Source SDK Game Development Essentials. Develop engaging and immersive mods with Source SDK

Brett Joseph Bernier, Brett Bernier

3D Printing Blueprints. Using the free open-source Blender software, anyone can design models for 3D printing. Fantastic fun and a great experience whether or not you have a 3D printer, this book is a crash course in the new technology

Joe Larson

A new industrial age is here. Machines designed to build useful and interesting objects have moved from the factory to the home. Whether you have a 3D printer or not, learning how to design your first 3D models is the best way to become part of the 3D printing movement. 3D Printing Blueprints will teach you, step by step, the tools and techniques of using Blender, a free 3D modelling program, to build 3D models for printing with simple and fun hands-on projects.3D Printing Blueprints uses engaging and fun projects that teach Blender modeling for 3D printing through hands-on lessons. First you'll learn basic modeling and make a small simple object. Then each new project brings with it new tools and techniques as well as teaching the rules of 3D printing design. Eventually you'll be building objects designed to repair or replace everyday objects. Finally you'll be able to even tackle other people's models and fix them to be 3D printable.Through the course of doing the blueprints you will custom build one-of-a-kind objects that you can call your own. Starting from a custom vase formed from a picture, lessons will progress to a multi-part modular robot toy. Then simple machines will be designed with custom gears and functions. Eventually you'll learn how to download models from the Internet and make custom objects. Finally you'll be able to build models with near real life specifications and make a print that can be used for small object repair.3D Printing Blueprints will teach you everything you need to know about building custom 3D models to print successfully on modern home 3D printers.

Learning Angular 4 for .NET Developers. Develop dynamic .NET web applications powered by Angular 4

Rajesh Gunasundaram

Are you are looking for a better, more efficient, and more powerful way of building front-end web applications? Well, look no further, you have come to the right place! This book comprehensively integrates Angular version 4 into your tool belt, then runs you through all the new options you now have on hand for your web apps without bogging you down. The frameworks, tools, and libraries mentioned here will make your work productive and minimize the friction usually associated with building server-side web applications.Starting off with building blocks of Angular version 4, we gradually move into integrating TypeScript and ES6. You will get confident in building single page applications and using Angular for prototyping components. You will then move on to building web services and full-stack web application using ASP.NET WebAPI. Finally, you will learn the development process focused on rapid delivery and testability for all application layers.

GitHub Essentials. Unleash the power of collaborative development workflows using GitHub - Second Edition

Achilleas Pipinellis

Whether you are an experienced developer or a novice, learning to work with Version Control Systems is a must in the software development world. Git is the most popular tool for that purpose, and GitHub was built around it, leveraging its powers by bringing it to the web.Starting with the basics of creating a repository, you will then learn how to manage the issue tracker, the place where discussions about your project take place. Continuing our journey, we will explore how to use the wiki and write rich documentation that will accompany your project. You will also master organization/team management and some of the features that made GitHub so well known, including pull requests. Next, we will focus on creating simple web pages hosted on GitHub and lastly, we will explore the settings that are configurable for a user and a repository.

Building AI Applications with Microsoft Semantic Kernel. Easily integrate generative AI capabilities and copilot experiences into your applications

Lucas A. Meyer

In the fast-paced world of AI, developers are constantly seeking efficient ways to integrate AI capabilities into their apps. Microsoft Semantic Kernel simplifies this process by using the GenAI features from Microsoft and OpenAI.Written by Lucas A. Meyer, a Principal Research Scientist in Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, this book helps you get hands on with Semantic Kernel. It begins by introducing you to different generative AI services such as GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, demonstrating their integration with Semantic Kernel. You’ll then learn to craft prompt templates for reuse across various AI services and variables. Next, you’ll learn how to add functionality to Semantic Kernel by creating your own plugins. The second part of the book shows you how to combine multiple plugins to execute complex actions, and how to let Semantic Kernel use its own AI to solve complex problems by calling plugins, including the ones made by you. The book concludes by teaching you how to use vector databases to expand the memory of your AI services and how to help AI remember the context of earlier requests. You’ll also be guided through several real-world examples of applications, such as RAG and custom GPT agents.By the end of this book, you'll have gained the knowledge you need to start using Semantic Kernel to add AI capabilities to your applications.

WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook. Explore the complete set of tools to craft powerful plugins that extend the world’s most popular CMS - Third Edition

Yannick Lefebvre

WordPress is one of the most widely used, powerful, and open content management systems (CMSs). Whether you're a site owner trying to find the right extension, a developer who wants to contribute to the community, or a website developer working to fulfill a client's needs, learning how to extend WordPress' capabilities will help you to unleash its full potential. This book will help you become familiar with API functions to create secure plugins with easy-to-use administration interfaces.This third edition contains new recipes and up-to-date code samples, including new chapters on creating custom blocks for the block editor and integrating data from external sources. From one chapter to the next, you’ll learn how to create plugins of varying complexity, ranging from a few lines of code to complex extensions that provide intricate new capabilities. You'll start by using the basic mechanisms provided in WordPress to create plugins, followed by recipes covering how to design administration panels, enhance the post editor with custom fields, store custom data, and even create custom blocks. You'll safely incorporate dynamic elements into web pages using scripting languages, learn how to integrate data from external sources, and build new widgets that users will be able to add to WordPress sidebars and widget areas.By the end of this book, you will be able to create WordPress plugins to perform any task you can imagine.

BackTrack 4: Assuring Security by Penetration Testing. Master the art of penetration testing with BackTrack

Shakeel Ali, Tedi Heriyanto

BackTrack is a penetration testing and security auditing platform with advanced tools to identify, detect, and exploit any vulnerabilities uncovered in the target network environment. Applying appropriate testing methodology with defined business objectives and a scheduled test plan will result in robust penetration testing of your network.BackTrack 4: Assuring Security by Penetration Testing is a fully focused, structured book providing guidance on developing practical penetration testing skills by demonstrating the cutting-edge hacker tools and techniques in a coherent step-by-step strategy. It offers all the essential lab preparation and testing procedures to reflect real-world attack scenarios from your business perspective in today's digital age.The authors' experience and expertise enables them to reveal the industry's best approach for logical and systematic penetration testing.The first and so far only book on BackTrack OS starts with lab preparation and testing procedures, explaining the basic installation and configuration set up, discussing types of penetration testing (black-box and white-box), uncovering open security testing methodologies, and proposing the BackTrack specific testing process. The authors discuss a number of security assessment tools necessary to conduct penetration testing in their respective categories (target scoping, information gathering, discovery, enumeration, vulnerability mapping, social engineering, exploitation, privilege escalation, maintaining access, and reporting), following the formal testing methodology. Each of these tools is illustrated with real-world examples to highlight their practical usage and proven configuration techniques. The authors also provide extra weaponry treasures and cite key resources that may be crucial to any professional penetration tester.This book serves as a single professional, practical, and expert guide to developing hardcore penetration testing skills from scratch. You will be trained to make the best use of BackTrack OS either in a commercial environment or an experimental test bed.

Internet of Things with Arduino Cookbook. Build exciting IoT projects using the Arduino platform

Marco Schwartz

Arduino is a powerful and very versatile platform used by millions of people around the world to create DIY electronics projects. It can be connected to a wide variety of sensors and other components, making it the ideal platform to build amazing Internet of Things (IoT) projects on—the next wave in the era of computing.This book takes a recipe-based approach, giving you precise examples on how to build IoT projects of all types using the Arduino platform. You will come across projects from several fields, including the popular robotics and home automation domains. Along with being introduced to several forms of interactions within IoT, including projects that directly interact with well-known web services such as Twitter, Facebook, and Dropbox we will also focus on Machine-to-Machine (M2M) interactions, where Arduino projects interact without any human intervention. You will learn to build a few quick and easy-to-make fun projects that will really expand your horizons in the world of IoT and Arduino. Each chapter ends with a troubleshooting recipe that will help you overcome any problems faced while building these projects.By the end of this book, you will not only know how to build these projects, but also have the skills necessary to build your own IoT projects in the future.