to learning the theory and best practices of clean code specific to real-world PHP app development environments.This PHP book is cleanly split to help you navigate through coding practices and theories to understand and adopt the nuances of the clean code paradigm. In addition to covering best practices, tooling for code quality, and PHP design patterns, this book also presents tips and techniques for working on large-scale PHP apps with a team and writing effective documentation for your PHP projects.By the end of this book, you’ll be able to write human-friendly PHP code, which will fuel your PHP career growth and set you apart from the competition.

Android: Game Programming. A Developer's Guide

Raul Portales, John Horton

Gaming has historically been a strong driver of technology, whether we’re talking about hardware or software performance, the variety of input methods, or graphics support and the Android game platform is no different. Android is a mature, yet still growing, platform that many game developers have embraced as it provides tools, APIs, and services to help bootstrap Android projects and ensure their success, many of which are specially designed to help game developers.Since Android uses one of the most popular programming languages, Java, as the primary language to build apps of all types, you will start this course by first obtaining a solid grasp of the Java language and its foundation APIs. This will improve your chances of succeeding as an Android app developer. We will show you how to get your Android development environment set up and you will soon have your first working game.The course covers all the aspects of game development through various engrossing and insightful game projects. You will learn all about frame-by-frame animations and resource animations using a space shooter game, create beautiful and responsive menus and dialogs, and explore the different options to play sound effects and music in Android. You will also learn the basics of creating a particle system and will see how to use the Leonids library. By the end of the course, you will be able to configure and use Google Play Services on the developer console and port your game to the big screen.This Learning Path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products:? Learning Java by Building Android Games by John Horton? Android Game Programming by Example by John Horton? Mastering Android Game Development by Raul Portales

Flutter Projects. A practical, project-based guide to building real-world cross-platform mobile applications and games

Simone Alessandria

Flutter is a modern reactive mobile framework that removes a lot of the complexity found in building native mobile apps for iOS and Android. With Flutter, developers can now build fast and native mobile apps from a single codebase.This book is packed with 11 projects that will help you build your own mobile applications using Flutter. It begins with an introduction to Dart programming and explains how it can be used with the Flutter SDK to customize mobile apps. Each chapter contains instructions on how to build an independent app from scratch, and each project focuses on important Flutter features.From building Flutter Widgets and applying animations to using databases (SQLite and sembast) and Firebase, you'll build on your knowledge through the chapters. As you progress, you’ll learn how to connect to remote services, integrate maps, and even use Flare to create apps and games in Flutter. Gradually, you’ll be able to create apps and games that are ready to be published on the Google Play Store and the App Store. In the concluding chapters, you’ll learn how to use the BLoC pattern and various best practices related to creating enterprise apps with Flutter.By the end of this book, you will have the skills you need to write and deliver fully functional mobile apps using Flutter.

Mastering openFrameworks: Creative Coding Demystified. openFrameworks is the doorway to so many creative multimedia possibilities and this book will tell you everything you need to know to undertake your own projects. You'll find creative coding is simpler than you think

Denis Perevalov

openFrameworks is a powerful programming toolkit and library designed to assist the creative process through simplicity and intuitiveness. It's a very handy software library written in C++ to reduce the software development process, helping you to kick-start creative coding. With the help of C++ and shaders support, openFrameworks allows for the processing of all kinds of media information with your custom-developed algorithms at the lowest possible level, with the fastest speed.Mastering openFrameworks: Creative Coding Demystified will introduce you to a world of creative coding projects, including interactive installations, audio-visual, and sound art projects. You will learn how to make your own projects using openFrameworks. This book focuses on low-level data processing, which allows you to create really unique and cutting-edge installations and projects.Mastering openFrameworks: Creative Coding Demystified provides a complete introduction to openFrameworks, including installation, core capabilities, and addons. Advanced topics like shaders, computer vision, and depth cameras are also covered.We start off by discussing the basic topics such as image and video loading, rendering and processing, playing sound samples, and synthesizing new sounds. We then move on to cover 3D graphics, computer vision, and depth cameras. You will also learn a number of advanced topics such as video mapping, interactive floors and walls, video morphing, networking, and using geometry shaders.You will learn everything you need to know in order to create your own projects; create projects of all levels, ranging from simple creative-code experiments, to big interactive systems consisting of a number of computers, depth cameras, and projectors.

.NET MAUI Projects. Build multi-platform desktop and mobile apps from scratch using C# and Visual Studio 2022 - Third Edition

Michael Cummings, Daniel Hindrikes, Johan Karlsson, Samantha Houts

This third edition of .NET MAUI Projects explores the features of .NET MAUI, a lightweight multi-platform development toolkit for building apps with a rich user interface. Updated to cover the latest features of .NET MAUI, including CollectionView and Shell, this book delves into concepts such as machine learning and cloud services.Starting with an overview of .NET Core and how it works, this book shares tips for choosing the right development environment for planning multi-platform apps. You'll then build your first .NET MAUI app and advance to learning how to use Shell to implement app architecture. Progressing in complexity, the projects guide you through creating apps, ranging from a location tracker and weather map to machine learning and multiplayer games. Further, the book will take you through modern mobile development frameworks such as SQLite, .NET Core, and ML.NET, empowering you to customize your apps for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS platforms for native-like performance. Engaging examples are woven throughout the book so you can grasp essential concepts by writing code rather than extensive theory.By the end of this book, you'll be ready to develop your own native apps using .NET MAUI and associated technologies such as .NET Core, Visual Studio 2022, and C#.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Essentials. Learn to install, administer and deploy RHEL 8 systems

Neil Smyth

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 is one of the most secure and dependable operating systems available. For this reason, the ambitious system or network engineer will find a working knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise 8 to be an invaluable advantage in their respective fields. This book, now updated for RHEL 8.1, begins with a history of Red Enterprise Linux and its installation. You will be virtually perform remote system administration tasks with cockpit web interface and write shell scripts to maintain server-based systems without desktop installation. Then, you will set up a firewall system using a secure shell and enable remote access to Gnome desktop environment with virtual network computing (VNC). You’ll share files between the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (RHEL 8) and Windows System using Samba client and NFS. You will also run multiple guest operating systems using virtualization and Linux containers, and host websites using RHEL 8 by installing an Apache web server. Finally, you will create logical disks using logical volume management and implement swap space to maintain the performance of a RHEL 8 system. By the end of this book, you will be armed with the skills and knowledge to install the RHEL 8 operating system and use it expertly.

Building LLM Powered Applications. Create intelligent apps and agents with large language models

Valentina Alto

Building LLM Powered Applications delves into the fundamental concepts, cutting-edge technologies, and practical applications that LLMs offer, ultimately paving the way for the emergence of large foundation models (LFMs) that extend the boundaries of AI capabilities.The book begins with an in-depth introduction to LLMs. We then explore various mainstream architectural frameworks, including both proprietary models (GPT 3.5/4) and open-source models (Falcon LLM), and analyze their unique strengths and differences. Moving ahead, with a focus on the Python-based, lightweight framework called LangChain, we guide you through the process of creating intelligent agents capable of retrieving information from unstructured data and engaging with structured data using LLMs and powerful toolkits. Furthermore, the book ventures into the realm of LFMs, which transcend language modeling to encompass various AI tasks and modalities, such as vision and audio.Whether you are a seasoned AI expert or a newcomer to the field, this book is your roadmap to unlock the full potential of LLMs and forge a new era of intelligent machines.

Groovy for Domain-specific Languages. Extend and enhance your Java applications with domain-specific scripting in Groovy

Fergal Dearle

Getting Started with FortiGate. This book will take you from complete novice to expert user in simple, progressive steps. It covers all the concepts you need to administer a FortiGate unit with lots of examples and clear explanations

Fabrizio Volpe, Rosato Fabbri

FortiGate from Fortinet is a highly successful family of appliances enabled to manage routing and security on different layers, supporting dynamic protocols, IPSEC and VPN with SSL, application and user control, web contents and mail scanning, endpoint checks, and more, all in a single platform. The heart of the appliance is the FortiOS (FortiOS 5 is the latest release) which is able to unify a friendly web interface with a powerful command line to deliver high performance. FortiGate is able to give users the results they usually achieve at a fraction of the cost of what they would have to invest with other vendors.This practical, hands-on guide addresses all the tasks required to configure and manage a FortiGate unit in a logical order. The book starts with topics related to VLAN and routing (static and advanced) and then discusses in full the UTM features integrated in the appliance. The text explains SSL VPN and IPSEC VPN with all the required steps you need to deploy the aforementioned solutions. High availability and troubleshooting techniques are also explained in the last two chapters of the book.This concise, example-oriented book explores all the concepts you need to administer a FortiGate unit. You will begin by covering the basic tools required to administer a FortiGate unit, including NAT, routing, and VLANs. You will then be guided through the concepts of firewalling, UTM inside the appliance, tunnelling using SSL, and IPSEC and dial-up configurations. Next, you will get acquainted with important topics like high availability and Vdoms. Finally, you will end the book with an overview of troubleshooting tools and techniques.

OpenSceneGraph 3.0: Beginner's Guide. This book is a concise introduction to the main features of OpenSceneGraph which then leads you into the fundamentals of developing virtual reality applications. Practical instructions and explanations accompany you every step of the way

Xuelei Qian, Rui Wang, Robert Osfield

Virtual reality has quite a lot of demand in computer science today and OpenSceneGraph, being one of the best 3D graphics toolkits, is being used widely. Although you can use the powerful OpenSceneGraph, based on the low-level OpenGL API, to implement virtual-reality applications that simulate different environments in the 3D world, developing picture-perfect applications is easier said than done.This book has been written with the goal of helping readers become familiar with the structure and main functionalities of OpenSceneGraph (OSG), and guide them to develop virtual-reality applications using this powerful 3D graphics engine. This book covers the essence of OpenSceneGraph (OSG), providing programmers with detailed explanations and examples of scene graph APIs.This book helps you take full advantages of the key features and functionalities of OpenSceneGraph (OSG). You will learn almost all of the core elements required in a virtual reality application, including memory management, geometry creation, the structure of the scene graph, realistic rendering effects, scene navigation, animation, interaction with input devices and external user interfaces, file reading and writing, and so on.With the essential knowledge contained in this book, you will be able to start using OSG in your own projects and research fields, and extend its functionalities by referring to OSG's source code, official examples and API documentation.This handy book divides the core functionalities of the proved and comprehensive OpenSceneGraph (OSG) 3D graphics engine into different aspects, which are introduced in separate chapters. Each chapter can be treated as an individual part that covers one important field of OSG programming, along with several examples illustrating concrete usages and solutions. But the sequence of chapters is also organized from the easy to the more difficult, to help you get to grips with OSG.By the end of the whole book, you will have gained a ready-to-use OSG development environment for yourself and have the general ability to develop OSG-based applications and extend practical functionalities for your own purposes.

Learning PrimeFaces Extensions Development. This book covers all the knowledge you need to start developing extended or advanced PrimeFaces applications. With lots of screenshots and a clear step-by-step approach, it makes learning an enjoyable process

Sudheer Jonna

Smart Robotics with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor. Learn to play with the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor kit and build creative robots

Aaron Maurer

LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor is the latest addition to the LEGO MINDSTORMS theme. It features unique designs that you can use to build robots, and also enable you to perform activities using the robot inventor application.You'll begin by exploring the history of LEGO MINDSTORMS, and then delve into various elements of the Inventor kit. Moving on, you'll start working on different projects which will prepare you to build a variety of smart robots. The first robotic project involves designing a claw to grab objects, and helps you to explore how a smart robot is used in everyday life and in industry. The second project revolves around building a working guitar that can be played and modified to meet the needs of the user. As you advance, you'll explore the concept of biomimicry as you discover how to build a scorpion robot. In addition to this, you'll also work on a classic robotic challenge by building a sumobot. Throughout the book, you'll come across a variety of projects that will provide you with hands-on experience in building creative robots, such as building a Dragster, Egg Decorator, and Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants.By the end of this LEGO book, you'll have got to grips with the concepts behind building a robot, and also found creative ways to integrate them using the application based on your creative insights and ideas.

Intelligent Workloads at the Edge. Deliver cyber-physical outcomes with data and machine learning using AWS IoT Greengrass

Indraneel Mitra, Ryan Burke

The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed how people think about and interact with the world. The ubiquitous deployment of sensors around us makes it possible to study the world at any level of accuracy and enable data-driven decision-making anywhere. Data analytics and machine learning (ML) powered by elastic cloud computing have accelerated our ability to understand and analyze the huge amount of data generated by IoT. Now, edge computing has brought information technologies closer to the data source to lower latency and reduce costs.This book will teach you how to combine the technologies of edge computing, data analytics, and ML to deliver next-generation cyber-physical outcomes. You’ll begin by discovering how to create software applications that run on edge devices with AWS IoT Greengrass. As you advance, you’ll learn how to process and stream IoT data from the edge to the cloud and use it to train ML models using Amazon SageMaker. The book also shows you how to train these models and run them at the edge for optimized performance, cost savings, and data compliance.By the end of this IoT book, you’ll be able to scope your own IoT workloads, bring the power of ML to the edge, and operate those workloads in a production setting.

Joomla! with Flash. Build a stunning, content-rich, and interactive web site with Joomla! 1.5 and Flash CS4

Suhreed Sarkar, Chris Davenport

You can build any kind of web site using Joomla! The look and feel of Joomla! web sites can largely be customized using the many templates, components, modules and plug-ins available. With all these features, ease of administration, and options for customization, sometimes you may think of integrating other technologies such as Flash with it. This is because Flash provides great animation features that are otherwise not available in Joomla!This book shows how to integrate Flash into Joomla! You will learn how to add the various functionalities provided by Flash and make your site stunning, visually rich, and interactive. The book covers topics like flash headers, menus, displaying and maintaining flash movies, slide shows, animation, interactivity, and more. Installation and use of Joomla! modules like Flash, Joomla Random Flash, Active, and Handy SWF Flash module are covered too.The book introduces Joomla! and Flash and briefly shows the benefits of using Flash in Joomla!. It shows you how to add Flash objects in Joomla! articles and modules, build Flash-based menus, create Flash-based photo galleries, interactive maps, and charts. It also shows you how to display content in custom fonts, create a streaming media site, customize the Joomla! template to display Flash logos, headers and banners, and use Joomla! content in Flash objects. Finally the book covers troubleshooting Joomla! and its extensions. At the end of the book an appendix lists resources on Joomla!, Flash, and related extensions, to help you find more information.

Growth Product Manager's Handbook. Winning strategies and frameworks for driving user acquisition, retention, and optimizing metrics

Eve Chen

In the dynamic landscape of modern product management, professionals face a myriad of challenges, spanning customer acquisition, monetization, user retention, competition, and technical expertise. To overcome these hurdles, this book crystalizes growth strategies that revolve around harnessing the power of data, experimentation, and user insights to drive growth for a product.This handbook serves as your guide to exploring the essential growth product management models and their applications in various contexts, unveiling their role in enhancing revenue performance and customer retention. Along the way, actionable steps will steer you in implementing these models while helping you better understand your users, experiment with new features and marketing strategies, and measure the impact of your efforts, ultimately guiding you to achieve your customer retention and lifetime customer goals.By the end of this book, you’ll have gained advanced insights into growth product management, models, and growth strategies, and when and how to use them to achieve customer-for-life goals and optimized revenue performance.

VMware vCloud Director Cookbook. Over 80 recipes to help you master VMware vCloud Director

Daniel Langenhan

VMware vCloud Director is an enterprise software solution that enables the building of secure, private clouds by pooling together infrastructure resources into virtual data centers. The tool enables self-service via a web interface to reduce the management overhead and offers amazing possibilities for production and development environments. Thus, the tool will ensure efficient management of resources with data center efficiency and business agility.VMWare VCloud Director Cookbook will cover a lot of ground, ranging from easy to complex recipes. It will not only dive into networks, data-stores, and vApps, but also cover vCloud design improvements, troubleshooting, and the vCloud API.VMWare VCloud Director Cookbook is split into different sections, each of which deals with a special topic in vCloud - from networks, to vApps, to storage and design. This book contains over 80 recipes with the difficulty levels ranging from simple to very advanced. You will learn how to automate vCloud easily and quickly with the API, and also learn how to isolate a vApp and still fully access it without risking the network. Design considerations that need to be addressed while deploying the vCloud and more will also be looked into.VMWare VCloud Director Cookbook will make your life as an admin a lot easier by providing you with some good recipes that have been proven to work in small to large enterprises.