Cardboard VR Projects for Android. Develop mobile virtual reality apps using the native Google Cardboard SDK for Android

Jonathan Linowes, Matt Schoen

Google Cardboard is a low-cost, entry-level media platform through which you can experience virtual reality and virtual 3D environments. Its applications are as broad and varied as mobile smartphone applications themselves. This book will educate you on the best practices and methodology needed to build effective, stable, and performant mobile VR applications.In this book, we begin by defining virtual reality (VR) and how Google Cardboard fits into the larger VR and Android ecosystem. We introduce the underlying scientific and technical principles behind VR, including geometry, optics, rendering, and mobile software architecture. We start with a simple example app that ensures your environment is properly set up to write, build, and run the app. Then we develop a reusable VR graphics engine that you can build upon. And from then on, each chapter is a self-contained project where you will build an example from a different genre of application, including a 360 degree photo viewer, an educational simulation of our solar system, a 3D model viewer, and a music visualizer.Given the recent updates that were rolled out at Google I/O 2016, the authors of Cardboard VR Projects for Android have collated some technical notes to help you execute the projects in this book with Google VR Cardboard Java SDK 0.8, released in May 2016. Refer to the article at https://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/GoogleVRUpdateGuideforCardbook.pdf which explains the updates to the source code of the projects.

Instant Testing with CasperJS. Create advanced and efficient CasperJS tests for your web development projects

Eric Brehault

Professional web development implies systematic testing. While JavaScript unit tests will validate your JavaScript library’s quality, web functional testing is the only way to guarantee the expected behavior of your web pages. CasperJS is a fast and simple JavaScript testing API that can run on any platform, and it is currently one of the best and easiest ways to write your functional tests.Instant Testing with CasperJS will teach you how to write efficient and accurate tests for your professional web developments. This practical guide explains the various different CasperJS principles through clear and detailed examples, covering a large set of common use cases. This book will progressively cover everything you need to know from CasperJS basic principles to the most advanced testing practices.This book starts off by introducing you to the different testing assertions that you can perform with the CasperJS API. We will then move on to cover why bad timing between event triggering can ruin tests and learn strategies to avoid it. Finally, you will learn how to test efficient and complex web interactions like drag and drop, authentication, and file uploading. With Instant Testing with CasperJS, you will be able to set up an advanced and functional test suite for your web development projects quickly and efficiently.

Machine Learning with R. Learn techniques for building and improving machine learning models, from data preparation to model tuning, evaluation, and working with big data - Fourth Edition

Brett Lantz

Machine learning, at its core, is concerned with transforming data into actionable knowledge. R offers a powerful set of machine learning methods to quickly and easily gain insight from your data.Machine Learning with R, Fourth Edition, provides a hands-on, accessible, and readable guide to applying machine learning to real-world problems. Whether you are an experienced R user or new to the language, Brett Lantz teaches you everything you need to know for data pre-processing, uncovering key insights, making new predictions, and visualizing your findings. This 10th Anniversary Edition features several new chapters that reflect the progress of machine learning in the last few years and help you build your data science skills and tackle more challenging problems, including making successful machine learning models and advanced data preparation, building better learners, and making use of big data.You'll also find this classic R data science book updated to R 4.0.0 with newer and better libraries, advice on ethical and bias issues in machine learning, and an introduction to deep learning. Whether you're looking to take your first steps with R for machine learning or making sure your skills and knowledge are up to date, this is an unmissable read that will help you find powerful new insights in your data.

Mastering Azure Machine Learning. Execute large-scale end-to-end machine learning with Azure - Second Edition

Christoph Körner, Marcel Alsdorf

Azure Machine Learning is a cloud service for accelerating and managing the machine learning (ML) project life cycle that ML professionals, data scientists, and engineers can use in their day-to-day workflows. This book covers the end-to-end ML process using Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, including data preparation, performing and logging ML training runs, designing training and deployment pipelines, and managing these pipelines via MLOps.The first section shows you how to set up an Azure Machine Learning workspace; ingest and version datasets; as well as preprocess, label, and enrich these datasets for training. In the next two sections, you'll discover how to enrich and train ML models for embedding, classification, and regression. You'll explore advanced NLP techniques, traditional ML models such as boosted trees, modern deep neural networks, recommendation systems, reinforcement learning, and complex distributed ML training techniques - all using Azure Machine Learning.The last section will teach you how to deploy the trained models as a batch pipeline or real-time scoring service using Docker, Azure Machine Learning clusters, Azure Kubernetes Services, and alternative deployment targets.By the end of this book, you’ll be able to combine all the steps you’ve learned by building an MLOps pipeline.

Java Deep Learning Essentials. Unlocking the next generation of predictive power

Yusuke Sugomori

AI and Deep Learning are transforming the way we understand software, making computers more intelligent than we could even imagine just a decade ago. Deep Learning algorithms are being used across a broad range of industries – as the fundamental driver of AI, being able to tackle Deep Learning is going to a vital and valuable skill not only within the tech world but also for the wider global economy that depends upon knowledge and insight for growth and success. It’s something that’s moving beyond the realm of data science – if you’re a Java developer, this book gives you a great opportunity to expand your skillset.Starting with an introduction to basic machine learning algorithms, to give you a solid foundation, Deep Learning with Java takes you further into this vital world of stunning predictive insights and remarkable machine intelligence. Once you’ve got to grips with the fundamental mathematical principles, you’ll start exploring neural networks and identify how to tackle challenges in large networks using advanced algorithms. You will learn how to use the DL4J library and apply Deep Learning to a range of real-world use cases. Featuring further guidance and insights to help you solve challenging problems in image processing, speech recognition, language modeling, this book will make you rethink what you can do with Java, showing you how to use it for truly cutting-edge predictive insights. As a bonus, you’ll also be able to get to grips with Theano and Caffe, two of the most important tools in Deep Learning today.By the end of the book, you’ll be ready to tackle Deep Learning with Java. Wherever you’ve come from – whether you’re a data scientist or Java developer – you will become a part of the Deep Learning revolution!

Zabbix: Enterprise Network Monitoring Made Easy. Ultimate open source, real-time monitoring tool

Rihards Olups, Patrik Uytterhoeven, Andrea Dalle Vacche

Nowadays, monitoring systems play a crucial role in any IT environment. They are extensively used to not only measure your system’s performance, but also to forecast capacity issues. This is where Zabbix, one of the most popular monitoring solutions for networks and applications, comes into the picture. With an efficient monitoring system in place, you’ll be able to foresee when your infrastructure runs under capacity and react accordingly. Due to the critical role a monitoring system plays, it is fundamental to implement it in the best way from its initial setup. This avoids misleading, confusing, or, even worse, false alarms that can disrupt an efficient and healthy IT department.This course is for administrators who are looking for an end-to-end monitoring solution. It will get you accustomed with the powerful monitoring solution, starting with installation and explaining the fundamentals of Zabbix. Moving on, we explore the complex functionalities of Zabbix in the form of enticing recipes. These recipes will help you to gain control of your infrastructure. You will be able to organize your data in the form of graphs and charts along with building intelligent triggers for monitoring your network proactively. Toward the end, you will gain expertise in monitoring your networks and applications using Zabbix.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: Zabbix Network Monitoring-Second EditionZabbix Cookbook Mastering Zabbix-Second Edition

Test-Driven Java Development. Invoke TDD principles for end-to-end application development - Second Edition

Alex Garcia, Viktor Farcic

Test-driven development (TDD) is a development approach that relies on a test-first procedure that emphasizes writing a test before writing the necessary code, and then refactoring the code to optimize it.The value of performing TDD with Java, one of the longest established programming languages, is to improve the productivity of programmers and the maintainability and performance of code, and develop a deeper understanding of the language and how to employ it effectively.Starting with the basics of TDD and understanding why its adoption is beneficial, this book will take you from the first steps of TDD with Java until you are confident enough to embrace the practice in your day-to-day routine.You'll be guided through setting up tools, frameworks, and the environment you need, and we will dive right into hands-on exercises with the goal of mastering one practice, tool, or framework at a time. You'll learn about the Red-Green-Refactor procedure, how to write unit tests, and how to use them as executable documentation.With this book, you'll also discover how to design simple and easily maintainable code, work with mocks, utilize behavior-driven development, refactor old legacy code, and release a half-finished feature to production with feature toggles.You will finish this book with a deep understanding of the test-driven development methodology and the confidence to apply it to application programming with Java.

Ceph Cookbook. Over 100 effective recipes to help you design, implement, and manage the software-defined and massively scalable Ceph storage system

Karan Singh, Andreas Jaeger, Richard Siggs

Ceph is a unified, distributed storage system designed for excellent performance, reliability, and scalability. This cutting-edge technology has been transforming the storage industry, and is evolving rapidly as a leader in software-defined storage space, extending full support to cloud platforms such as Openstack and Cloudstack, including virtualization platforms. It is the most popular storage backend for Openstack, public, and private clouds, so is the first choice for a storage solution. Ceph is backed by RedHat and is developed by a thriving open source community of individual developers as well as several companies across the globe.This book takes you from a basic knowledge of Ceph to an expert understanding of the most advanced features, walking you through building up a production-grade Ceph storage cluster and helping you develop all the skills you need to plan, deploy, and effectively manage your Ceph cluster. Beginning with the basics, you’ll create a Ceph cluster, followed by block, object, and file storage provisioning. Next, you’ll get a step-by-step tutorial on integrating it with OpenStack and building a Dropbox-like object storage solution. We’ll also take a look at federated architecture and CephFS, and you’ll dive into Calamari and VSM for monitoring the Ceph environment. You’ll develop expert knowledge on troubleshooting and benchmarking your Ceph storage cluster. Finally, you’ll get to grips with the best practices to operate Ceph in a production environment.

jQuery Design Patterns. Write Elegant, Structured and Efficient jQuery

Thodoris Greasidis

jQuery is a feature-rich JavaScript library that makes HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax much simpler with an easy-to-use API that works across a variety of browsers. With a combination of versatility and extensibility, jQuery has changed the way that millions of people write JavaScript.jQuery solves the problems of DOM manipulation, event detection, AJAX calls, element selection and document queries, element attribute and data management, as well as object management utilities. This book addresses these problems and shows you how to make the best of jQuery through the various design patterns available.The book starts off with a refresher to jQuery and will then take you through the different design patterns such as facade, observer, publisher/subscriber, and so on. We will also go into client-side templating techniques and libraries, as well as some plugin development patterns. Finally, we will look into some best practices that you can use to make the best of jQuery.

API Testing and Development with Postman. A practical guide to creating, testing, and managing APIs for automated software testing

Dave Westerveld

Postman enables the exploration and testing of web APIs, helping testers and developers figure out how an API works. With Postman, you can create effective test automation for any APIs. If you want to put your knowledge of APIs to work quickly, this practical guide to using Postman will help you get started.The book provides a hands-on approach to learning the implementation and associated methodologies that will have you up and running with Postman in no time. Complete with step-by-step explanations of essential concepts, practical examples, and self-assessment questions, this book begins by taking you through the principles of effective API testing. A combination of theory coupled with real-world examples will help you learn how to use Postman to create well-designed, documented, and tested APIs. You'll then be able to try some hands-on projects that will teach you how to add test automation to an already existing API with Postman, and guide you in using Postman to create a well-designed API from scratch.By the end of this book, you'll be able to use Postman to set up and run API tests for any API that you are working with.

The DevOps Career Handbook. The ultimate guide to pursuing a successful career in DevOps

John Knight, Nate Swenson

DevOps is a set of practices that make up a culture, and practicing DevOps methods can make developers more productive and easier to work with. The DevOps Career Handbook is filled with hundreds of tips and tricks from experts regarding every step of the interview process, helping you save time and money by steering clear of avoidable mistakes.You’ll learn about the various career paths available in the field of DevOps, before acquiring the essential skills needed to begin working as a DevOps professional. If you are already a DevOps engineer, this book will help you to gain advanced skills to become a DevOps specialist. After getting to grips with the basics, you'll discover tips and tricks for preparing your resume and online profiles and find out how to build long-lasting relationships with the recruiters. Finally, you'll read through interviews which will give you an insight into a career in DevOps from the viewpoint of individuals at different career levels.By the end of this DevOps book, you’ll gain a solid understanding of what DevOps is, the various DevOps career paths, and how to prepare for your interview.

Applied SOA Patterns on the Oracle Platform. Fuse together your pragmatic Oracle experience with abstract SOA patterns with this practical guide

Sergey Popov

Machine Learning Engineering with Python. Manage the production life cycle of machine learning models using MLOps with practical examples

Andrew McMahon

Machine learning engineering is a thriving discipline at the interface of software development and machine learning. This book will help developers working with machine learning and Python to put their knowledge to work and create high-quality machine learning products and services.Machine Learning Engineering with Python takes a hands-on approach to help you get to grips with essential technical concepts, implementation patterns, and development methodologies to have you up and running in no time. You'll begin by understanding key steps of the machine learning development life cycle before moving on to practical illustrations and getting to grips with building and deploying robust machine learning solutions. As you advance, you'll explore how to create your own toolsets for training and deployment across all your projects in a consistent way. The book will also help you get hands-on with deployment architectures and discover methods for scaling up your solutions while building a solid understanding of how to use cloud-based tools effectively. Finally, you'll work through examples to help you solve typical business problems.By the end of this book, you'll be able to build end-to-end machine learning services using a variety of techniques and design your own processes for consistently performant machine learning engineering.

AWS Administration - The Definitive Guide. Learn to design, build, and manage your infrastructure on the most popular of all the Cloud platforms - Amazon Web Services

Yohan Wadia, Naveen Kumar Vijayakumar

AWS is at the forefront of Cloud Computing today. Many businesses are moving away from traditional datacenters and toward AWS because of its reliability, vast service offerings, lower costs, and high rate of innovation. Because of its versatility and flexible design, AWS can be used to accomplish a variety of simple and complicated tasks such as hosting multitier websites, running large scale parallel processing, content delivery, petabyte storage and archival, and lots more.Whether you are a seasoned sysadmin or a rookie, this book will provide you with all the necessary skills to design, deploy, and manage your applications on the AWS cloud platform. The book guides you through the core AWS services such as IAM, EC2, VPC, RDS, and S3 using a simple real world application hosting example that you can relate to. Each chapter is designed to provide you with the most information possible about a particular AWS service coupled with easy to follow hands-on steps, best practices, tips, and recommendations. By the end of the book, you will be able to create a highly secure, fault tolerant, and scalable environment for your applications to run on.

Natural Language Processing with Flair. A practical guide to understanding and solving NLP problems with Flair

Tadej Magajna

Flair is an easy-to-understand natural language processing (NLP) framework designed to facilitate training and distribution of state-of-the-art NLP models for named entity recognition, part-of-speech tagging, and text classification. Flair is also a text embedding library for combining different types of embeddings, such as document embeddings, Transformer embeddings, and the proposed Flair embeddings.Natural Language Processing with Flair takes a hands-on approach to explaining and solving real-world NLP problems. You'll begin by installing Flair and learning about the basic NLP concepts and terminology. You will explore Flair's extensive features, such as sequence tagging, text classification, and word embeddings, through practical exercises. As you advance, you will train your own sequence labeling and text classification models and learn how to use hyperparameter tuning in order to choose the right training parameters. You will learn about the idea behind one-shot and few-shot learning through a novel text classification technique TARS. Finally, you will solve several real-world NLP problems through hands-on exercises, as well as learn how to deploy Flair models to production.By the end of this Flair book, you'll have developed a thorough understanding of typical NLP problems and you’ll be able to solve them with Flair.

Creating your MySQL Database: Practical Design Tips and Techniques. A short guide for everyone on how to structure your data and set-up your MySQL database tables efficiently and easily

Marc Delisle

For most of us, setting up the database for an application is often an afterthought. While you don't need to be a professional database designer to create a working application, knowing a few insider tips and techniques can make both the process easier and the end result much more effective. This book doesn't set out to make you an expert in data analysis, but it does provide a quick and easy way to raise your game in this essential part of getting your application right.