Unity 2017 Game AI programming. Leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence to program smart entities for your games - Third Edition

Raymundo Barrera

Unity 2017 provides game and app developers with a variety of tools to implement Artificial Intelligence. Leveraging these tools via Unity's API or built-in features allows limitless possibilities when it comes to creating your game's worlds and characters. This third edition with Unity will help you break down Artificial Intelligence into simple concepts to give you a fundamental understanding of the topic to build upon. Using a variety of examples, the book then takes those concepts and walks you through actual implementations designed to highlight key concepts, and features related to game AI in Unity 5. Further on you will learn to distinguish the state machine pattern and implement one of your own. This is followed by learning how to implement a basic sensory system for your AI agent and coupling it with a Finite State Machine (FSM).Next you'll learn how to use Unity's built-in NavMesh feature and implement your own A* pathfinding system. You will then learn how to implement simple flocks and crowd's dynamics, key AI concepts. Moving on, you will learn how to implement a behavior tree through a game-focused example. Lastly, you'll combine fuzzy logic concepts with state machines and apply all the concepts in the book to build a simple tank game.

Blender 3D: Designing Objects. Click here to enter text

Romain Caudron, Pierre-Armand Nicq, Enrico Valenza

Blender is a powerful, stable tool with an integral workflow that will allow you to understand 3D creation with ease. With its integrated game engine and use of the Python language, it is an efficient choice for many productions, including 3D animated or live action films, architecture, research, and even game creation. Blender has an active community that contributes to expanding its functionalities. Today, it is used in many professional products and by many companies.Throughout Blender for Designers, you will create many types of complete projects using a step-by-step approach. Start by getting to know the modeling tools available in Blender to create a 3D robot toy, and discover more advanced techniques such as sculpting and retopology by creating an alien character. Move on in the second module to engage with the workflow used to create characters. Run through the process from modeling to the rendering stages, using the tools of the latest official release of Blender.The last module will teach you how to utilize the power of the Blender series to create a wide variety of materials, textures, and effects using the Cycles rendering engine. You will learn about node-based shader creation, and master Cycles through step-by-step, recipe-based advice. Start small by rendering the textures of stones and water, then scale things up to massive landscapes of mountains and oceans. 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:•Blender 3D By Example By Romain Caudron and Pierre-Armand Nicq•Blender 3D Cookbook By Enrico Valenza•Blender Cycles: Materials and Textures Cookbook - Third Edition By Enrico Valenza

Developing Modern Database Applications with PostgreSQL. Use the highly available and object-relational PostgreSQL to build scalable and reliable apps

Dr. Quan Ha Le, Marcelo Diaz

PostgreSQL is an open-source object-relational database management system (DBMS) that provides enterprise-level services, including high performance and scalability. This book is a collection of unique projects providing you with a wealth of information relating to administering, monitoring, and testing PostgreSQL. The focus of each project is on both the development and the administrative aspects of PostgreSQL.Starting by exploring development aspects such as database design and its implementation, you’ll then cover PostgreSQL administration by understanding PostgreSQL architecture, PostgreSQL performance, and high-availability clusters. Various PostgreSQL projects are explained through current technologies such as DevOps and cloud platforms using programming languages like Python and Node.js. Later, you’ll get to grips with the well-known database API tool, PostgREST, before learning how to use popular PostgreSQL database testing frameworks. The book is also packed with essential tips and tricks and common patterns for working seamlessly in a production environment. All the chapters will be explained with the help of a real-world case study on a small banking application for managing ATM locations in a city.By the end of this DBMS book, you’ll be proficient in building reliable database solutions as per your organization's needs.

World of Warcraft Gold Strategy Guide. The comprehensive guide to making gold in World of Warcraft, packed with the latest tips and strategies, designed to make you millions

Eric Gilmour, Eric Dekker

World of Warcraft provides an immersive gaming experience with an exciting new world to explore. In this world (of Warcraft), players use gold to improve their characters and buy exciting items such as armor, vanity items, pets, mounts, and so much more. WoW gold not only helps with levelling up, but also helps the player gain respect in the WoW community.World of Warcraft Gold Strategy Guide will show you the most effective ways to make gold in World of Warcraft. It includes detailed examples and instructions that will set you up to efficiently make plentiful amounts of gold both now and in future expansions.World of Warcraft Gold Strategy Guide will arm you with all the latest strategies to become a World of Warcraft gold tycoon.Start by setting up your accounts for optimal gold making and progress through to advanced market techniques. You will learn to maintain thousands of auctions per day, master add-ons to reduce time spent making gold and increase time spent playing, and set yourself up to obtain anything you want in game.The World of Warcraft Gold Strategy Guide teaches readers how to go from rags to riches.

Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam Guide. A comprehensive guide to passing the AZ-204 exam - Second Edition

Paul Ivey, Alex Ivanov

Get ready to delve into Microsoft Azure and build efficient cloud-based solutions with this updated second edition. Authored by seasoned Microsoft trainers, Paul Ivey and Alex Ivanov, this book offers a structured approach to mastering the AZ-204 exam topics while focusing on the intricacies of Azure development.You’ll familiarize yourself with cloud fundamentals, understanding the core concepts of Azure and various cloud models. Next, you’ll gain insights into Azure App Service web apps, containers and container-related services in Azure, Azure Functions, and solutions using Cosmos DB and Azure Blob Storage. Later, you'll learn how to secure your cloud solutions effectively as well as how to implement message- and event-based solutions and caching. You’ll also explore how to monitor and troubleshoot your solutions effectively. To build on your skills, you’ll get hands-on with monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing Azure applications, ensuring peak performance and reliability. Moving ahead, you’ll be able to connect seamlessly to third-party services, harnessing the power of API management, event-based solutions, and message-based solutions.By the end of this MS Azure book, you'll not only be well-prepared to pass the AZ-204 exam but also be equipped with practical skills to excel in Azure development projects.

Social Networking in Recruitment. Build your social networking expertise to give yourself a cost-effective advantage in the hiring market with this book and

Amanda Belton

Web Development with Julia and Genie. A hands-on guide to high-performance server-side web development with the Julia programming language

Ivo Balbaert, Adrian Salceanu, Logan Kilpatrick

Julia’s high-performance and scalability characteristics and its extensive number of packages for visualizing data make it an excellent fit for developing web apps, web services, and web dashboards. The two parts of this book provide complete coverage to build your skills in web development.First, you'll refresh your knowledge of the main concepts in Julia that will further be used in web development. Then, you’ll use Julia’s standard web packages and examine how the building blocks of the web such as TCP-IP, web sockets, HTTP protocol, and so on are implemented in Julia’s standard library. Each topic is discussed and developed into code that you can apply in new projects, from static websites to dashboards. You’ll also understand how to choose the right Julia framework for a project. The second part of the book talks about the Genie framework. You’ll learn how to build a traditional to do app following the MVC design pattern. Next, you’ll add a REST API to this project, including testing and documentation. Later, you’ll explore the various ways of deploying an app in production, including authentication functionality. Finally, you’ll work on an interactive data dashboard, making various chart types and filters.By the end of this book, you’ll be able to build interactive web solutions on a large scale with a Julia-based web framework.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Troubleshooting Guide. Identify, capture and resolve common issues faced by Red Hat Enterprise Linux administrators using best practices and advanced troubleshooting techniques

Benjamin Cane

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is an operating system that allows you to modernize your infrastructure, boost efficiency through virtualization, and finally prepare your data center for an open, hybrid cloud IT architecture. It provides the stability to take on today's challenges and the flexibility to adapt to tomorrow's demands.In this book, you begin with simple troubleshooting best practices and get an overview of the Linux commands used for troubleshooting. The book will cover the troubleshooting methods for web applications and services such as Apache and MySQL. Then, you will learn to identify system performance bottlenecks and troubleshoot network issues; all while learning about vital troubleshooting steps such as understanding the problem statement, establishing a hypothesis, and understanding trial, error, and documentation. Next, the book will show you how to capture and analyze network traffic, use advanced system troubleshooting tools such as strace, tcpdump & dmesg, and discover common issues with system defaults.Finally, the book will take you through a detailed root cause analysis of an unexpected reboot where you will learnto recover a downed system.

Azure DevOps Explained. Get started with Azure DevOps and develop your DevOps practices

Sjoukje Zaal, Stefano Demiliani, Amit Malik

Developing applications for the cloud involves changing development methodologies and procedures. Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) processes are a must today, but are often difficult to implement and adopt. Azure DevOps is a Microsoft Azure cloud service that enhances your application development life cycle and enables DevOps capabilities.Starting with a comprehensive product overview, this book helps you to understand Azure DevOps and apply DevOps techniques to your development projects. You'll find out how to adopt DevOps techniques for your development processes by using built-in Azure DevOps tools. Throughout the course of this book, you'll also discover how to manage a project with the help of project management techniques such as Agile and Scrum, and then progress toward development aspects such as source code management, build pipelines, code testing and artifacts, release pipelines, and GitHub integration. As you learn how to implement DevOps practices, this book will also provide you with real-world examples and scenarios of DevOps adoption.By the end of this DevOps book, you will have learned how to adopt and implement Azure DevOps features in your real-world development processes.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Cookbook. Click here to enter text

Mark Polino, Ian Grieve

The latest release of Dynamics GP 2016 offers a powerful, adaptable, and cloud enabled enterprise accounting software solution. The new version has experienced changes in serviced-based architecture, workflow, existing functionalities, and the introduction of plenty of new features. This book will help you get the most out of Dynamics GP quickly and effectively. This book picks up where implementation training leaves off. Whether you are new or experienced, you will find useful recipes to improve the way you use and work with Dynamics GP. The book starts with recipes designed to enhance the usefulness of Microsoft Dynamics GP by personalizing the look and feel of the application. Most of the recipes are designed to give you tips for a typical installation of Dynamics GP, including core financials and distribution modules. The book then moves through recipes that include automating Dynamics GP to allow users or administrators to focus on value adding tasks, connecting Dynamics GP to Microsoft Office, exposing hidden features in Dynamics GP, PowerBI, and much more!

Microsoft Unified XDR and SIEM Solution Handbook. Modernize and build a unified SOC platform for future-proof security

Raghu Boddu, Rod Trent, Sami Lamppu

Tired of dealing with fragmented security tools and navigating endless threat escalations? Take charge of your cyber defenses with the power of Microsoft's unified XDR and SIEM solution.This comprehensive guide offers an actionable roadmap to implementing, managing, and leveraging the full potential of the powerful unified XDR + SIEM solution, starting with an overview of Zero Trust principles and the necessity of XDR + SIEM solutions in modern cybersecurity. From understanding concepts like EDR, MDR, and NDR and the benefits of the unified XDR + SIEM solution for SOC modernization to threat scenarios and response, you’ll gain real-world insights and strategies for addressing security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the book will show you how to enhance Secure Score, outline implementation strategies and best practices, and emphasize the value of managed XDR and SIEM solutions. That’s not all; you’ll also find resources for staying updated in the dynamic cybersecurity landscape.By the end of this insightful guide, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of XDR, SIEM, and Microsoft's unified solution to elevate your overall security posture and protect your organization more effectively.

Spring: Developing Java Applications for the Enterprise. Build robust applications and microservices with Spring Framework, Spring Boot, and Spring Cloud

Ravi Kant Soni, Rajesh R V, Amuthan Ganeshan

This carefully designed course aims to get you started with Spring, the most widely adopted Java framework, and then goes on to more advanced topics such as building microservices using Spring Boot within Spring. With additional coverage of popular web frameworks such as Struts, WebWork, Java Server Faces, Tapestry, Docker, and Mesos, you'll have all the skills and expertise you need to build great applications. Starting with the Spring Framework architecture and setting up the key components of the Spring Application Development Environment, you will learn how to configure Spring Container and manage Spring beans using XML and Annotation. Next, you will delve into Spring MVC, which will help you build flexible and loosely coupled web applications. You'll also get to grips with testing applications for reliability. Moving on, this course will help you implement the microservice architecture in Spring Framework, Spring Boot, and Spring Cloud. Written to the latest specifications of Spring, this book will help you build modern, Internet-scale Java applications in no time.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:? Learning Spring Application Development by Ravi Kant Soni? Spring MVC Beginner's Guide - Second Edition by Amuthan Ganeshan? Spring Microservices by Rajesh RV

Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions. Exam Ref AZ-700 preparation guide

David Okeyode

Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions is a comprehensive guide that covers every aspect of the AZ-700 exam to help you fully prepare to take the certification exam.Packed with essential information, this book is a valuable resource for Azure cloud professionals, helping you build practical skills to design and implement name resolution, VNet routing, cross-VNet connectivity, and hybrid network connectivity using the VPN Gateway and the ExpressRoute Gateway. It provides step-by-step instructions to design and implement an Azure Virtual WAN architecture for enterprise use cases.Additionally, the book offers detailed guidance on network security design and implementation, application delivery services, private platform service connectivity, and monitoring networks in Azure. Throughout the book, you’ll find hands-on labs carefully integrated to align with the exam objectives of the Azure Network Engineer certification (AZ-700), complemented by practice questions at the end of each chapter, allowing you to test your knowledge.By the end of this book, you’ll have mastered the fundamentals of Azure networking and be ready to take the AZ-700 exam.

Mastering JavaScript Design Patterns. Write reliable code to create powerful applications by mastering advanced JavaScript design patterns - Second Edition

Simon Timms

With the recent release of ES-2015, there are several new object-oriented features and functions introduced in JavaScript. These new features enhance the capabilities of JavaScript to utilize design patterns and software design methodologies to write powerful code.Through this book, you will explore how design patterns can help you improve and organize your JavaScript code. You’ll get to grips with creational, structural and behavioral patterns as you discover how to put them to work in different scenarios. Then, you'll get a deeper look at patterns used in functional programming, as well as model view patterns and patterns to build web applications. This updated edition will also delve into reactive design patterns and microservices as they are a growing phenomenon in the world of web development. You will also find patterns to improve the testability of your code using mock objects, mocking frameworks, and monkey patching. We’ll also show you some advanced patterns including dependency injection and live post processing.By the end of the book, you'll be saved of a lot of trial and error and developmental headaches, and you will be on the road to becoming a JavaScript expert.

Oracle Warehouse Builder 11g R2: Getting Started 2011. Extract, Transform, and Load data to build a dynamic, operational data warehouse

Bob Griesemer, Robert E Griesemer

In today's economy, businesses and IT professionals cannot afford to lag behind the latest technologies. Data warehousing is a critical area to the success of many enterprises, and Oracle Warehouse Builder is a powerful tool for building data warehouses. It comes free with the latest version of the Oracle database.Written in an accessible, informative, and focused manner, this book will teach you to use Oracle Warehouse Builder to build your data warehouse. Covering warehouse design, the import of source data, the ETL cycle and more, this book will have you up and running in next to no time.This book will walk you through the complete process of planning, building, and deploying a data warehouse using Oracle Warehouse Builder. By the book's end, you will have built your own data warehouse from scratch.Starting with the installation of the Oracle Database and Warehouse Builder software, this book then covers the analysis of source data, designing a data warehouse, and extracting, transforming, and loading data from the source system into the data warehouse. You'll follow the whole process with detailed screenshots of key steps along the way that have all been updated for the new Fusion Client Platform interface in 11gR2, alongside numerous tips and hints not covered by the official documentation. You’ll finish up with a brand new chapter on code templates where you’ll implement a complete mapping using JDBC connectivity and code template mappings.

Embedded Linux Development with Yocto Project. Develop fascinating Linux-based projects using the groundbreaking Yocto Project tools

Otavio Salvador, Otavio R Salvador, Daiane Angolini

Unity Game Optimization. Enhance and extend the performance of all aspects of your Unity games - Third Edition

Dr. Davide Aversa, Chris Dickinson

Unity engine comes with a great set of features to help you build high-performance games. This Unity book is your guide to optimizing various aspects of your game development, from game characters and scripts, right through to animations.You’ll explore techniques for writing better game scripts and learn how to optimize a game using Unity technologies such as ECS and the Burst compiler. The book will also help you manage third-party tooling used with the Unity ecosystem. You’ll also focus on the problems in the performance of large games and virtual reality (VR) projects in Unity, gaining insights into detecting performance issues and performing root cause analysis. As you progress, you’ll discover best practices for your Unity C# script code and get to grips with usage patterns. Later, you’ll be able to optimize audio resources and texture files, along with effectively storing and using resource files. You’ll then delve into the Rendering Pipeline and learn how to identify performance problems in the pipeline. In addition to this, you’ll learn how to optimize the memory and processing unit of Unity. Finally, you’ll cover tips and tricks used by Unity professionals to improve the project workflow.By the end of this book, you’ll have developed the skills you need to build interactive games using Unity and its components.

VMware Cloud on AWS Blueprint. Design, automate, and migrate VMware workloads on AWS global infrastructure

Oleg Ulyanov, Michael Schwartzman, Harsha Sanku

If you’re looking to effortlessly transition from on-premises VMware vSphere environments or capital expenditure (CAPEX) to an agile operational expenditure (OPEX) model, trust the VMware Cloud (VMC) on AWS platform for swift re-platforming of legacy applications into cloud-native framework. This comprehensive guide addresses hybrid cloud challenges, offering detailed solutions within the VMware Cloud on AWS ecosystem.Covering the foundational architecture, software-defined data center (SDDC) components of VMware Cloud on AWS, network and security configurations, and AWS service integrations, this book lays the foundation for you to advance to vCenter management, vSAN storage policies, NSX architecture, compute policies, SDDC console management, and the EDRS mechanism for cluster scaling. You’ll also explore integrated services such as VMware HCX for migration, VMware Aria suite, Tanzu Managed Kubernetes, and disaster recovery.Further, the book takes you through VMware Cloud APIs and guides you in managing workloads with VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts. With the help of practical insights, configuration tips, and best practices, you’ll unlock the full potential of VMC on AWS.By the end of this book, you’ll be equipped to successfully architect and manage VMware Cloud on AWS SDDCs, handling day-to-day operations expertly.

3D Character Rigging in Blender. Bring your characters to life through rigging and make them animation-ready

Jaime Kelly

In the intricate world of 3D character rigging with Blender, aspiring artists often find themselves grappling with the daunting challenge of achieving results akin to seasoned professionals. This book is your guide to overcoming that very challenge, providing you with the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in this complex art form.As you embark on this creative journey, this book will guide you through a carefully crafted flow. Beginning with the basics, the first part of the book will teach you how to add structure to an empty canvas and master the art of weight painting in Blender. You'll delve into the intricacies of rigging humanoid characters, gain a deep understanding of the essential buttons and techniques, and discover invaluable success-boosting tips.Starting with simple mesh deformation using a single bone, you'll progress steadily toward the mastery of fully rigging a human character, all while comprehending the reasons behind each step in the process. Furthermore, the book leaves you with a selection of advanced techniques, fully explained, paving the way for a natural progression in your artistic journey and allowing you to continuously refine and enhance your skills.By the end of the book, you'll excel at crafting character rigs, seamlessly meeting professional pipeline demands in diverse teams and studios.

Machine Learning Engineering on AWS. Build, scale, and secure machine learning systems and MLOps pipelines in production

Joshua Arvin Lat

There is a growing need for professionals with experience in working on machine learning (ML) engineering requirements as well as those with knowledge of automating complex MLOps pipelines in the cloud. This book explores a variety of AWS services, such as Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, AWS Glue, AWS Lambda, Amazon Redshift, and AWS Lake Formation, which ML practitioners can leverage to meet various data engineering and ML engineering requirements in production.This machine learning book covers the essential concepts as well as step-by-step instructions that are designed to help you get a solid understanding of how to manage and secure ML workloads in the cloud. As you progress through the chapters, you’ll discover how to use several container and serverless solutions when training and deploying TensorFlow and PyTorch deep learning models on AWS. You’ll also delve into proven cost optimization techniques as well as data privacy and model privacy preservation strategies in detail as you explore best practices when using each AWS.By the end of this AWS book, you'll be able to build, scale, and secure your own ML systems and pipelines, which will give you the experience and confidence needed to architect custom solutions using a variety of AWS services for ML engineering requirements.

Java EE 7 Development with NetBeans 8. Develop professional enterprise Java EE applications quickly and easily with this popular IDE

David R Heffelfinger

Autodesk Civil 3D 2025 Unleashed. Elevate your civil engineering designs and advance your career with Autodesk Civil 3D

Stephen Walz, Tony Sabat

Autodesk Civil 3D 2025 Unleashed is a comprehensive guide that equips civil engineers and designers with advanced skills to unlock new levels of efficiency in their projects and careers. Divided into four parts, this book addresses different aspects of Civil 3D capabilities and extensions. Starting with elevating Civil 3D designs using Building Information Modeling (BIM) principles, you’ll develop a strong foundation in BIM and its integration into civil engineering projects. By focusing on design customization with Civil 3D extensions, this book will empower you to harness reality capture technologies, optimize grading designs, and explore content catalog customization. You'll delve into information management and automation with Civil 3D, covering property sets, Project Explorer, and workflow automation using tools like Dynamo for Civil 3D (D4C3D) and scripting. The book will also demonstrate how to prepare BIM designs within Civil 3D for a multitude of downstream uses. Finally, you’ll discover how to extend infrastructure designs beyond Civil 3D and integrate them into the BIM process with Navisworks and InfraWorks for better project collaboration and visualization. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to prepare and use BIM designs within Civil 3D and several other products for easier project creation and management.

Less Web Development Essentials. Leverage the features of Less to write better, reusable, and maintainable CSS code

Bass Jobsen

Flash with Drupal. Build dynamic, content-rich Flash CS3 and CS4 applications for Drupal 6

Travis Tidwell, Dries Buytaert

Due to its power and expandability, Drupal has become one of the most popular open source content management systems. At the same time, Flash has been adopted for its ability to create beautiful and dynamic web applications. By combining these technologies, you can create Flash applications that are both visually stunning and rich in content.This book is an in depth discussion and tutorial on how to integrate Flash applications with Drupal CMS. It will describe the best techniques and practices for integrating Flash technology with the power and flexibility of Drupal by building real-life Flash applications.Within this book, you will learn how to build Flash applications that show text from within Drupal and also present images, music, and video within a single Flash application. You will also be able to take advantage of the expandable fields and content filtering provided from the CCK and Views modules to add flexibility and power to your Flash applications. Finally, you will learn how to add your own custom functionality to Drupal and then utilize that from within your Flash applications leaving you with a world of possibilities.This book starts out with a simple introduction to Flash and Drupal technology where you will create a simple Flash application and then embed that within Drupal. From there, each subsequent chapter builds on the previous chapters tackling a new and challenging task.For each new task, you will take a step-by-step approach to building a real-life application that utilizes the feature introduced within that chapter. You will also explore alternative design approaches that will eliminate the current design challenges that developers face when building Flash-driven Drupal sites; and all this while staying true to the Object Oriented Principles that govern the foundation of the ActionScript 3 language. By the end of this book, you will be able to apply all the lessons learned from this book to any other use case you may encounter.