Procedural Content Generation for C++ Game Development. Get to know techniques and approaches to procedurally generate game content in C++ using Simple and Fast Multimedia Library

Dale Green

Procedural generation is a growing trend in game development. It allows developers to create games that are bigger and more dynamic, giving the games a higher level of replayability. Procedural generation isn’t just one technique, it’s a collection of techniques and approaches that are used together to create dynamic systems and objects. C++ is the industry-standard programming language to write computer games. It’s at the heart of most engines, and is incredibly powerful. SFML is an easy-to-use, cross-platform, and open-source multimedia library. Access to computer hardware is broken into succinct modules, making it a great choice if you want to develop cross-platform games with ease.Using C++ and SFML technologies, this book will guide you through the techniques and approaches used to generate content procedurally within game development. Throughout the course of this book, we’ll look at examples of these technologies, starting with setting up a roguelike project using the C++ template. We’ll then move on to using RNG with C++ data types and randomly scattering objects within a game map. We will create simple console examples to implement in a real game by creating unique and randomised game items, dynamic sprites, and effects, and procedurally generating game events. Then we will walk you through generating random game maps. At the end, we will have a retrospective look at the project. By the end of the book, not only will you have a solid understanding of procedural generation, but you’ll also have a working roguelike game that you will have extended using the examples provided.

Learning pandas. Get to grips with pandas - a versatile and high-performance Python library for data manipulation, analysis, and discovery

Michael Heydt

Journey to Become a Google Cloud Machine Learning Engineer. Build the mind and hand of a Google Certified ML professional

Logan Song

This book aims to provide a study guide to learn and master machine learning in Google Cloud: to build a broad and strong knowledge base, train hands-on skills, and get certified as a Google Cloud Machine Learning Engineer.The book is for someone who has the basic Google Cloud Platform (GCP) knowledge and skills, and basic Python programming skills, and wants to learn machine learning in GCP to take their next step toward becoming a Google Cloud Certified Machine Learning professional.The book starts by laying the foundations of Google Cloud Platform and Python programming, followed the by building blocks of machine learning, then focusing on machine learning in Google Cloud, and finally ends the studying for the Google Cloud Machine Learning certification by integrating all the knowledge and skills together.The book is based on the graduate courses the author has been teaching at the University of Texas at Dallas. When going through the chapters, the reader is expected to study the concepts, complete the exercises, understand and practice the labs in the appendices, and study each exam question thoroughly. Then, at the end of the learning journey, you can expect to harvest the knowledge, skills, and a certificate.

Odoo Development Essentials. Fast track your development skills to build powerful Odoo business applications

Stephane Wirtel, Daniel Reis

Generative AI Foundations in Python. Discover key techniques and navigate modern challenges in LLMs

Carlos Rodriguez, Samira Shaikh

The intricacies and breadth of generative AI (GenAI) and large language models can sometimes eclipse their practical application. It is pivotal to understand the foundational concepts needed to implement generative AI. This guide explains the core concepts behind -of-the-art generative models by combining theory and hands-on application.Generative AI Foundations in Python begins by laying a foundational understanding, presenting the fundamentals of generative LLMs and their historical evolution, while also setting the stage for deeper exploration. You’ll also understand how to apply generative LLMs in real-world applications. The book cuts through the complexity and offers actionable guidance on deploying and fine-tuning pre-trained language models with Python. Later, you’ll delve into topics such as task-specific fine-tuning, domain adaptation, prompt engineering, quantitative evaluation, and responsible AI, focusing on how to effectively and responsibly use generative LLMs.By the end of this book, you’ll be well-versed in applying generative AI capabilities to real-world problems, confidently navigating its enormous potential ethically and responsibly.

Splunk Best Practices. Operational intelligent made simpler

Travis Marlette

This book will give you an edge over others through insights that will help you in day-to-day instances. When you're working with data from various sources in Splunk and performing analysis on this data, it can be a bit tricky. With this book, you will learn the best practices of working with Splunk.You'll learn about tools and techniques that will ease your life with Splunk, and will ultimately save you time. In some cases, it will adjust your thinking of what Splunk is, and what it can and cannot do.To start with, you'll get to know the best practices to get data into Splunk, analyze data, and package apps for distribution. Next, you'll discover the best practices in logging, operations, knowledge management, searching, and reporting. To finish off, we will teach you how to troubleshoot Splunk searches, as well as deployment, testing, and development with Splunk.

Network Architect's Handbook. An expert-led journey to building a successful career as a network architect

Alim H. Ali, Steven Parker, Russell Ware

Becoming a network architect is challenging—it demands hands-on engineering skills, collaboration with internal teams and C-Suite stakeholders, as well as adeptly managing external entities like vendors and service providers. The author taps into his extensive background in IT and security to help you gain a detailed understanding of the network architect's role and guide you in evolving into an effective network architect within an organization, fostering seamless communication with leadership teams and other stakeholders.Starting with a clear definition of the network architect’s role, this book lays out a roadmap and discusses the attributes and mindset for success. You’ll explore network architect design, physical infrastructure routing and switching, and network services such as DNS, MLAG, and service insertion. You’ll also gain insights into the necessary skills and typical daily challenges faced by network architects. And to thoroughly prepare you to advance in your career, this handbook covers certifications and associated training for maintaining relevance in an organization, along with common interview questions for a network architect's position.By the end of this book, you’ll be armed with essential concepts, techniques, and newfound skills to pursue a career as a network architect.

Drupal 7 Multi Sites Configuration. Run multiple websites from a single instance of Drupal 7 with this book and

Matt Butcher

Drupal is one of the most powerful PHP Content Management Systems there is. However, why would you install a CMS for every site you build? With just one copy of Drupal you can host several sites. Drupal has long had multi-site support, and Drupal 7's support is even better than previous versions. Drupal 7 Multi-Sites Configuration will teach you how to host several websites on a single copy of Drupal. You will learn how to create different sites, each with its own domain, content, and theme. This valuable information will help you to save time by managing modules and sharing them across several sites as well as administering your sites all in one place.This book will show you how to configure a system for multi-site, and then install several sites on one copy of Drupal, all with their own domain name and database. Learn how to install and share modules and themes, configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL for multi-site, and then manage the site. Once your site system is successfully set up, discover some of the advanced configurations possible with Drupal multi-site, as well as how to upgrade and maintain your sites.

Unity Game Development Essentials. If you have ambitions to be a game developer this guide is a must. Covering all the fundamentals of the Unity game engine, it will help you understand the different elements of 3D game creation through practical projects

Will Goldstone

Game engines are central to the video games we know and love. From the artwork to the mathematics that underpin the frames onscreen, the engine calls the shots. Aside from offering one of the leading 3D game engines, Unity also provides a superlative development tool ñ a tool that can produce professional standard games for Mac, PC, and the Unity Web Player.This book is a complete exercise in game development covering environments, physics, sound, particles, and much more, to get you up and working with Unity quickly.Taking a practical approach, this book will introduce you to the concepts of developing 3D games before getting to grips with development in Unity itself. From creating 3D worlds to scripting and creating simple game elements you will learn everything you'll need to get started with game development for the PC, Mac, and Web.This book is designed to cover a set of easy to follow examples, which culminate in the production of a First Person 3D game, complete with an interactive island environment. By introducing common concepts of game and 3D production, you'll explore Unity to make a character interact with the game world, and build puzzles for the player to solve, in order to complete the game. At the end of the book, you will have a fully working 3D game and all the skills required to extend the game further, giving your end-user, the player, the best experience possible. Soon you will be creating your own 3D games with ease!

OpenStack Networking Essentials. Build and manage networks in OpenStack using Neutron

James Denton

The OpenStack Networking API offers users the ability to create and manage both basic and complex network architectures that blend the virtual and physical network infrastructure. This book kicks off by describing various components of Openstack Neutron and installing Ubuntu OpenStack based on Canonical's process. Further on, you will use various methods to interface with Neutron to create and manage network resources. You will also get to grips with the relationship between ports, networks, and subnets through diagrams and explanations, and see how the logical components are implemented via plugins and agents. Moving forward, you will learn how virtual switches are implemented and how to build Neutron routers. You will also configure networks, subnets, and routers to provide connectivity to instances using simple examples. At the end, you will configure and manage security groups, and will observe how these rules translate to iptables rules on the host machines.By the end of the book, you will be able to build basic network architectures using Neutron networks and routers in no time.

Developing with Docker. Learn to automate your deployments with Docker

Jaroslaw Krochmalski, Jarosław Krochmalski

This fast-paced practical guide will get you up and running with Docker. Using Docker, you will be able to build, ship, and run many distributed applications in real time. You will start with quickly installing Docker and start working with images and containers. We will present different types of containers and their applications, and show you how to find and build images. You will learn how you can contribute to the image repository by publishing different images. This will familiarize you with the image building process and you will be able to successfully run your programs within containers.By finishing this book, you will be well equipped in deploying your applications using Docker and will have a clear understanding of concepts, techniques, and practical methods to get it running in production systems.

RabbitMQ Essentials. Hop straight into developing your own messaging applications by learning how to utilize RabbitMQ

David Dossot

Cisco UCS Cookbook. Over 40 practical recipes to get your hands dirty with the powerful Cisco UCS and overcome various challenges

Victor Wu

Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is a data center server platform that is used for computing, deploying, and storing resources in data center environments.This cookbook aims to teach you about various tasks you can implement to improve your existing method of configuring and deploying UCS. You will start by learning how to upgrade your firmware on Brocade and Cisco Fibre Channel Switch and will move on to enhance your knowledge of LAN connectivity. We will then discuss how to configure Windows 2008 and 2012 local boot in Cisco UCS. Next, you will learn how to install the operating system on Cisco UCS and use Cisco UCS Power Calculator to calculate the UCS consumption. Finally, we’ll take a look at backup solutions.By the end of the book, you will know several ways to build and compute in data center environment using Cisco UCS.

Enterprise Application Development with C# 9 and .NET 5. Enhance your C# and .NET skills by mastering the process of developing professional-grade web applications

Ravindra Akella, Arun Kumar Tamirisa, Suneel Kumar Kunani, Bhupesh Guptha Muthiyalu

.NET Core is one of the most popular programming platforms in the world for an increasingly large community of developers thanks to its excellent cross-platform support. This book will show you how to confidently use the features of .NET 5 with C# 9 to build robust enterprise applications.Throughout the book, you'll work on creating an enterprise app and adding a key component to the app with each chapter, before ?nally getting it ready for testing and deployment. You'll learn concepts relating to advanced data structures, the Entity Framework Core, parallel programming, and dependency injection. As you progress, you'll cover various authentication and authorization schemes provided by .NET Core to make your apps and APIs secure. Next, you'll build web apps using ASP.NET Core 5 and deploy them on the cloud while working with various cloud components using Azure. The book then shows you how to use the latest Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 and C# 9 to simplify developer tasks, and also explores tips and tricks in Visual Studio 2019 to improve your productivity. Later, you'll discover various testing techniques such as unit testing and performance testing as well as di?erent methods to deploy enterprise apps.By the end of this book, you’ll be able to create enterprise apps using the powerful features of .NET 5 and deploy them on the cloud.

Hands-On Visual Studio 2022. A developer's guide to new features and best practices with .NET 8 and VS 2022 for maximum productivity - Second Edition

Hector Uriel Perez Rojas, Miguel Angel Teheran Garcia

Visual Studio 2022 is widely recognized as the best IDE for application development across various domains. This book is a comprehensive guide for both beginners and experienced .NET developers who wish to familiarize themselves with its basic, advanced, and new features.This book is divided into three sections: the first is an overview of Visual Studio, the second part explores tools for productivity within the IDE, and the third delves into integration with GitHub and Visual Studio extensions.In this second edition, we’ve also expanded the chapters on the use of Visual Studio to environments beyond web development, such as Azure, Desktop, .NET MAUI, and others. Updates to the IDE introduced since the release year of the first edition of the book in 2022 have also been included, such as the use of GPT-based extensions like GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat, as well as profiling tools.The book reviews breakpoint groups, a new way to configure breakpoints, as well as tools for web development, such as Browser Link, Dev Tunnels, and Web API Endpoints Explorer. For more advanced developers, the book addresses the topic of developing extensions through the use of the new Visual Studio SDK. By the end of this book, you’ll have a better understanding of Visual Studio 2022 and how to use it to its fullest potential.

Mastering OpenVPN. Master building and integrating secure private networks using OpenVPN

Jan Just Keijser, Eric F Crist

Security on the internet is increasingly vital to both businesses and individuals. Encrypting network traffic using Virtual Private Networks is one method to enhance security. The internet, corporate, and “free internet” networks grow more hostile every day. OpenVPN, the most widely used open source VPN package, allows you to create a secure network across these systems, keeping your private data secure. The main advantage of using OpenVPN is its portability, which allows it to be embedded into several systems.This book is an advanced guide that will help you build secure Virtual Private Networks using OpenVPN. You will begin your journey with an exploration of OpenVPN, while discussing its modes of operation, its clients, its secret keys, and their format types. You will explore PKI: its setting up and working, PAM authentication, and MTU troubleshooting. Next, client-server mode is discussed, the most commonly used deployment model, and you will learn about the two modes of operation using tun and tap devices.The book then progresses to more advanced concepts, such as deployment scenarios in tun devices which will include integration with back-end authentication, and securing your OpenVPN server using iptables, scripting, plugins, and using OpenVPN on mobile devices and networks.Finally, you will discover the strengths and weaknesses of the current OpenVPN implementation, understand the future directions of OpenVPN, and delve into the troubleshooting techniques for OpenVPN.By the end of the book, you will be able to build secure private networks across the internet and hostile networks with confidence.