Hands-On Serverless Computing. Build, run and orchestrate serverless applications using AWS Lambda, Microsoft Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions

Kuldeep Chowhan

Serverless applications and architectures are gaining momentum and are increasingly being used by companies of all sizes. Serverless software takes care of many problems that developers face when running systems and servers, such as fault tolerance, centralized logging, horizontal scalability, and deployments.You will learn how to harness serverless technology to rapidly reduce production time and minimize your costs, while still having the freedom to customize your code, without hindering functionality. Upon finishing the book, you will have the knowledge and resources to build your own serverless application hosted in AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform, and will have experienced the benefits of event-driven technology for yourself.This hands-on guide dives into the basis of serverless architectures and how to build them using Node.js as a programming language, Visual Studio Code for code editing, and Postman for quickly and securely developing applications without the hassle of configuring and maintaining infrastructure on three public cloud platforms.

Mastering Predictive Analytics with scikit-learn and TensorFlow. Implement machine learning techniques to build advanced predictive models using Python

Alvaro Fuentes

Python is a programming language that provides a wide range of features that can be used in the field of data science. Mastering Predictive Analytics with scikit-learn and TensorFlow covers various implementations of ensemble methods, how they are used with real-world datasets, and how they improve prediction accuracy in classification and regression problems.This book starts with ensemble methods and their features. You will see that scikit-learn provides tools for choosing hyperparameters for models. As you make your way through the book, you will cover the nitty-gritty of predictive analytics and explore its features and characteristics. You will also be introduced to artificial neural networks and TensorFlow, and how it is used to create neural networks. In the final chapter, you will explore factors such as computational power, along with improvement methods and software enhancements for efficient predictive analytics.By the end of this book, you will be well-versed in using deep neural networks to solve common problems in big data analysis.

Network Security with pfSense. Architect, deploy, and operate enterprise-grade firewalls

Manuj Aggarwal

While connected to the internet, you’re a potential target for an array of cyber threats, such as hackers, keyloggers, and Trojans that attack through unpatched security holes. A firewall works as a barrier (or ‘shield’) between your computer and cyberspace. pfSense is highly versatile firewall software. With thousands of enterprises using pfSense, it is fast becoming the world's most trusted open source network security solution.Network Security with pfSense begins with an introduction to pfSense, where you will gain an understanding of what pfSense is, its key features, and advantages. Next, you will learn how to configure pfSense as a firewall and create and manage firewall rules. As you make your way through the chapters, you will test pfSense for failover and load balancing across multiple wide area network (WAN) connections. You will then configure pfSense with OpenVPN for secure remote connectivity and implement IPsec VPN tunnels with pfSense. In the concluding chapters, you’ll understand how to configure and integrate pfSense as a Squid proxy server.By the end of this book, you will be able to leverage the power of pfSense to build a secure network.

Getting Started with Kubernetes. Orchestrate and manage large-scale Docker deployments - Second Edition

Jonathan Baier

Kubernetes has continued to grow and achieve broad adoption across various industries, helping you to orchestrate and automate container deployments on a massive scale.This book will give you a complete understanding of Kubernetes and how to get a cluster up and running. You will develop an understanding of the installation and configuration process. The book will then focus on the core Kubernetes constructs such as pods, services, replica sets, replication controllers, and labels. You will also understand how cluster level networking is done in Kubernetes. The book will also show you how to manage deployments and perform updates with minimal downtime. Additionally, you will learn about operational aspects of Kubernetes such as monitoring and logging. Advanced concepts such as container security and cluster federation will also be covered. Finally, you will learn about the wider Kubernetes ecosystem with OCP, CoreOS, and Tectonic and explore the third-party extensions and tools that can be used with Kubernetes.By the end of the book, you will have a complete understanding of the Kubernetes platform and will start deploying applications on it.

Fixing Bad UX Designs. Master proven approaches, tools, and techniques to make your user experience great again

Lisandra Maioli

Have your web applications been experiencing more hits and less conversions? Are bad designs consuming your time and money?This book is the answer to these problems. With intuitive case studies, you’ll learn to simplify, fix, and enhance some common, real-world application designs. You’ll look at the common issues of simplicity, navigation, appearance, maintenance, and many more.The challenge that most UX designers face is to ensure that the UX is user-friendly. In this book, we address this with individual case studies starting with some common UX applications and then move on to complex applications. Each case study will help you understand the issues faced by a bad UX and teach you to break it down and fix these problems.As we progress, you’ll learn about the information architecture, usability testing, iteration, UX refactoring, and many other related features with the help of various case studies. You’ll also learn some interesting UX design tools with the projects covered in the book.By the end of the book, you’ll be armed with the knowledge to fix bad UX designs and to ensure great customer satisfaction for your applications.

Learning Robotic Process Automation. Create Software robots and automate business processes with the leading RPA tool – UiPath

Alok Mani Tripathi

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) enables automating business processes using software robots. Software robots interpret, trigger responses, and communicate with other systems just like humans do. Robotic processes and intelligent automation tools can help businesses improve the effectiveness of services faster and at a lower cost than current methods.This book is the perfect start to your automation journey, with a special focus on one of the most popular RPA tools: UiPath.Learning Robotic Process Automation takes you on a journey from understanding the basics of RPA to advanced implementation techniques. You will become familiar with the UiPath interface and learn about its workflow. Once you are familiar with the environment, we will get hands-on with automating applications such as Excel, SAP, Windows and web applications, screen and web scraping, working with user events, and we'll cover exceptions and debugging. By the end of the book, you'll not only be able to build your first software robot, but you'll also wire it up to perform various automation tasks with the help of best practices for robot deployment.

Deep Learning with Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit Quick Start Guide. A practical guide to building neural networks using Microsoft's open source deep learning framework

Willem Meints

Cognitive Toolkit is a very popular and recently open sourced deep learning toolkit by Microsoft. Cognitive Toolkit is used to train fast and effective deep learning models. This book will be a quick introduction to using Cognitive Toolkit and will teach you how to train and validate different types of neural networks, such as convolutional and recurrent neural networks.This book will help you understand the basics of deep learning. You will learn how to use Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit to build deep learning models and discover what makes this framework unique so that you know when to use it. This book will be a quick, no-nonsense introduction to the library and will teach you how to train different types of neural networks, such as convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, autoencoders, and more, using Cognitive Toolkit. Then we will look at two scenarios in which deep learning can be used to enhance human capabilities. The book will also demonstrate how to evaluate your models' performance to ensure it trains and runs smoothly and gives you the most accurate results. Finally, you will get a short overview of how Cognitive Toolkit fits in to a DevOps environment

Learning Concurrent Programming in Scala. Practical Multithreading in Scala - Second Edition

Aleksandar Prokopec

Scala is a modern, multiparadigm programming language designed to express common programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and type-safe way. Scala smoothly integrates the features of object-oriented and functional languages.In this second edition, you will find updated coverage of the Scala 2.12 platform. The Scala 2.12 series targets Java 8 and requires it for execution. The book starts by introducing you to the foundations of concurrent programming on the JVM, outlining the basics of the Java Memory Model, and then shows some of the classic building blocks of concurrency, such as the atomic variables, thread pools, and concurrent data structures, along with the caveats of traditional concurrency.The book then walks you through different high-level concurrency abstractions, each tailored toward a specific class of programming tasks, while touching on the latest advancements of async programming capabilities of Scala. It also covers some useful patterns and idioms to use with the techniques described. Finally, the book presents an overview of when to use which concurrency library and demonstrates how they all work together, and then presents new exciting approaches to building concurrent and distributed systems.Who this book is written forIf you are a Scala programmer with no prior knowledge of concurrent programming, or seeking to broaden your existing knowledge about concurrency, this book is for you. Basic knowledge of the Scala programming language will be helpful.

Deep Learning Quick Reference. Useful hacks for training and optimizing deep neural networks with TensorFlow and Keras

Mike Bernico

Deep learning has become an essential necessity to enter the world of artificial intelligence. With this book deep learning techniques will become more accessible, practical, and relevant to practicing data scientists. It moves deep learning from academia to the real world through practical examples.You will learn how Tensor Board is used to monitor the training of deep neural networks and solve binary classification problems using deep learning. Readers will then learn to optimize hyperparameters in their deep learning models. The book then takes the readers through the practical implementation of training CNN's, RNN's, and LSTM's with word embeddings and seq2seq models from scratch. Later the book explores advanced topics such as Deep Q Network to solve an autonomous agent problem and how to use two adversarial networks to generate artificial images that appear real. For implementation purposes, we look at popular Python-based deep learning frameworks such as Keras and Tensorflow, Each chapter provides best practices and safe choices to help readers make the right decision while training deep neural networks.By the end of this book, you will be able to solve real-world problems quickly with deep neural networks.

DevOps: Continuous Delivery, Integration, and Deployment with DevOps. Dive into the core DevOps strategies

Sricharan Vadapalli

DevOps is the most widely used software engineering culture and practice that aim sat software development and operation. Continuous integration is a cornerstone technique of DevOps that merges software code updates from developers into a shared central mainline.This book takes a practical approach and covers the tools and strategies of DevOps. It starts with familiarizing you with DevOps framework and then shows how toper form continuous delivery, integration, and deployment with DevOps. You will explore DevOps process maturity frameworks and progression models with checklist templates for each phase of DevOps. You will also be familiar with agile terminology, methodology, and the benefits accrued by an organization by adopting it. You will also get acquainted with popular tools such as Git, Jenkins ,Maven, Gerrit, Nexus, Selenium, and so on.You will learn configuration, automation, and the implementation of infrastructure automation (Infrastructure as Code) with tools such as Chef and Ansible.This book is ideal for engineers, architects, and developers, who wish to learn the core strategies of DevOps.This book is embedded with useful assessments that will help you revise the concepts you have learned in this book. This book is repurposed for this specific learning experience from material from Packt's Hands-on DevOps by Sricharan Vadapalli.

Microsoft HoloLens By Example. Create immersive Augmented Reality experiences

Joshua Newnham

Are you a developer who is fascinated with Microsoft HoloLens and its capabilities? Do you want to learn the intricacies of working with the HoloLens SDK and create your own apps? If so, this is the book for you.This book introduces and demystifies the HoloLens platform and introduces new ways you can interact with computers (Mixed Reality). It will teach you the important concepts, get you excited about the possibilities, and give you the tools to continue exploring and experimenting. You will go through the journey of creating four independent examples throughout the book, two using DirectX and two using Unity. You will learn to implement spatial mapping and gesture control, incorporate spatial sound, and work with different types of input and gaze. You will also learn to use the Unity 5 SDK for HoloLens and create apps with it. Collectively, the apps explore the major concepts of HoloLens, but each app is independent, giving you the flexibility to choose where to start (and end).

User Experience Mapping. Enhance UX with User Story Map, Journey Map and Diagrams

Peter W. Szabo

Do you want to create better products and innovative solutions? User experience maps will help you understand your users and improve communication with them. Maps can also champion user-centricity within the organization.This book is the first print resource covering two advanced mapping techniques—the behavioral change map and the 4D UX map. You’ll explore user story maps, task models, and journey maps, while also creating wireflows, mental model maps, ecosystem maps, and solution maps. You’ll learn how to use insights from real users to create and improve your maps and products.The book delves into each major user experience map type, ranging from simple techniques based on sticky notes to more complex map types, and guides you in solving real-world problems with maps. You’ll understand how to create maps using a variety of software products, including Adobe Illustrator, Balsamiq Mockups, Axure RP, and Microsoft Word. Besides, you can draw each map type with pen and paper too!The book also showcases communication techniques and workshop ideas. You’ll learn about the Kaizen-UX management framework, developed by the author, now used by many agencies and in-house UX teams in Europe and beyond.Buying this book will give you hundreds of hours worth of user experience knowledge, from one of the world’s leading UX consultants. It will change your users’ world for the better. If you are still not convinced, we have hidden some cat drawings in it, just in case.

Pentaho Data Integration Quick Start Guide. Create ETL processes using Pentaho

María Carina Roldán

Pentaho Data Integration(PDI) is an intuitive and graphical environment packed with drag and drop design and powerful Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) capabilities. Given its power and flexibility, initial attempts to use the Pentaho Data Integration tool can be difficult or confusing. This book is the ideal solution.This book reduces your learning curve with PDI. It provides the guidance needed to make you productive, covering the main features of Pentaho Data Integration. It demonstrates the interactive features of the graphical designer, and takes you through the main ETL capabilities that the tool offers.By the end of the book, you will be able to use PDI for extracting, transforming, and loading the types of data you encounter on a daily basis.

Mastering Vim. Build a software development environment with Vim and Neovim

Ruslan Osipov

Vim is a ubiquitous text editor that can be used for all programming languages. It has an extensive plugin system and integrates with many tools. Vim offers an extensible and customizable development environment for programmers, making it one of the most popular text editors in the world. Mastering Vim begins with explaining how the Vim editor will help you build applications efficiently. With the fundamentals of Vim, you will be taken through the Vim philosophy. As you make your way through the chapters, you will learn about advanced movement, text operations, and how Vim can be used as a Python (or any other language for that matter) IDE. The book will then cover essential tasks, such as refactoring, debugging, building, testing, and working with a version control system, as well as plugin configuration and management. In the concluding chapters, you will be introduced to additional mindset guidelines, learn to personalize your Vim experience, and go above and beyond with Vimscript.By the end of this book, you will be sufficiently confident to make Vim (or its fork, Neovim) your first choice when writing applications in Python and other programming languages.

Salesforce Process Builder Quick Start Guide. Build complex workflows by clicking, not coding

Rakesh Gupta

Salesforce Management System is an information system used in CRM to automate business processes, such as sales and marketing. Process Builder is a visual tool created to automate business processes in Salesforce. It enables users with no coding expertise to build complex Salesforce workflows.The book starts with an introduction to Process Builder, focussing on the building blocks of creating Processes. Then you will learn about different applications of Process Builder for developing streamlined solutions. You will learn how to easily automate business processes and tackle complex business scenarios using Processes. The book explains the workings of the Process Builder so that you can create reusable processes. It also explains how you can migrate existing Workflow Rules to Process Builder.By the end of the book, you will have a clear understanding of how to use Flows and Process Builder to optimize code usage.

Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Development Cookbook. Recipes to explore forms, look-ups and different integrations like Power BI and MS Office for your business solutions - Fourth Edition

Abhimanyu Singh, Deepak Agarwal

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has a lot to offer developers. It allows them to customize and tailor their implementations to meet their organization’s needs. This Development Cookbook will help you manage your company or customer ERP information and operations efficiently. We start off by exploring the concept of data manipulation in Dynamics 365 for Operations. This will also help you build scripts to assist data migration, and show you how to organize data in forms. You will learn how to create custom lookups using Application Object Tree forms and generate them dynamically. We will also show you how you can enhance your application by using advanced form controls, and integrate your system with other external systems. We will help you script and enhance your user interface using UI elements. This book will help you look at application development from a business process perspective, and develop enhanced ERP solutions by learning and implementing the best practices and techniques.