Download : HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites

HTML and CSS

A full-color introduction to the basics of HTML and CSS from the publishers of Wrox! Every day, more and more people want to learn some HTML and CSS. Joining the professional web designers and programmers are new audiences who need to know a little bit of code at work (update a content management system or e-commerce store) and those who want to make their personal blogs more attractive. 

Many books teaching HTML and CSS are dry and only written for those who want to become programmers, which is why this book takes an entirely new approach. Introduces HTML and CSS in a way that makes them accessible to everyone—hobbyists, students, and professionals—and it’s full-color throughout Utilizes information graphics and lifestyle photography to explain the topics in a simple way that is engaging Boasts a unique structure that allows you to progress through the chapters from beginning to end or just dip into topics of particular interest at your leisure This educational book is one that you will enjoy picking up, reading, then referring back to. It will make you wish other technical topics were presented in such a simple, attractive and engaging way! 

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Download : The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Since Lightroom first launched, Scott Kelby's The Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers has been the world's #1 best-selling Lightroom book. In this latest version for Lightroom 4, Scott uses his same step-by-step, plain-English style and layout to make learning Lightroom easy and fun. Scott doesn't just show you which sliders do what, and he doesn't just cover the newest features of Lightroom (though, of course, he does that, too, with discussions of the improved Clarity feature, White Balance adjustment brush, photo book capabilities, and much more). Instead, by using the following three simple, yet brilliant, techniques that make it just an incredible learning tool, this book shows you how to create your own photography workflow using Lightroom:

1) Scott shares his own personal settings and studio-tested techniques.  He trains thousands of Lightroom users every year, and knows first hand what really works and what doesn't.

2) The entire book is laid out in a real workflow order with everything step by step, so you can begin using Lightroom like a pro from the start.

3) What really sets this book apart is the last chapter. This is where Scott dramatically answers his #1 most-asked Lightroom question, which is: "Exactly what order am I supposed to do things in, and where does Photoshop fit in?"

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers is the first and only book to bring the whole process together in such a clear, concise, and visual way.

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Download : Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers, The [Paperback]

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom was designed from the ground up with digital photographers in mind, offering powerful editing features in a streamlined interface that lets photographers import, sort, and organize images. This completely updated bestseller was also written with photographers in mind. Author Martin Evening describes features in Lightroom 4 in detail from a photographer’s perspective. As an established commercial and fashion photographer, Martin knows firsthand what photographers need for an efficient workflow. He has also been working with Lightroom from the beginning, monitoring the product’s development and providing valued feedback to Adobe. As a result, Martin knows the software inside and out, from image selection to image editing to image management. 

In this book you’ll learn how to: 

• Work efficiently with images shot in the raw or JPEG format 

 • Import photographs with ease and sort them according to your workflow 

 • Create and manage a personal image library 

 • Apply tonal adjustments to multiple images quickly 

 • Integrate Lightroom with Adobe Photoshop 

• Export images for print or Web as digital contact sheets or personal portfolios 

• Make the most of new features in Lightroom 4, such as the Camera Raw Process 2012 Basic panel tone controls Photographers will find Lightroom 4–and The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book–indispensable tools in their digital darkrooms. This book’s companion site, www.thelightroombook.com, offers video tutorials, articles, sample images, and updates from author Martin Evening. “With Martin’s expert guidance, you’ll soon find that you have precisely the tools you need to turn your concentration back where it belongs–on making better pictures!”

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Download : What Is HTML5? [Kindle Edition]

What Is HTML5?

It is really difficult to complain about something that is free but I did spend the time to read the entire pamphlet hoping that I'd find something useful; and I didn't. I'm not sure who the target audience is intended to be. It seemed to me that to understand the context of the thesis you'd have to know more than a little bit about HTML and DOM to begin with. But even with that little bit of HTML and DOM knowledge you'd be frustrated because you never get a clear example of HTML versus HTML5. And if you didn't have that baseline HTML and DOM expertise then I think that "What is HTML5?" would leave you baffled.

I gave two stars because the points the author makes are valid and important, and it didn't cost me anything but my time. I just think that the points could have been made as effectively (maybe more so) in a 300 word blog entry, which would have been worth the time to read. 

HTML5 has been perhaps the most talked about revision of the web's native tongue since the early days of hyperlinked graphical online content. Over the years web has evolved far away from the paradigm of various linked "documents" which featured animation and interactivity as a bit of an afterthought. Various websites have become sophisticated enough to handle even the most demanding tasks that until recently on stand-alone desktop applications were capable of accomplishing. HTML alone was unable to handle many such applications on its own, and their implementation oftentimes require almost heroic efforts of coding wizardry and an alphabet soup of various online add-ons. This is where HTML5 comes in. It is designed from the ground up to be both compatible with previous versions of HTML, and provide the developer with an integrated approach to a whole variety of online formats and behaviors.

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Download : Introducing Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 [Kindle Edition]

Introducing Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012

Introducing Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 explores the exciting enhancements and new capabilities engineered into SQL Server, ranging from improvements in operation to those in reporting and management. This book is for anyone who has an interest in SQL Server 2012 and wants to understand its capabilities, including database administrators, application developers, and technical decision makers.

This is an excellent tome for all the new goodies included in Microsoft SQL Server 2012.

SQL Server 2012 included many new features, all of which are covered in this book. Data Quality Services (DQS), Column Store Indexes, the new tabular SSAS model, and semantic search, to name just a few.

In addition the enhancements are also covered, such as to the engine and security. But it also hits on other areas, such as MDS (Master Data Services), SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) and SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services).

Best of all, it's a good read. Not the boring drudgery you find in many computer books, the writing is lively and personal.  

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Download : Seven Languages in Seven Weeks: A Pragmatic Guide to Learning Programming Languages (Pragmatic Programmers)

Buy This Book

Ruby, Io, Prolog, Scala, Erlang, Clojure, Haskell. With Seven Languages in Seven Weeks, by Bruce A. Tate, you'll go beyond the syntax-and beyond the 20-minute tutorial you'll find someplace online. This book has an audacious goal: to present a meaningful exploration of seven languages within a single book. Rather than serve as a complete reference or installation guide, Seven Languages hits what's essential and unique about each language. Moreover, this approach will help teach you how to grok new languages.

For each language, you'll solve a nontrivial problem, using techniques that show off the language's most important features. As the book proceeds, you'll discover the strengths and weaknesses of the languages, while dissecting the process of learning languages quickly--for example, finding the typing and programming models, decision structures, and how you interact with them.

Among this group of seven, you'll explore the most critical programming models of our time. Learn the dynamic typing that makes Ruby, Python, and Perl so flexible and compelling. Understand the underlying prototype system that's at the heart of JavaScript. See how pattern matching in Prolog shaped the development of Scala and Erlang. Discover how pure functional programming in Haskell is different from the Lisp family of languages, including Clojure.

Explore the concurrency techniques that are quickly becoming the backbone of a new generation of Internet applications. Find out how to use Erlang's let-it-crash philosophy for building fault-tolerant systems. Understand the actor model that drives concurrency design in Io and Scala. Learn how Clojure uses versioning to solve some of the most difficult concurrency problems.

It's all here, all in one place. Use the concepts from one language to find creative solutions in another-or discover a language that may become one of your favorites.

Download : Seven Languages in Seven Weeks: A Pragmatic Guide to Learning Programming Languages (Pragmatic Programmers)

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Download : Beginning C++ Through Game Programming

Buy This Book

BEGINNING C++ THROUGH GAME PROGRAMMING, THIRD EDITION approaches learning C++ from the unique and fun perspective of games. Written for the beginning game developer or programmer, the book assumes no previous programming experience and each new skill and concept is taught using simple language and step-by-step instructions. Readers will complete small projects in each chapter to reinforce what they've learned and a final project at the end combines all of the major topics covered in the book. Featuring twenty five percent new material, this third edition covers all the latest technology and advances.

I highly recommend Beginning C++ through Game Programming, by Michael Dawson. This book is great for beginning programmers, especially if they have some previous programming experience (Worm Burner had already programmed in QBasic on Windows). Even if they had no previous experience, this book would walk them step-by-step through concepts like variables, input/output, loops, strings, and arrays. Best of all, it uses game example programs like Word Jumble, Mad Lib, and Tic-Tac-Toe to hook kids into figuring out the logic behind programming and applying their nascent C++ skills in a way that's fun and entertaining.

Download : Beginning C++ Through Game Programming

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