- Table View
- List View
The Craft and Science of Game Design: A Video Game Designer's Manual
by Philippe O'ConnorThe Craft and Science of Game Design: A Video Game Designer’s Manual goes into the nuts and bolts of video game development from the perspective of a veteran designer with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. It covers the psychology and biology of why people play games and goes in depth on the techniques and tricks professional game designers use to be successful in game development. If you are looking to make a career in video games, or are already in the industry, the insights and hard-earned lessons contained in this book are sure to be useful at all levels of the profession. Originally from Canada, Phil O’Connor has been making video games all over the world since 1997. Phil has worked at some of the industry’s largest studios on some of the biggest projects, including Far Cry 3 and Rainbow Six Siege. With credits on nearly 20 games, Phil has shared in this book some of the less-known details of being a game designer in today’s video game industry, along with a breakdown of some of the skills to help professional designers shine.
The Craft of Model-Based Testing
by Paul C. JorgensenIn his latest work, author Paul C Jorgensen takes his well-honed craftsman’s approach to mastering model-based testing (MBT). To be expert at MBT, a software tester has to understand it as a craft rather than an art. This means a tester should have deep knowledge of the underlying subject and be well practiced in carrying out modeling and testing techniques. Judgment is needed, as well as an understanding of MBT the tools. <P><P>The first part of the book helps testers in developing that judgment. It starts with an overview of MBT and follows with an in-depth treatment of nine different testing models with a chapter dedicated to each model. These chapters are tied together by a pair of examples: a simple insurance premium calculation and an event-driven system that describes a garage door controller. The book shows how simpler models—flowcharts, decision tables, and UML Activity charts—express the important aspects of the insurance premium problem. It also shows how transition-based models—finite state machines, Petri nets, and statecharts—are necessary for the garage door controller but are overkill for the insurance premium problem. Each chapter describes the extent to which a model can support MBT. <P><P>The second part of the book gives testers a greater understanding of MBT tools. It examines six commercial MBT products, presents the salient features of each product, and demonstrates using the product on the insurance premium and the garage door controller problems. These chapters each conclude with advice on implementing MBT in an organization. The last chapter describes six Open Source tools to round out a tester’s knowledge of MBT. In addition, the book supports the International Software Testing Qualifications Board’s (ISTQB®) MBT syllabus for certification.
The Craft of the Cut: The Final Cut Pro X Editor's Handbook
by Mark Riley Marios ChirtouThe art of professional video editing. Although technology is rapidly evolving, it is still complicated to edit video. This unique book not only teaches you the art of professional editing, it also gives you authentic professional experience. You'll be guided through a typical industry production workflow; you'll have access to raw footage, including alternate takes of each scene from a professional short film; and you'll make your own decisions. By the book's end, you'll have completed your own version of a film. It's the perfect primer for aspiring editors who want to ascend to industry-level positions. Immerses you in the actual experience of editing a film, from video rushes to the shooting script and continuity notes Provides actual media, including alternate takes, and you make all the decisions Walks you through the post-production of a professional short film; by the book's end, you will have acquired the skills to complete your own version of the film Shows you how to use Final Cut Pro X as part of the production process The Craft of the Cut goes deep inside the world of professional video editing and equips you with skills for professional-level editing. The Craft of the Cut project files will work with the latest version of Final Cut Pro X (10.1) but they need to be updated first: Either copy the Craft of the Cut disk image file on the DVD to your hard disc and click on it to mount it or, if you are using an ebook version use the link provided in the front matter of the ebook to download the files and follow the instructions in the READ ME FIRST document. Launch Final Cut Pro X. When FCPX opens it won't see the project and event folders that are on the disk image. These need to be updated first. You do this by going to: File > Update Projects and Events and then clicking Update All on the dialog box that appears. It will now show all the events and projects for Craft of the Cut as in previous versions of Final Cut Pro X, but using the new layout. This only needs to be done once. Next time you launch FCPX it will still be able to see the updated files.
The Crash Bandicoot Files: How Willy the Wombat Sparked Marsupial Mania
by Jason Rubin Andy GavinA deluxe hardcover reproduction of Naughty Dog's original Crash Bandicoot developer's bible! Take a rare glimpse into the making of a videogame icon, and gain a first-hand taste of the undistilled creativity that brought Crash, Cortex, Aku Aku, and the rest of your favorite characters to millions of screens around the world!Reproducing Naughty Dog's original design document for Crash Bandicoot from the best available sources, this unique volume features original concept illustrations and includes a foreword from Crash's creators to lend insight into how Crash Bandicoot came to be the unforgettable videogame character he is today. This tome is sure to please all who possess a thirst for imagination and curiosity surrounding the creation of games!
The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications
by Paul StarrAmerica's leading role in today's information revolution may seem simply to reflect its position as the world's dominant economy and most powerful state. But by the early nineteenth century, when the United States was neither a world power nor a primary center of scientific discovery, it was already a leader in communications-in postal service and newspaper publishing, then in development of the telegraph and telephone networks, later in the whole repertoire of mass communications.<P><P> In this wide-ranging social history of American media, from the first printing press to the early days of radio, Paul Starr shows that the creation of modern communications was as much the result of political choices as of technological invention. His original historical analysis reveals how the decisions that led to a state-run post office and private monopolies on the telegraph and telephone systems affected a developing society. He illuminates contemporary controversies over freedom of information by exploring such crucial formative issues as freedom of the press, intellectual property, privacy, public access to information, and the shaping of specific technologies and institutions. America's critical choices in these areas, Starr argues, affect the long-run path of development in a society and have had wide social, economic, and even military ramifications. The Creation of the Media not only tells the history of the media in a new way; it puts America and its global influence into a new perspective.
The Creative Electronic Music Producer (Perspectives on Music Production)
by Thomas BrettThe Creative Electronic Music Producer examines the creative processes of electronic music production, from idea discovery and perception to the power of improvising, editing, effects processing,sound design. Featuring case studies from across the globe on musical systems and workflows used in the production process, this book highlights how to pursue creative breakthroughs through exploration, trial and error tinkering, recombination, and transformation.The Creative Electronic Music Producer maps production's enchanting pathways in a way that will fascinate and inspire students of electronic music production, professionals already working in the industry, and hobbyists.
The Creative Person's Website Builder
by Alannah MooreSo many creative businesses are run online these days. Whether it is used as an online shop, a marketing tool, or a portfolio, a good website is an essential for artists, photographers, designers, and makers from all creative backgrounds and disciplines. This community of people, in particular, needs the design and function of their sites to reflect their individuality and style. This book is the perfect one-stop shop for every creative person's needs. Using WordPress, it takes you quickly and rigorously through the process of setting up a website, giving you tips and hints to improve your style choices and create the look you are aiming for. It also showcases a variety of approaches to creative websites, covering everything from the online shop to portfolio sites. And, to give you the best chance at grabbing an audience, the latest search-engine optimization and social-media techniques are explored.
The Creative Person's Website Builder: How to Make a Pro Website Yourself Using Word Press and Other Easy Tools
by Alannah MooreYour website is the face that your creative endeavours show to the world, and you owe it to yourself to make it the most inviting and user-friendly site on the web. With The Creative Person's Website Builder, you'll learn how to create a site from scratch, or massively improve what you already have, quickly and economically.Tailor-made for creative professionals, artists and entrepreneurs, this book offers step-by-step solutions to constructing a site that looks great, works smoothly, and drives visitor numbers up.
The Creative Programmer
by Wouter GroeneveldProgramming is a creative act. These techniques will help you maximize the power of creativity to improve your software and your satisfaction in creating it.In The Creative Programmer you&’ll discover: The seven dimensions of creativity in software engineering The scientific understanding of creativity and how it translates to programming Actionable advice and thinking exercises that will make you a better programmer Innovative communication skills for working more efficiently on a team Creative problem-solving techniques for tackling complex challenges In The Creative Programmer you&’ll learn the processes and habits of highly creative individuals and discover how you can build creativity into your programming practice. This fascinating new book introduces the seven domains of creative problem solving and teaches practical techniques that apply those principles to software development. Hand-drawn illustrations, reflective thought experiments, and brain-tickling example problems help you get your creative juices flowing—you&’ll even be able to track your progress against a scientifically validated Creative Programming Problem Solving Test. Before you know it, you&’ll be thinking up new and novel ways to tackle the big challenges of your projects. Foreword by Dr. Felienne Hermans. About the Technology Like composing music, starting a business, or designing a marketing campaign, programming is a creative activity. And just like technical skills, creativity can be learned and improved with practice! This thought-provoking book details practical methods to turn creativity into more effective problem solving, higher productivity, and better software. About the Book The Creative Programmer explores seven dimensions of creativity in software engineering—technical knowledge, collaboration, constraints, critical thinking, curiosity, a creative state of mind, and creative techniques. As you read, you&’ll apply insights about creativity from other disciplines to the challenges of software development. Numerous relevant examples and exercises drive each lesson home. You&’ll especially enjoy the unique Creative Programming Problem Solving Test that helps you assess how creative you&’ve been with a programming task. What&’s Inside The scientific understanding of creativity and how it translates to programming Advice and exercises that will help you become a creative programmer Innovative communication skills for working more efficiently on a team Creative problem-solving techniques for tackling complex challenges About the Reader For programmers of all skill levels. About the Author Wouter Groeneveld is a software engineer and computer science education researcher at KU Leuven, where he researches the importance of creativity in software engineering. Table of Contents: 1 The creative road ahead 2 Technical knowledge 3 Communication 4 Constraints 5 Critical thinking 6 Curiosity 7 Creative state of mind 8 Creative techniques 9 Final thoughts on creativity
The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI
by Marcus Du SautoyMost books on AI focus on the future of work. But now that algorithms can learn and adapt, does the future of creativity also belong to well-programmed machines? To answer this question, Marcus du Sautoy takes us to the forefront of creative new technologies and offers a more positive and unexpected vision of our future cohabitation with machines.
The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI
by Marcus du SautoyMost books on AI focus on the future of work. But now that algorithms can learn and adapt, does the future of creativity also belong to well-programmed machines? To answer this question, Marcus du Sautoy takes us to the forefront of creative new technologies and offers a more positive and unexpected vision of our future cohabitation with machines.
The Creeper Attack: An Unofficial Minecrafters Time Travel Adventure (Unofficial Minecrafters Time Travel #2)
by Winter MorganAfter returning home from their travels through time, Brett just wants to return to his everyday life. He and his friend Poppy have been invited to build a new farm in the cold biome, and Brett begins to prepare. But as he gathers crops, he falls down the portal, and this time it carries him to the future! With nowhere else to turn, Brett travel to the future Meadow Mews, only to find it under daily attacks from creepers. He sees his friends—and his future self—living in constant fear. He wants nothing more than to help, but how can he explain his who he is? Worst of all, what happens when his friend assume he is a villain who stole their friend’s skin? Join Brett as he struggles to find a way to save his village in the second installment of the Unofficial Minecrafters Time Travel Adventure series from bestselling author Winter Morgan!
The Creeper Code: 5-Minute Mysteries for Minecrafters (5-Minute Stories for Minecrafters #2)
by Grace Sandford Greyson MannCreepers abound in Birchtown. So do mysteries! Like, who destroyed the village garden? What’s that strange music coming from the cobblestone well? And who—or what—keeps blowing up the blacksmith shop? Oliver and Audrey investigate in 5-Minute Mysteries for Minecrafters, an all-new series of stories for Minecrafters that can be read in five minutes! In The Creeper Code, the very first book in this mystery series, Oliver and Audrey learn there’s a reward for tracking creepers and cracking cases. From secrets in the swamp to bungles in the jungle, there are mysterious happenings in every block of the biome. But with Oliver’s eye for detail, Audrey’s courage, and their wolf-dog’s super-sniffing nose, no case is too tough for these twins to crack. Follow twins Oliver and Audrey as they solve mini mysteries in Birchtown—and all around the Overworld in The Creeper Code. In between mini mysteries are coded messages for you to decipher. You can solve each mystery, too—by searching for clues hidden in the stories and illustrations! Help decipher messages written in the “creeper code.” Hunt for clues and try to solve each mystery before Audrey and Oliver do!
The Crossing of Heaven
by Karl Gustafson Ioannis AntoniouAmong the group of physics honors students huddled in 1957 on a Colorado mountain watching Sputnik bisect the heavens, one young scientist was destined, three short years later, to become a key player in America's own top-secret spy satellite program. One of our era's most prolific mathematicians, Karl Gustafson was given just two weeks to write the first US spy satellite's software. The project would fundamentally alter America's Cold War strategy, and this autobiographical account of a remarkable academic life spent in the top flight tells this fascinating inside story for the first time. Gustafson takes you from his early pioneering work in computing, through fascinating encounters with Nobel laureates and Fields medalists, to his current observations on mathematics, science and life. He tells of brushes with death, being struck by lightning, and the beautiful women who have been a part of his journey.
The Crowdsourceress: Get Smart, Get Funded, and Kickstart Your Next Big Idea
by Alex Daly"Neil Young's Pono campaign was the third most successful hardware campaign of all time, and Alex deserves much of the credit, second only to Neil, of course. The Crowdsourceress will give you everything you need to make your campaign a success." --Phil Baker, COO, Pono"Owning The Crowdsourceress is like having Alex Daly's 'special sauce' right at your fingertips."--Jesse Reed, cofounder, Standards Manual In recent years, the crowdfunding industry has generated several billions in funding. But the harsh reality is that around 60 percent of Kickstarter campaigns fail. Enter Alex Daly, a crowdfunding expert who has raised over $20 million for her clients' campaigns. She has run some of Kickstarter's biggest projects-TLC's newest album, Neil Young's audio player, and Joan Didion's documentary. In this book, Daly takes readers deep inside her most successful campaigns, showing you how toGet fans and influencers excited about your launchBuild an appealing and powerfully designed campaignAccess proven video tips, pitching tactics, press releases, and rewards ideasAvoid the most common headaches and pitfallsHere you'll get tangible tools to run your own crowdfunding campaigns and fully connect with the crowd, get people to pay attention, and inspire them to act.
The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze
by Laura ShinThe story of the idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses.In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures—vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments.The recent growth of crypto would have been all but impossible if not for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his creation: Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes readers inside the founding of this novel cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, thus creating a new crypto fever. She introduces readers to larger-than-life characters like Buterin, the Web3 wunderkind; his short-lived CEO, Charles Hoskinson; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP who became one of crypto&’s most well-known billionaires. Sparks fly as these outsized personalities fight for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity.This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power.
The Csound Book: Perspectives in Software Synthesis, Sound Design, Signal Processing and Programming
by Richard BoulangerWritten by the world's leading educators, programmers, sound designers, and composers, this comprehensive guide covers both the basics of Csound and the theoretical and musical concepts necessary to use the program effectively.
The Cuckoo's Egg
by Clifford StollWhen computers exist hacker's coexist. Cliff Stoll found that his system was being used by someone else. It took a while for him to realize that there was a hacker behind it. So he decided to unwind the mystery by some undercover work.
The Cuckoo's Egg: Inside the World of Computer Espionage
by Clifford StollCliff Stoll was an astronomer turned systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab when a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized users on his system. The hacker's code name was "Hunter"-- a mystery invader hiding inside a twisting electronic labyrinth, breaking into U. S. computer systems and stealing sensitive military and security information. Stoll began a one-man hunt of his own, spying on the spy-- and plunging into an incredible international probe that finally gained the attention of top U. S. counter-intelligence agents. "The Cuckoo's Egg is his wild and suspenseful true story-- a year of deception, broken codes, satellites, missile bases and the ultimate sting operation-- and how one ingenious American trapped a spy ring paid in cash and cocaine, and reporting to the KGB.
The Cucumber Book: Behaviour-Driven Development for Testers and Developers
by Matt Wynne Aslak Hellesoy Steve TookeYour customers want rock-solid, bug-free software that does exactly what they expect it to do. Yet they can't always articulate their ideas clearly enough for you to turn them into code. You need Cucumber: a testing, communication, and requirements tool-all rolled into one. All the code in this book is updated for Cucumber 2.4, Rails 5, and RSpec 3.5. Express your customers' wild ideas as a set of clear, executable specifications that everyone on the team can read. Feed those examples into Cucumber and let it guide your development. Build just the right code to keep your customers happy. You can use Cucumber to test almost any system or any platform. Get started by using the core features of Cucumber and working with Cucumber's Gherkin DSL to describe-in plain language-the behavior your customers want from the system. Then write Ruby code that interprets those plain-language specifications and checks them against your application. Next, consolidate the knowledge you've gained with a worked example, where you'll learn more advanced Cucumber techniques, test asynchronous systems, and test systems that use a database. Recipes highlight some of the most difficult and commonly seen situations the authors have helped teams solve. With these patterns and techniques, test Ajax-heavy web applications with Capybara and Selenium, REST web services, Ruby on Rails applications, command-line applications, legacy applications, and more. Written by the creator of Cucumber and the co-founders of Cucumber Ltd., this authoritative guide will give you and your team all the knowledge you need to start using Cucumber with confidence. What You Need: Windows, Mac OS X (with XCode) or Linux, Ruby 1.9.2 and upwards, Cucumber 2.4, Rails 5, and RSpec 3.5
The Cucumber for Java Book: Behaviour-Driven Development for Testers and Developers
by Matt Wynne Aslak Hellesoy Seb RoseTeams working on the JVM can now say goodbye forever to misunderstood requirements, tedious manual acceptance tests, and out-of-date documentation. Cucumber - the popular, open-source tool that helps teams communicate more effectively with their customers - now has a Java version, and our bestselling Cucumber Book has been updated to match. The Cucumber for Java Book has the same great advice about how to deliver rock-solid applications collaboratively, but with all code completely rewritten in Java. New chapters cover features unique to the Java version of Cucumber, and reflect insights from the Cucumber team since the original book was published.Until now it's been difficult for teams developing Java applications to learn how to benefit from Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD). This book changes all that by describing in detail how to use Cucumber to harness the power of plain language specifications in your development process.In part 1, you'll discover how to use Cucumber's Gherkin DSL to describe the behavior your customers want from the system. You'll also learn how to write Java code that interprets those plain language specifications and checks them against your application. Part 2 guides you through a worked example, using Spring, MySQL, and Jetty. Enhanced chapters teach you how to use Selenium to drive your application and handle asynchronous Ajax calls, and new chapters cover Dependency Injection (DI) and advanced techniques to help keep your test suites fast. Part 3 shows you how to integrate Cucumber with your Continuous Integration (CI) system, work with a REST web service, and even use BDD with legacy applications.Written by the creator of Cucumber and two of its most experienced users and contributors, The Cucumber for Java Book is an authoritative guide that will give you and your team all the knowledge you need to start using Cucumber with confidence.
The Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition
by Leander Kahney David PieriniIt's been nearly fifteen years since Apple fans raved over the first edition of the critically-acclaimed The Cult of Mac. This long-awaited second edition brings the reader into the world of Apple today while also filling in the missing history since the 2004 edition, including the creation of Apple brand loyalty, the introduction of the iPhone, and the death of Steve Jobs.Apple is a global luxury brand whose products range from mobile phones and tablets to streaming TVs and smart home speakers. Yet despite this dominance, a distinct subculture persists, which celebrates the ways in which Apple products seem to encourage self-expression, identity, and innovation.The beautifully designed second edition of The Cult of Mac takes you inside today's Apple fandom to explore how devotions--new and old--keep the fire burning. Join journalists Leander Kahney and David Pierini as they explore how enthusiastic fans line up for the latest product releases, and how artists pay tribute to Steve Jobs' legacy in sculpture and opera. Learn why some photographers and filmmakers have eschewed traditional gear in favor of iPhone cameras. Discover a community of collectors around the world who spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy, restore, and enshrine Apple artifacts, like the Newton MessagePad and Apple II.Whether you're an Apple fan or just a casual observer, this second edition of The Cult of Mac is sure to reveal more than a few surprises, offering an intimate look at some of the most dedicated members in the Apple community.
The Cult of the Amateur: How blogs, MySpace, YouTube and the rest of today's user-generated media are killing our culture and economy
by Andrew KeenA new, updated edition, with a new foreword of Andrew Keen's witty and provocative polemic against the rise of user-generated content and the anything goes standards of much online publishing, which set the blogosphere and media alight on publication. Dubbed the 'anti-christ' of Silicon Valley and a dot-com apostate Andrew Keen is the leading contemporary critic of the Internet. and The Cult of the Amateur is a scathing attack on the mad utopians of Web 2.0 and the wisdom of the crowd. Keen argues that much of the content filling up YouTube, MySpace, and blogs is just an endless digital forest of mediocrity which, unconstrained by professional standards or editorial filters, can alter public debate and manipulate public opinion.
The Cultural Imaginary of the Internet: Virtual Utopias and Dystopias
by Majid YarContemporary culture offer contradictory views of the internet and new media technologies, painting them in extremes of optimistic enthusiasm and pessimistic concern. This book explores such representations, uncovering the roots of our cultural responses to the internet, centred upon a profoundly ambivalent reaction to technological modernity.
The Cultural Logic of Computation
by David GolumbiaAdvocates of computers make sweeping claims for their inherently transformative power: new and different from previous technologies, they are sure to resolve many of our existing social problems, and perhaps even to cause a positive political revolution. In The Cultural Logic of Computation, David Golumbia, who worked as a software designer for more than ten years, confronts this orthodoxy, arguing instead that computers are cultural “all the way down”—that there is no part of the apparent technological transformation that is not shaped by historical and cultural processes, or that escapes existing cultural politics. From the perspective of transnational corporations and governments, computers benefit existing power much more fully than they provide means to distribute or contest it. Despite this, our thinking about computers has developed into a nearly invisible ideology Golumbia dubs “computationalism”—an ideology that informs our thinking not just about computers, but about economic and social trends as sweeping as globalization. Driven by a programmer’s knowledge of computers as well as by a deep engagement with contemporary literary and cultural studies and poststructuralist theory, The Cultural Logic of Computation provides a needed corrective to the uncritical enthusiasm for computers common today in many parts of our culture.