Publisher: Packt Publishing
Founded in 2004 in Birmingham, UK, Packt's mission is to help the world put software to work in new ways, through the delivery of effective learning and information services to IT professionals. Working towards that vision, we have published over 6,500 books and videos so far, providing IT professionals with the actionable knowledge they need to get the job done - whether that's specific learning on an emerging technology or optimizing key skills in more established tools. As part of our mission, we have also awarded over $1,000,000 through our Open Source Project Royalty scheme, helping numerous projects become household names along the way.
3073
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Excel Programming with VBA Starter. Get started with programming in Excel using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) with this book and

Robert Martin, Robert F Martin

Do you have repetitive tasks that you would like to get rid of for good? Would you like to integrate Office Applications in order to streamline some of your tasks? Then look no further. This compact book will provide you with the knowledge to get your VBA programming off the ground and up to a comfortable cruising speed. Excel Programming with VBA Starter was born out of the need to have a short, but yet all-encompassing book that would give you a solid foundation in programming with Visual Basic for Applications. This book will enable you to harness the power of VBA in Excel and put it to good use throughout the course of your working day.Can't find properties and methods of an object? Don't know what a property, method or object is? Covering simple and advanced topics, create powerful, reusable examples such as IO, picking files from within Excel and automatically attaching them to e-mails. Learn and use the concept of encapsulation to condense code into bite-size methods to be easily accessed from within your projects, plus much more.

3074
Ebook

Become a Unity Shaders Guru. Create advanced game visuals using code and graphs in Unity 2022

Mina Pecheux

Do you really know all the ins-and-outs of Unity shaders? It’s time to step up your Unity game and dive into the new URP render pipeline, the Shader Graph tool, and advanced shading techniques to bring out the beauty of your 2D/3D game projects!Become a Unity Shaders Guru is here to help you transition from the built-in render pipeline to the SRP pipelines and learn the latest shading tools. With it, you’ll dive deeper into Unity shaders by understanding the essential concepts through practical examples. First, you’ll discover how to create a simple shading model in the Unity built-in render pipeline, and then in the Unity URP render pipeline and Shader Graph while learning about the practical applications of both. You’ll explore common game shader techniques, ranging from interior mapping to adding neon outlines on a sprite or simulating the wobble of a fish. You’ll also learn about alternative rendering techniques, like Ray Marching.By the end of this book, you’ll have learned to create a wide variety of 2D and 3D shaders with Unity’s URP pipeline (both in HLSL code and with the Shader Graph tool), and be well-versed with some optimization tricks to make your games friendly for low-tier devices as well.

3075
Ebook

SQL for Data Analytics. Perform fast and efficient data analysis with the power of SQL

Upom Malik, Matt Goldwasser, Benjamin Johnston

Understanding and finding patterns in data has become one of the most important ways to improve business decisions. If you know the basics of SQL, but don't know how to use it to gain the most effective business insights from data, this book is for you.SQL for Data Analytics helps you build the skills to move beyond basic SQL and instead learn to spot patterns and explain the logic hidden in data. You'll discover how to explore and understand data by identifying trends and unlocking deeper insights. You'll also gain experience working with different types of data in SQL, including time-series, geospatial, and text data. Finally, you'll learn how to increase your productivity with the help of profiling and automation.By the end of this book, you'll be able to use SQL in everyday business scenarios efficiently and look at data with the critical eye of an analytics professional.Please note: if you are having difficulty loading the sample datasets, there are new instructions uploaded to the GitHub repository. The link to the GitHub repository can be found in the book's preface.

3076
Ebook

Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator Exam Guide. Implement IAM solutions with Azure AD, build an identity governance strategy, and pass the SC-300 exam

Dwayne Natwick, Shannon Kuehn

Cloud technologies have made identity and access the new control plane for securing data. Without proper planning and discipline in deploying, monitoring, and managing identity and access for users, administrators, and guests, you may be compromising your infrastructure and data. This book is a preparation guide that covers all the objectives of the SC-300 exam, while teaching you about the identity and access services that are available from Microsoft and preparing you for real-world challenges.The book starts with an overview of the SC-300 exam and helps you understand identity and access management. As you progress to the implementation of IAM solutions, you’ll learn to deploy secure identity and access within Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory. The book will take you from legacy on-premises identity solutions to modern and password-less authentication solutions that provide high-level security for identity and access. You’ll focus on implementing access and authentication for cloud-only and hybrid infrastructures as well as understand how to protect them using the principles of zero trust. The book also features mock tests toward the end to help you prepare effectively for the exam.By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to plan, deploy, and manage identity and access solutions for Microsoft and hybrid infrastructures.

3077
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Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Development Cookbook. Customizing Dynamics AX to suit the specific needs of an organization is plain sailing when you use this cookbook of modifications. With more than 80 practical recipes it’s the perfect handbook for all Dynamics AX developers

Mindaugas Pocius

Microsoft Dynamics AX is a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution for mid-size and large organizations. Dynamics AX implementations are used worldwide by thousands of customers. With the new version - Dynamics AX 2012 - the system is due to expand even more rapidly.Every new implementation requires some level of customization, and all organizations want this to be done to the highest standards using proven approaches.Written by one of the leading experts in Microsoft Dynamics AX, 'Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Development Cookbook' is packed with over 80 task-based and immediately reusable recipes that will help you manage your company's or customer's ERP information and operations efficiently, and solve your business process problems in an effective and quick way. This book focuses on commonly used custom modifications in major Dynamics AX modules. The recipes in this book cover various areas of Dynamics AX to help developers not only learn about programming, but also about the functional side of Dynamics AX. The practical recipes will also allow you to look at the development from the perspective of business processes. You will learn to enhance your user interface using various Dynamics AX UI elements and managing your data and functions will become easier.

3078
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3079
Ebook

Mastering Linux Administration. Take your sysadmin skills to the next level by configuring and maintaining Linux systems - Second Edition

Alexandru Calcatinge, Julian Balog

Harness the power of Linux in modern data center management, leveraging its unparalleled versatility for efficiently managing your workloads in on-premises and cloud environments. In this second edition, you'll find updates on the latest advancements in Linux administration including containerization, shell scripting, and hypervisors. Written by an experienced Linux trainer, this book will start you off with Linux installation on on-premises systems. As you progress, you’ll master the Linux command line, files, packages, and filesystems. You'll explore essential Linux commands and techniques to secure your Linux environment. New to this edition is a chapter on shell scripting, providing structured guidance on using shell programming for basic Linux automation. This book also delves into the world of containers, with two new chapters dedicated to Docker containers and hypervisors, including KVM virtual machines. Once adept with Linux containers, you'll learn about modern cloud technologies, managing and provisioning container workloads using Kubernetes, and automating system tasks using Ansible. Finally, you'll get to grips with deploying Linux to the cloud using AWS and Azure-specific tools. By the end of this Linux book, you'll have mastered everyday administrative tasks, seamlessly navigating workflows spanning from on-premises to the cloud.

3080
Ebook

Clean Code with C#. Refactor your legacy C# code base and improve application performance using best practices - Second Edition

Jason Alls

Traditionally associated with Windows desktop applications and game development, C# has expanded into web, cloud, and mobile development. However, despite its extensive coding features, professionals often encounter issues with efficiency, scalability, and maintainability due to poor code. Clean Code in C# guides you in identifying and resolving these problems using coding best practices.This book starts by comparing good and bad code to emphasize the importance of coding standards, principles, and methodologies. It then covers code reviews, unit testing, and test-driven development, and addresses cross-cutting concerns. As you advance through the chapters, you’ll discover programming best practices for objects, data structures, exception handling, and other aspects of writing C# computer programs. You’ll also explore API design and code quality enhancement tools, while studying examples of poor coding practices to understand what to avoid.By the end of this clean code book, you’ll have the developed the skills needed to apply industry-approved coding practices to write clean, readable, extendable, and maintainable C# code.

3081
Ebook

Mastering the Art of Sales Engineering. Develop essential skills and gain valuable insights for high-tech sales engineering success

Jeffrey Silver, Jason Mar-Tang, Michael Huckaby

Sales engineers often need to balance their technical expertise with the soft skills needed to close deals and build lasting client relationships. This book provides a framework for both senior engineers seeking professional growth and individuals just starting their sales engineering careers. This book draws from the authors’ extensive experience in this industry and as leaders in top high-tech companies, offering real-world insights and life lessons applicable to this specialized and in-demand industry. You’ll pick up the core disciplines a successful sales engineer should exemplify, along with mastering practical, day-to-day operational aspects. Within these chapters, you will learn the roles and responsibilities of a sales engineer, as well as adjacent roles within a sales team. You’ll also develop the skills needed to navigate complex sales cycles and exceed traditional expectations. This book covers various key aspects of sales engineering, including mastering communication techniques, navigating complex meetings, managing customer expectations, understanding legal matters, and handling administrative tasks. By the end of this book, you’ll have acquired advanced knowledge to excel as a world-class sales engineer and become a valuable member of your organization’s broader team.

3082
Ebook

UI Testing with Puppeteer. Implement end-to-end testing and browser automation using JavaScript and Node.js

Dario Kondratiuk

Puppeteer is an open source web automation library created by Google to perform tasks such as end-to-end testing, performance monitoring, and task automation with ease. Using real-world use cases, this book will take you on a pragmatic journey, helping you to learn Puppeteer and implement best practices to take your automation code to the next level!Starting with an introduction to headless browsers, this book will take you through the foundations of browser automation, showing you how far you can get using Puppeteer to automate Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. You’ll then learn the basics of end-to-end testing and understand how to create reliable tests. You’ll also get to grips with finding elements using CSS selectors and XPath expressions. As you progress through the chapters, the focus shifts to more advanced browser automation topics such as executing JavaScript code inside the browser. You’ll learn various use cases of Puppeteer, such as mobile devices or network speed testing, gauging your site’s performance, and using Puppeteer as a web scraping tool.By the end of this UI testing book, you’ll have learned how to make the most of Puppeteer’s API and be able to apply it in your real-world projects.

3083
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Hands-On Blockchain for Python Developers. Empowering Python developers in the world of blockchain and smart contracts - Second Edition

Arjuna Sky Kok

We are living in the age of decentralized fi nance and NFTs. People swap tokens on Uniswap, borrow assets from Aave, send payments with stablecoins, trade art NFTs on OpenSea, and more. To build applications of this kind, you need to know how to write smart contracts.This comprehensive guide will help you explore all the features of Vyper, a programming language designed to write smart contracts. You’ll also explore the web3.py library. As you progress, you’ll learn how to connect to smart contracts, read values, and create transactions. To make sure your foundational knowledge is strong enough, the book guides you through Ape Framework, which can help you create decentralized exchanges, NFT marketplaces, voting applications, and more. Each project provides invaluable insights and hands-on experience, equipping you with the skills you need to build real-world blockchain solutions.By the end of this book, you’ll be well versed with writing common Web3 applications such as a decentralized exchange, an NFT marketplace, a voting application, and more.

3084
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3085
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IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Domino Administration. Ensure effective and efficient team collaboration by building a solid social infrastructure with IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5

Keith Brooks, Olusola Omosaiye, Mark Harper, David Byrd, ...

When the IT strategy calls for maximizing the value of social software for building effective teams, neither social networking nor team collaboration is sufficient on its own. Lotus Quickr Team Collaboration software delivers the promise of social software; but ensuring that a business's social networking site is compliant can be daunting. This book will help you ensure effective and efficient team collaboration by building a solid social infrastructure with IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5.The book will familiarize system administrators with all the information they need to install, upgrade, and manage IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5. You will also learn to leverage social software principles to foster diverse teams in an interconnected world. This book will help you break virtual boundaries and remove the impediments to the development of high-performance teams through the use of IBM Lotus Quickr 8.5.This practical book starts off by providing you with a clear, detailed walkthrough of key concepts including collaboration beyond document management, and adopting social collaboration in an enterprise.We then examine the product architecture of Lotus Quickr services and provide a walkthrough of deployment aspects of Lotus Quickr to provide a scalable environment through clustering. We cover some of the basic tools used to set up and manage the IBM Lotus Quickr server along with unique methods for upgrading to the latest 8.5 version. We provide you with an in-depth look at the concepts of Lotus Quickr Connectors deployment, management, and a new capability around Windows-based single sign-on to solve a variety of problems.By the end of this book, you will be able to build a well-executed social collaboration platform that delivers the productivity edge needed to succeed in the digitally interconnected business world of today.

3086
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3087
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Svelte with Test-Driven Development. Advance your skills and write effective automated tests with Vitest, Playwright, and Cucumber.js

Daniel Irvine

Svelte is a popular front-end framework used for its focus on performance and user-friendliness, and test-driven development (TDD) is a powerful approach that helps in creating automated tests before writing code. By combining them, you can create efficient, maintainable code for modern applications. Svelte with Test-Driven Development will help you learn effective automated testing practices to build and maintain Svelte applications.In the first part of the book, you’ll find a guided walkthrough on building a SvelteKit application using the TDD workflow. You’ll uncover the main concepts for writing effective unit test cases and practical advice for developing solid, maintainable test suites that can speed up application development while remaining effective as the application evolves. In the next part of the book, you’ll focus on refactoring and advanced test techniques, such as using component mocks and writing BDD-style tests with the Cucumber.js framework. In the final part of the book, you’ll explore how to test complex application and framework features, including authentication, Svelte stores, and service workers.By the end of this book, you’ll be well-equipped to build test-driven Svelte applications by employing theoretical and practical knowledge.

3088
Ebook

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.

3089
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Windows Azure programming patterns for Start-ups. A step-by-step guide to create easy solutions to build your business using Windows Azure services with this book and

Riccardo Becker

Leverage different Windows Azure components together with your existing Microsoft .NET skills to fully take advantage of the power of Windows Azure. Use this book to start small and end big by creating and using storage, cloud services, sql databases, networking, caching and other innovative technology to realize your first top-class Windows Azure service!Windows Azure for Start-ups is an incremental guide that will take you from the essentials of the Windows Azure platform up to the realization of your own cloud services running on the platform. You will learn how to apply different technologies of the Windows Azure platform with the help of examples all focusing on one single fictitious start-up scenario.This book is centred around a fictitious company called Geotopia that wants to build a brand new social network by using the Windows Azure platform. It will take the reader from the theory and rationale behind Windows Azure right to building services and coding C#.The books starts by outlining the concepts of Windows Azure. It then demonstrates how to set up a development environment and how to build your application by using different storage mechanisms, applying different features from the Windows Azure platform and ending with the newest features explained from the latest release.Windows Azure for Startups will help you take full advantage of the Windows Azure platform and bring your new service online as quickly as possible.

3090
Ebook

Drupal 7 First Look. Learn the new features of Drupal 7, how they work and how they will impact you

Mark Noble, Dries Buytaert

Drupal 7 contains features for which site administrators have been clamoring for years, including support for fields, an improved administration interface, better database support, improved theming, and more. You could of course make a laborious search on sites, blogs, and many online tutorials that would promise to update you about every new feature, but there's an even better way to know all about Drupal 7's new features: Drupal 7 First Look is the first and only book that covers all of the fantastic new features in Drupal 7 in depth and covers the process of upgrading your Drupal 6 site to Drupal 7. If you've used Drupal 6 and want to use Drupal 7, you need this book.Drupal 7 First Look takes an in-depth look into all of the major new features in Drupal 7 so you can quickly take full advantage of Drupal 7. It also assists you in upgrading your site to Drupal 7. Some of the new features in Drupal 7 include:Fields API, based on Drupal 6 CCK, which allows you to easily build your own content typesImproved user interface for administering your websiteBuilt-in support for working with images and filesImproved security for the site and users of the siteCompletely rewritten database layer DBTNG to make working with the database easier and more secure. Improved API for custom module development and user interface theming

3091
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Ext JS 4 Plugin and Extension Development. This book makes it fast and fun for ExtJS developers to get to grips with developing plugins and extensions. The step-by-step instructions, with plentiful examples and code, will give you the skills in no time

Abdullah Al Mohammad

Ext JS is a pure JavaScript application framework for building interactive web applications using techniques such as Ajax, DHTML, and DOM scripting.Ext JS 4 Plugin and Extension Development is a practical, step-by-step tutorial which guides you to learn and develop ExtJS plugins and extensions. There are a lot of examples with explanations and plenty of code provided to make it easier and quicker to pick up.Starting with the fundamentals, this book introduces some of the ExtJS library and community provided plugins and extensions and finishes with several hands-on, real world development examples. You will get a clear concept of ExtJS plugins and extensions and learn how to use them. You will also learn how to develop an ExtJS plugin and extension by going through several examples with code and screenshots.Ext JS 4 Plugin and Extension Development book will provide you with the knowledge to develop ExtJS plugins and extensions using real-life examples.

3092
Ebook

The Photographer's Guide to Adobe Lightroom. Learn industry-standard best practices and techniques to get the best out of the latest version of Lightroom Classic

Marcin Lewandowski

It takes talent to be a great photographer, but in the digital era, it also takes a level of technical proficiency. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic was designed as a one-stop solution for photographers to perfect their final products on a desktop-focused workflow, which includes local storage of your photos in files and folders on your computer. Knowing how to efficiently navigate through Lightroom means that you’ll be able to concentrate on being creative instead of wondering “what does this button do”.Complete with step-by-step explanations of essential concepts and practical examples, you will begin with importing photographs into Lightroom. You’ll focus on how to sort through, sequence, develop, and export ready files in various formats, or even design a book and create gallery-ready prints. Next, you will learn how to make informed decisions within Lightroom and how to approach your work depending on the set of photographs you are working on. This guide also illustrates real-life usage and workflow examples that are not just for aspiring professionals, but also for artists and amateurs who are still getting to grips with the technical side of photography.By the end of this book, you'll be confident in importing, editing, sorting, developing, and delivering your photos like a professional.

3093
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Modern CMake for C++. Effortlessly build cutting-edge C++ code and deliver high-quality solutions - Second Edition

Rafał Świdziński, Alexander Kushnir

Modern CMake for C++ isn't just another reference book, or a repackaging of the documentation, but a blueprint to bridging the gap between learning C++ and being able to use it in a professional setting. It's an end-to-end guide to the automation of complex tasks, including building, testing, and packaging software.This second edition is significantly rewritten, restructured and refreshed with latest additions to CMake, such as support of C++20 Modules.In this book, you'll not only learn how to use the CMake language in CMake projects but also discover how to make those projects maintainable, elegant, and clean. As you progress, you'll dive into the structure of source directories, building targets, and packages, all while learning how to compile and link executables and libraries. You'll also gain a deeper understanding of how those processes work and how to optimize builds in CMake for the best results. You'll discover how to use external dependencies in your project – third-party libraries, testing frameworks, program analysis tools, and documentation generators. Finally, you'll gain profi ciency in exporting, installing, and packaging for internal and external purposes.By the end of this book, you'll be able to use CMake confi dently at a professional level.

3094
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Python for Finance Cookbook. Over 50 recipes for applying modern Python libraries to financial data analysis

Eryk Lewinson

Python is one of the most popular programming languages used in the financial industry, with a huge set of accompanying libraries. In this book, you'll cover different ways of downloading financial data and preparing it for modeling. You'll calculate popular indicators used in technical analysis, such as Bollinger Bands, MACD, RSI, and backtest automatic trading strategies. Next, you'll cover time series analysis and models, such as exponential smoothing, ARIMA, and GARCH (including multivariate specifications), before exploring the popular CAPM and the Fama-French three-factor model. You'll then discover how to optimize asset allocation and use Monte Carlo simulations for tasks such as calculating the price of American options and estimating the Value at Risk (VaR). In later chapters, you'll work through an entire data science project in the financial domain. You'll also learn how to solve the credit card fraud and default problems using advanced classifiers such as random forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, and stacked models. You'll then be able to tune the hyperparameters of the models and handle class imbalance. Finally, you'll focus on learning how to use deep learning (PyTorch) for approaching financial tasks.By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to effectively analyze financial data using a recipe-based approach.

3095
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3096
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Cloud Native Software Security Handbook. Unleash the power of cloud native tools for robust security in modern applications

Mihir Shah

For cloud security engineers, it’s crucial to look beyond the limited managed services provided by cloud vendors and make use of the wide array of cloud native tools available to developers and security professionals, which enable the implementation of security solutions at scale. This book covers technologies that secure infrastructure, containers, and runtime environments using vendor-agnostic cloud native tools under the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).The book begins with an introduction to the whats and whys of the cloud native environment, providing a primer on the platforms that you’ll explore throughout. You’ll then progress through the book, following the phases of application development. Starting with system design choices, security trade-offs, and secure application coding techniques that every developer should be mindful of, you’ll delve into more advanced topics such as system security architecture and threat modelling practices. The book concludes by explaining the legal and regulatory frameworks governing security practices in the cloud native space and highlights real-world repercussions that companies have faced as a result of immature security practices.By the end of this book, you'll be better equipped to create secure code and system designs.