AI Explained. Uncovering the Reality, Risks, and Rewards of Artificial Intelligence

Nigel Poulton

This book leads readers on a comprehensive journey through artificial intelligence, beginning with an introduction to its foundational concepts. Early on, readers are guided through what AI is and why it’s becoming a transformative force in today’s world. They’ll then explore the technical processes behind AI creation, learning how data and algorithms power intelligent systems, making complex technology accessible and understandable.Further on, the book delves into practical applications and ethical considerations. Readers discover the positive ways AI is improving our lives, from breakthroughs in healthcare to innovations in everyday industries. Following this, it presents a balanced view of AI’s potential risks, discussing the ethical concerns and societal challenges that arise with misuse, encouraging thoughtful reflection on AI’s impact.Towards the end, the book tackles critical future challenges and solutions. It discusses the threat of rogue AI behaviors and highlights strategies to prevent AI from acting unpredictably. The final section offers an optimistic outlook on the responsible development of AI, encouraging readers to envision a future where AI can drive positive change. By journey’s end, readers will feel equipped with a nuanced understanding of AI, its real-world significance, and its ethical implications.

Sculpting in ZBrush Made Simple. Explore powerful modeling and character creation techniques used for VFX, games, and 3D printing

Lukas Kutschera

Embark on a creative journey with ZBrush, the leading software for creating characters, creatures, and props in films, games, and 3D printing. This guide will take you through its powerful yet user-friendly workflows, allowing you to explore its dynamic organic sculpting, painting, and hard-surface modeling tools.The first part of this book is dedicated to helping you become familiar with ZBrush’s user interface and learning the very basics, from sculpting brushes and painting the model with Polypaint to setting up lights and rendering images. You’ll also create a demon bust with the help of ZBrush’s concept sculpting tool, DynaMesh. In the second part, you’ll get to grips with the creation of a humanoid character that is optimized for 3D printing. Focusing on anatomy, poly-modeling, and preparing the model for 3D printing, you’ll acquire the skills essential for sculptors. The final part delves into portrait sculpting, where you’ll learn everything from basic facial anatomy to hair creation with FiberMesh.By the end of this book, you'll have developed the expertise necessary to succeed in the ever-evolving world of 3D character modeling, complemented by portfolio and social media tips for showcasing your standout work.

Multi-Cloud Handbook for Developers. Learn how to design and manage cloud-native applications in AWS, Azure, GCP, and more

Subash Natarajan, Jeveen Jacob

Unleash the power of cloud computing with Multi-Cloud Handbook for Developers, your guide to mastering the nuances of cloud-native and multi-cloud, covering practical strategies for design, development, and management. Explore the essential concepts, challenges, and methodologies critical for navigating the complex landscape of modern cloud computing.Using core architectural and design principles (such as microservices and 12-factor architecture) and advanced strategies (such as distributed application design patterns, domain-driven design (DDD), and API-first strategies), you’ll learn how to build portable and efficient apps across various cloud platforms. You’ll understand how to leverage Infrastructure as Code (IaC), continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD), GitOps, and DevOps practices, along with containerization and orchestration techniques using Docker and Kubernetes. You’ll also get to grips with data, security, compliance, and cloud cost management strategies in multi-cloud environments.With real-world case studies, best practices, and insights into future trends, this book will equip you with the skills to develop, manage, troubleshoot, and innovate cloud-native applications across diverse cloud platforms, positioning you at the forefront of the cloud computing revolution.

XR Development with Unity. A beginner's guide to creating virtual, augmented, and mixed reality experiences using Unity

Anna Braun, Raffael Rizzo

The drastic surge in the demand for XR development has led to an imminent need for comprehensive resources, learning material, and overall know-how in this area. This one-stop resource will ensure that professionals venturing into XR development can access all XR-related techniques to build appealing XR applications, without relying on Google every step of the way.This book is your guide to developing XR applications with Unity 2021.3 or later versions, helping you to create VR, AR, and MR experiences of increasing complexity. The chapters cover the entire XR application development process from setting up an interactive XR scene using the XR Interaction Toolkit or AR Foundation, adding physics, animations, continuous movement, teleportation, sound effects, and visual effects, to testing and deploying to VR headsets, simulators, smartphones, and tablets. Additionally, this XR book takes you on a journey from the basics of Unity and C# to advanced techniques such as building multiplayer applications and incorporating hand- and gaze-tracking capabilities.By the end of this book, you'll be fully equipped to create cutting-edge XR projects for engaging individual, academic, and industrial use cases that captivate your audience.

Tableau Certified Data Analyst Certification Guide. Ace the Tableau Data Analyst certification exam with expert guidance and practice material

Harry Cooney, Daisy Jones

The Tableau Certified Data Analyst certification validates the essential skills needed to explore, analyze, and present data, propelling your career in data analytics. Whether you're a seasoned Tableau user or just starting out, this comprehensive resource is your roadmap to mastering Tableau and achieving certification success.The book begins by exploring the fundamentals of data analysis, from connecting to various data sources to transforming and cleaning data for meaningful insights. With practical exercises and realistic mock exams, you'll gain hands-on experience that reinforces your understanding of Tableau concepts and prepares you for the challenges of the certification exam.As you progress, expert guidance and clear explanations make it easy to navigate complex topics as each chapter builds upon the last, providing a seamless learning experience—from creating impactful visualizations to managing content on Tableau Cloud.Written by a team of experts, this Tableau book not only helps you pass the certification exam but also equips you with the skills and confidence needed to excel in your career. It is an indispensable resource for unlocking the full potential of Tableau.

Reactive Patterns with RxJS and Angular Signals. Elevate your Angular 18 applications with RxJS Observables, subjects, operators, and Angular Signals - Second Edition

Lamis Chebbi, Aristeidis Bampakos

RxJS is a powerful reactive extension for JavaScript, specializing in asynchronous and event-driven programming, but you don’t find many books on using RxJS in Angular applications. Written by an industry expert with over a decade of experience, this book helps you navigate reactive patterns, efficient data management, and the streamlined implementation of common features with minimal code.This second edition aligns with the latest version of Angular, introducing new reactive patterns based on Angular Signals, which play a pivotal role in enabling fine-grained reactivity within Angular and enhancing change detection and user interface rendering. Throughout the book, you’ll construct a complete application that incorporates the latest Angular features, such as standalone components, new built-in control flow, deferrable views, and more. You’ll also focus on cultivating skills to handle data reactively, thus improving the application's overall quality, user experience, and developer productivity. The book covers best practices for testing asynchronous streams and optimizing app performance.By the end of this RxJS and Angular book, you’ll not only be able to develop Angular applications by implementing reactive patterns, but also grasp all the best practices, ensuring a well-rounded understanding of RxJS within the Angular framework.

The Ultimate Roblox Game Building Cookbook. Design immersive experiences with easy-to-follow recipes for world and game development

Taylor Field-Draper, Natasha West

Roblox is a massively popular online gaming platform, but it can be challenging to maneuver for beginners who don’t know where to start, as well as seasoned developers who tend to struggle with limited scripting tools that make transitioning from other platforms such as Unity more difficult.The Ultimate Roblox Game Building Cookbook is an invaluable asset for any Roblox developer looking to take their skills to the next level. With a wide range of recipes, this Roblox book covers everything from the basics of game development on the platform to advanced techniques for creating immersive experiences.As you progress through the chapters, you'll gain a deep understanding of the proper workflow and building methods that will enable you to create extraordinary virtual worlds. You'll gain insights into creating complex game mechanics, such as multiplayer games, working with textures, and special effects in games. This cookbook will also provide you with tips from top Roblox developers, as well as valuable guidance on how to monetize your games and stay up to date with the latest trends in the Roblox development community.By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a comprehensive understanding of Roblox game development and design.

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond. Simplified cloud concepts and core Azure fundamentals for absolute beginners to pass the AZ-900 exam

Steve Miles, Peter De Tender

This is the digital and cloud era, and Microsoft Azure is one of the top cloud computing platforms. It’s now more important than ever to understand how the cloud functions and the different services that can be leveraged across the cloud.This book will give you a solid understanding of cloud concepts and Microsoft Azure, starting by taking you through cloud concepts in depth, then focusing on the core Azure architectural components, solutions, and management tools. Next, you will understand security concepts, defense-in-depth, and key security services such as Network Security Groups and Azure Firewall, as well as security operations tooling such as Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel. As you progress, you will understand how identity, governance, privacy, and compliance are managed in Azure. Finally, you will get to grips with cost management, service-level agreements, and service life cycles. Throughout, the book features a number of hands-on exercises to support the concepts, services, and solutions discussed. This provides you with a glimpse of real-world scenarios, before finally concluding with practice questions for AZ-900 exam preparation.By the end of this Azure book, you will have a thorough understanding of cloud concepts and Azure fundamentals, enabling you to pass the AZ-900 certification exam easily.

Modern Python Cookbook. 130+ updated recipes for modern Python 3.12 with new techniques and tools - Third Edition

Steven F. Lott

Python is the go-to language for developers, engineers, data scientists, and hobbyists worldwide. Known for its versatility, Python can efficiently power applications, offering remarkable speed, safety, and scalability. This book distills Python into a collection of straightforward recipes, providing insights into specific language features within various contexts, making it an indispensable resource for mastering Python and using it to handle real-world use cases.The third edition of Modern Python Cookbook provides an in-depth look into Python 3.12, offering more than 140 new and updated recipes that cater to both beginners and experienced developers. This edition introduces new chapters on documentation and style, data visualization with Matplotlib and Pyplot, and advanced dependency management techniques using tools like Poetry and Anaconda. With practical examples and detailed explanations, this cookbook helps developers solve real-world problems, optimize their code, and get up to date with the latest Python features.

Generative AI for Cloud Solutions. Architect modern AI LLMs in secure, scalable, and ethical cloud environments

Paul Singh, Anurag Karuparti, John Maeda

Generative artificial intelligence technologies and services, including ChatGPT, are transforming our work, life, and communication landscapes. To thrive in this new era, harnessing the full potential of these technologies is crucial. Generative AI for Cloud Solutions is a comprehensive guide to understanding and using Generative AI within cloud platforms.This book covers the basics of cloud computing and Generative AI/ChatGPT, addressing scaling strategies and security concerns. With its help, you’ll be able to apply responsible AI practices and other methods such as fine-tuning, RAG, autonomous agents, LLMOps, and Assistants APIs. As you progress, you’ll learn how to design and implement secure and scalable ChatGPT solutions on the cloud, while also gaining insights into the foundations of building conversational AI, such as chatbots. This process will help you customize your AI applications to suit your specific requirements.By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a solid understanding of the capabilities of Generative AI and cloud computing, empowering you to develop efficient and ethical AI solutions for a variety of applications and services.

UX for Enterprise ChatGPT Solutions. A practical guide to designing enterprise-grade LLMs

Richard H. Miller, Jeff Johnson

Many enterprises grapple with new technology, often hopping on the bandwagon only to abandon it when challenges emerge. This book is your guide to seamlessly integrating ChatGPT into enterprise solutions with a UX-centered approach.UX for Enterprise ChatGPT Solutions empowers you to master effective use case design and adapt UX guidelines through an engaging learning experience. Discover how to prepare your content for success by tailoring interactions to match your audience’s voice, style, and tone using prompt-engineering and fine-tuning. For UX professionals, this book is the key to anchoring your expertise in this evolving field. Writers, researchers, product managers, and linguists will learn to make insightful design decisions. You’ll explore use cases like ChatGPT-powered chat and recommendation engines, while uncovering the AI magic behind the scenes. The book introduces a and feeding model, enabling you to leverage feedback and monitoring to iterate and refine any Large Language Model solution. Packed with hundreds of tips and tricks, this guide will help you build a continuous improvement cycle suited for AI solutions.By the end, you’ll know how to craft powerful, accurate, responsive, and brand-consistent generative AI experiences, revolutionizing your organization’s use of ChatGPT.

Building Resilient Architectures on AWS. A practical guide to architecting cost-efficient, resilient solutions in AWS

Ajit Puthiyavettle, Imaya Kumar Jagannathan, Rodrigue Koffi

Building systems that can withstand failure is key to running a successful business on the cloud. Learn from distinguished AWS experts—Ajit, Imaya, and Rodrigue—who bring over four decades of experience in architecting enterprise-scale solutions, speaking at major AWS conferences, and implementing resilience strategies across diverse industries, as they guide you through building highly available and fault-tolerant applications on AWS.This book explores resiliency, offering steps to design, build, and operate resilient architectures on AWS. You’ll master data security practices, backup strategies, and automation techniques, helping you build strong defenses and reliable recovery plans for resilience against disruptions. You’ll also learn how to apply AWS Well-Architected pillars to design applications with redundancy, loose coupling, graceful degradation, and fault isolation. With architecture examples, you’ll validate your design’s effectiveness through resilient patterns, performance monitoring, and chaos engineering.By the end of this book, you’ll be equipped with best practices for creating robust cloud infrastructures to ensure business continuity and success and become proficient at creating fault-tolerant systems, optimizing performance, and ensuring reliability across regions.

The Complete Guide to Defense in Depth. Learn to identify, mitigate, and prevent cyber threats with a dynamic, layered defense approach

Akash Mukherjee, Jason D. Clinton

In an era of relentless cyber threats, organizations face daunting challenges in fortifying their defenses against increasingly sophisticated attacks. The Complete Guide to Defense in Depth offers a comprehensive roadmap to navigating the complex landscape, empowering you to master the art of layered security.This book starts by laying the groundwork, delving into risk navigation, asset classification, and threat identification, helping you establish a robust framework for layered security. It gradually transforms you into an adept strategist, providing insights into the attacker's mindset, revealing vulnerabilities from an adversarial perspective, and guiding the creation of a proactive defense strategy through meticulous mapping of attack vectors. Toward the end, the book addresses the ever-evolving threat landscape, exploring emerging dangers and emphasizing the crucial human factor in security awareness and training. This book also illustrates how Defense in Depth serves as a dynamic, adaptable approach to cybersecurity.By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a profound understanding of the significance of multi-layered defense strategies, explored frameworks for building robust security programs, and developed the ability to navigate the evolving threat landscape with resilience and agility.

Photorealistic Materials and Textures in Blender Cycles. Create impressive production-ready projects using one of the most powerful rendering engines - Fourth Edition

Arijan Belec

Blender is one of the most versatile tools in the 3D software industry, and with a growing audience and constantly expanding set of features, it has become more powerful, useful, and in demand than ever before. This updated fourth edition of Photorealistic Materials and Textures in Blender Cycles is an all-inclusive guide to procedural texturing, rendering, and designing materials in Blender, covering all aspects of the 3D texturing workflow.The book begins by introducing you to Blender’s material nodes and material property functions, and then helps you create photorealistic textures by understanding texture maps and mapping them to 3D models. As you advance, you’ll learn to design high-quality environments and lighting using HDRIs and Blender’s lighting options. By exploring, breaking down, and studying the underlying mechanics that allow you to develop these elements, you’ll create any material, texture, or environment and use it to improve your artwork and present them in a professional way. Finally, you’ll discover how to correctly set up scenes and render settings, and get to grips with the key elements of achieving realism.By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a solid understanding of materials, textures, shading, lighting, rendering, and all the critical aspects of achieving the highest quality with your 3D artwork.

Software Architecture with Kotlin. Combine various architectural styles to create sustainable and scalable software solutions

Jason (Tsz Shun) Chow

Software Architecture with Kotlin explores the various styles of software architecture with a focus on using the Kotlin programming language. The author draws on their 20+ years of industry experience in developing large-scale enterprise distributed systems to help you grasp the principles, practices, and patterns that shape the architectural landscape of modern software systems.The book establishes a strong foundation in software architecture, explaining key concepts such as architectural qualities and principles, before teaching you how architectural decisions impact the quality of a system, such as scalability, reliability, and extendability. The chapters address modern architecture topics such as microservices, serverless, and event-driven architectures, providing insights into the challenges and trade-offs involved in adopting these architectural styles. You’ll also discover practical tools that’ll help you make informed decisions and mitigate risks. All architectural patterns in this book are demonstrated using Kotlin.By the end of this book, you’ll have gained practical expertise by using real-world examples, along with a solid understanding of Kotlin, to become a more proficient and impactful software architect.

Minimal CMake. Learn the best bits of CMake to create and share your own libraries and applications

Tom Hulton-Harrop

Minimal CMake guides you through creating a CMake project one step at a time. The book utilizes the author's unique expertise in game and engine development to craft compelling examples of how CMake can be used to build complex software. The chapters introduce concepts gradually, each one building on the last. Throughout the course of the book, you will progress from a simple console application all the way through to a full windowed app.The book will help you build a strong foundation in CMake that will translate to future projects. You'll learn how to integrate existing software libraries to enhance your app's functionality, how to build reusable libraries to share with others, and how to manage developing for multiple platforms simultaneously, including macOS, Windows, and Linux. You'll also find out how CMake facilitates testing and how to package your application ready for distribution.The book aims to not overwhelm you with everything there is to know about CMake. Instead, it focuses on the most relevant and important parts that will help you become productive quickly.By the end of this book, you will be a confident CMake user and will have gained the skills and experience to build and share your own libraries and applications.