JDBC has simplified database access in Java applications, but a few nagging wrinkles remain--namely, persisting Java objects to relational databases. With this book, you'll learn how the Spring Framework makes that job incredibly easy with dependency injection, template classes, and object-relational-mapping (ORM).

Through sample code, you'll discover how Spring streamlines the use of JDBC and ORM tools such as Hibernate, the Java Persistence API (JPA), and Java Data Objects (JDO). If you're a Java developer familiar with Spring (perhaps through O'Reilly's "Just Spring" tutorial) and want to advance your data access skills, this book shows you how. Learn how to use Spring's basic and advanced data access tools Work with Spring's JdbcTemplate class to separate non-critical code from business code Eliminate placeholder variables in your queries with the NamedParameterJdbcTemplate class Use Spring's template classes to perform batch executions Operate inserts on database tables without writing any SQL statements Learn about Spring's support for Hibernate as an object-relational-mapping tool Use JPA as a standards-based ORM--alone or with Spring support Move data from a relational to a non-relational database with JDO

If your web application's success depends on how quickly and easily users can make transactions, PayPal APIs provide effective solutions you can't afford to overlook. This concise book takes you hands-on through several options to help you determine the best choice for your situation, whether you're collecting money via websites or mobile apps for products and services, donations, or anything else.

In each chapter, you'll work with a different PayPal API by integrating it into the book's sample application, using Python and the Google App Engine framework. This expanded edition introduces two new options: Express Checkout for Digital Goods and Instant Payment Notifications, complete with sample project code. By the end of this book, you'll understand how to take full advantage of PayPal and its powerful features. Learn PayPal API basics, and get an introduction to Google App Engine Explore the Express Checkout option, and understand what distinguishes it from other generic workflows Tailor Express Checkout for electronic documents, videos, and other "in app" digital purchases Apply the Adaptive Payments option for transactions that involve multiple recipients Embed the payment process into your site with no mention of PayPal, using Website Payments Pro Use the Instant Payment Notifications you receive as triggers to take follow-up action

Get started with Spring Integration, the lightweight Java-based framework that makes designing and developing message-oriented architectures a breeze. Through numerous examples, you'll learn how to use this open source framework's basic building blocks to work with both inter- and intra-application programming models.

If you're a Java developer familiar with the Spring framework (perhaps through O'Reilly's Just Spring tutorial) and want to advance your skills with Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) patterns, and messaging systems in particular, this book is ideal. Learn Spring Integration fundamentals, including channels, endpoints, and messages Use message channels to decouple applications, separating producers from consumers Discover how common endpoint patterns separate a messaging application's business logic from integration details Create a seamless integration between the endpoints, using Transformers Implement Spring Integration's flow components to design your messaging application's business flow Configure the framework's File, FTP, JMS, and JDBC adapters to integrate with external systems

If you know how to use JavaScript in the browser, you already have the skills you need to put JavaScript to work on back-end servers with Node. This hands-on book shows you how to use this popular JavaScript platform to create simple server applications, communicate with the client, build dynamic pages, work with data, and tackle other tasks.

Although Node has a complete library of developer-contributed modules to automate server-side development, this book will show you how to program with Node on your own, so you truly understand the platform. Discover firsthand how well Node works as a web server, and how easy it is to learn and use. Set up Node and learn how to build scaffolding for a web application Work with Node natively to see how it functions as a web server Understand how Node receives client data from GET and POST requests Use the Socket.IO module to facilitate realtime client-server communication Choose from among several Node templates to create dynamic pages Learn how to connect to a database, and store data in files Implement the Model-View-Controller pattern, and share Node modules with server and client

InPro JavaFX 2: A Definitive Guide to Rich Clients with Java Technology, Jim Weaver, Weiqi Gao, Stephen Chin, Dean Iverson, and Johan Vos show you how you can use the JavaFX platform to create rich-client Java applications. You'll see how JavaFX provides a powerful Java-based UI platform capable of handling large-scale data-driven business applications. Covering the JavaFX API, development tools, and best practices, this book provides code examples that explore the exciting new features provided with JavaFX 2. It contains engaging tutorials that cover virtually every facet of JavaFX development and reference materials on JavaFX that augment the JavaFX API documentation. Written in an engaging and friendly style, Pro JavaFX 2 is an essential guide to JavaFX 2. What you'll learn How to get started with JavaFX 2, including downloading the SDK and available tools. How to express user interfaces with a declarative-style enabled by the JavaFX builder classes. How to use property binding to keep the UI easily in sync with the model. How to use the rich set of JavaFX UI controls, charts, shapes, effects, transformations, and animations to create stunning, responsive, user interfaces. How to use the powerful JavaFX layout classes to define the user interface in a cross-platform fashion. How to leverage the observable collection classes to observe changes in, and bind to, Java collections. How to use the JavaFX media classes to play audio and video. How to interact with external application services to create an enterprise application with JavaFX. How to use the JavaFX API with alternative languages such as Scala, Groovy, and Visage. How to uncover the JavaFX APIs to whatever degree you choose. The tutorials, reference materials, and pointers to resources are exhaustive. Who this book is for

Application developers, graphic designers, and IT decision makers. Not only does this book contain comprehensive technical information for developers and designers, it builds a compelling case for choosing JavaFX for web applications and RIAs. Table of Contents Getting a Jump Start in JavaFX Creating a User Interface in JavaFX Properties and Bindings Dynamically Laying Out Nodes in the User Interface Using the JavaFX UI Controls Collections and Concurrency Creating Charts in JavaFX Using the Media Classes Accessing Web Services JavaFX Languages and Markup Appendix A: TheVisage Language In-Depth

Take advantage of Sinatra, the Ruby-based web application library and domain-specific language used by Heroku, GitHub, Apple, Engine Yard, and other prominent organizations. With this concise book, you will quickly gain working knowledge of Sinatra and its minimalist approach to building both standalone and modular web applications.

Sinatra serves as a lightweight wrapper around Rack middleware, with syntax that maps closely to functions exposed by HTTP verbs, which makes it ideal for web services and APIs. If you have experience building applications with Ruby, you'll quickly learn language fundamentals and see under-the-hood techniques, with the help of several practical examples. Then you'll get hands-on experience with Sinatra by building your own blog engine.Learn Sinatra's core concepts, and get started by building a simple applicationCreate views, manage sessions, and work with Sinatra route definitionsBecome familiar with the language's internals, and take a closer look at RackUse different subclass methods for building flexible and robust architecturesPut Sinatra to work: build a blog that takes advantage of service hooks provided by the GitHub API

Learn how to leverage MongoDB with your Python applications, using the hands-on recipes in this book. You get complete code samples for tasks such as making fast geo queries for location-based apps, efficiently indexing your user documents for social-graph lookups, and many other scenarios.

This guide explains the basics of the document-oriented database and shows you how to set up a Python environment with it. Learn how to read and write to MongoDB, apply idiomatic MongoDB and Python patterns, and use the database with several popular Python web frameworks. You'll discover how to model your data, write effective queries, and avoid concurrency problems such as race conditions and deadlocks.

The recipes will help you: Read, write, count, and sort documents in a MongoDB collectionLearn how to use the rich MongoDB query languageMaintain data integrity in replicated/distributed MongoDB environmentsUse embedding to efficiently model your data without joinsCode defensively to avoid keyerrors and other bugsApply atomic operations to update game scores, billing systems, and more with the fast accounting patternUse MongoDB with the Pylons 1.x, Django, and Pyramid web frameworks

Building rich JavaScript applications that bring the desktop experience to the Web is now possible, thanks to powerful JavaScript engines and the CSS3 and HTML5 specifications. The key is moving state from the server to the client side, but that's no simple task. This book takes you through all the steps necessary to create state-of-the-art JavaScript applications, including structure, templating, frameworks, communicating with the server, and many other issues. Through practical, tutorial-based explanations, you learn how to create JavaScript applications that offer a much more responsive and improved experience. You'll work hands-on with an example application throughout the book to learn the concepts involved.* Explore MVC and how to best structure and manage dependencies inside your application * Get an introduction to templating and data binding * Learn about loading remote data, Ajax Level 2 and cross-domain requests * Use WebSockets and Node to create realtime applications * Accept dropped files and upload data with progress indicators * Learn about major frameworks and libraries, including jQuery, JavaScriptMVC and Backbone * Write tests and use the console to debug your applications * Get deployment best practices, such as caching and minification

How do you transform user interface designs created in Photoshop or Illustrator into interactive web pages? It's easier than you think. This guide shows you how to use Adobe Flash Catalyst to create interactive UIs and website wireframes for Rich Internet Applications--without writing a single line of code.

Ideal for web designers, this book introduces Flash Catalyst basics with detailed step-by-step instructions and screenshots that illustrate every part of the process. You'll learn hands-on how to turn your static design or artwork into working user interfaces that can be implemented in Flash Builder or Adobe AIR. Get an overview of Flash Catalyst's interactive components Import files from Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks Convert your artwork into interactive components and apply specific actions Create animated transitions between the web pages in your project Test interactive components and transitions while you work Get optimization tips to help you create fast-loading applications Export projects to the SWF format for web use, or to Adobe AIR for desktop applications

You're a student who wants to jumpstart their career with practical skills, or you're a self-taught beginner who has learned all you can from beginner programmer books and coding bootcamps. Now you're looking for the next step to becoming a real-world professional programmer so you can create your own apps and get started with your career. If that fits, then this book is for you! This book is perfect for self-taught programmers looking for the stuff intro books don't teach you and students wanting to get practical information before getting started with applying their new programming skills.

This concise introduction to Sphinx shows you how to use this free software to index an enormous number of documents and provide fast results to both simple and complex searches. Written by the creator of Sphinx, this authoritative book is short and to the point. * Understand the particular way Sphinx conducts searches * Install and configure Sphinx, and run a few basic tests * Issue basic queries to Sphinx at the application level * Learn the syntax of search text and the effects of various search options * Get strategies for dealing with large data sets, such as multi-index searching * Apply relevance and ranking guidelines for presenting best results to the user

Get past all the hype about PHP and dig into the real power of this language. This book explores the most useful features of PHP and how they can speed up the web development process, and explains why the most commonly used PHP elements are often misused or misapplied. You'll learn which parts add strength to object-oriented programming, and how to use certain features to integrate your application with databases.

Written by a longtime member of the PHP community, "PHP: The Good Parts" is ideal for new PHP programmers, as well as web developers switching from other languages.Become familiar with PHP's basic syntax, variables, and datatypes Learn how to integrate the language with web pages Understand how to use strings, arrays, and PHP's built-in functions Discover the advantages of using PHP as an object-oriented language Explore how PHP interacts with databases, such as SQLite and MySQL Learn input- and output-handling best practices to prevent security breaches

With dynamic typing and many other new features, C# 4.0 has already piqued the interest of .NET developers worldwide. This bestselling tutorial for beginning to intermediate programmers teaches you how to use the new version of the C# language to build web, desktop, and rich Internet applications with the .NET 4.0 Framework. In this sixth edition, .NET experts Ian Griffiths and Matthew Adams cover the latest enhancements to the language, as well as the fundamentals of both C# and .NET. The book explains concurrent programming with C# 4.0, and teaches you how to use C# with .NET tools such as the Entity Framework for easier data access, and the Silverlight platform for browser-based RIA development. With "Programming C# 4.0", you will: learn C# and .NET programming with a comprehensive tutorial that also serves as a useful reference; find many more useful code examples than in previous editions; learn basic language and framework features, from classes to assemblies; get details on new C# 4.0 features and capabilities, from optional and named arguments to dynamic and concurrent programming; and, learn about LINQ, anonymous delegates, and lambda expressions. "Programming C# 4.0 " provides a clear and concise way for programmers to learn C# 4.0 quickly and thoroughly. No prior .NET experience is required for you to get started.

Adobe ColdFusion remains one of today's significant Web services tools and frameworks, and stands to become even more important as a possible primary tool for cloud development as well. As important as ColdFusion is and continues to become, we thought it would be a good idea to tap the leading authority on ColdFusion, the Fusion Authority. We asked this community to compile the most important issues in their developer and user experiences into one single volumean anthology of the most current technical articles published in the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update.

In it, you'll get the following: The best and brightest ColdFusion expertise available today, from inside and outside of Adobe The most up-to-date content with the latest releases of ColdFusion Case studies and instances where ColdFusion is used in cloud-based development

Rather than take a soup-to-nuts approach that covers every single topic, including those that most people have learned already, this book takes specific items of interest and explains them so that you can hit the ground running, rather than having to wait until you've read the entire book. What you'll learn Why ColdFusion is important for your Web Services and cloud application development How the latest versions of ColdFusion can build cloud applications How to integrate the latest ColdFusion has to offer with Flex and other Adobe tools in your workflow How to use ColdFusion in pragmatic ways through examples, illustrations, and case studies How to implement ColdFusion best practices, testing techniques, and more Who this book is for

This book is tailored for ColdFusion developers specifically, but many articles may be of use to general programmers as well. Table of Contents Working with ApplicationcfcApplicationcfc ReferenceFrom User-Defined Functions to ColdFusion ComponentsonMissingTemplate() Error Handler and So Much MoreSay What? Handling Unknown Messages with onMissingMethod()PDF Support in ColdFusionImage Processing in ColdFusionTuning Your Java Virtual Machine: Finding Your Ideal JVM Settings Through Metrics Log AnalysisThe Shoemaker and the Asynchronous Process ElvesAsynchronous Gateways Step-by-StepYou Might Have a Performance Bottleneck If...An Introduction to Consuming and Deploying Web Services in ColdFusionWeb Services and Complex TypesType Validation When Returning an Array of ComponentsSending E-mail the Right WayColdFusion and Microsoft ExchangeBlazeDSObject-Oriented Programming: Why Bother?The Object-Oriented LexiconDesign Patterns: Exposing the Service LayerBeans and DAOs and Gateways, Oh My SOA for the Rest of UsHow Base Classes Can Help You Generate Your ApplicationsAn Introduction to FrameworksFusebox 5 FundamentalsMach-II FundamentalsModel-Glue FundamentalsColdSpring FundamentalsReactor FundamentalsDeveloping Applications with TransferFW/1: The Invisible FrameworkSeparating Layout from LogicCreating Dynamic Presentations in ColdFusionWorking with JSON and cfajaxproxyPrototyping for Interface Driven Architecture: Easing the Transition from Prototype to ApplicationTurbo Charging EclipseAn Introduction to ColdFusion BuilderThe ColdFusion Debugger Explained: Interactive Step Debugging for ColdFusion 8 and 9Getting Started with SubversionSubversion in the WorkflowAdvanced SubversionAutomating Your Development with Ant

Produktlebenszyklus Management (PLM) ist zu einem Megatrend in der Fertigungsindustrie geworden. Das Buch erklart dessen Bedeutung fur die Industrie, den Wirtschaftsstandort sowie die Gesellschaft insgesamt. Der Autor stellt die wichtigsten Anbieter von Software und Beratungsdienstleistung im Bereich PLM vor, liefert einen Uberblick uber die relevanten Einrichtungen fur Forschung und Lehre sowie uber Verbande, Vereine und Organisationen.

nd The 2 WorkshoponEmergingWeb ServicesTechnology(WEWST'07) wasco- th catedwiththe5 EuropeanConferenceonWebServices(ECOWS'07)whichtook place in November 2007 in Halle (Saale),Germany. WEWST focuses on research contributions advancing the state of the art in Web Services technologies. The main goal of the WEWST workshop is to serve as a forum for providing early exposure and much needed feedback to grow and establish original and emerging ideas within the Web Services community. The wide variety of tools,techniques and technologicalsolutions presentedin WEWST shareone common feature:they advance the currentWeb Servicesresearchin new directions by introducing new, sometimes controversial, ideas into the ?eld. As such, WEWST is the natural extension to the main ECOWS conference. Asitcanbeseenfromtheworkshopprogram,thespectrumofresearchtopics related to such emergent technologies includes: the challenge of adopting RESTful Web Services and Resource Oriented Architectures; Dynamic Web Service D- covery, Selection and Composition; extensions to the standard Business Process Execution Language; the management of composite Web Services; the delivery of well de?ned Quality of Service guarantees; the performance evaluation of Web Services. These are all still among the hot topics in Web Services research since no satisfactory solution has been found yet.

Data Science is booming thanks to R and Python, but Java brings the robustness, convenience, and ability to scale critical to today's data science applications. With this practical book, Java software engineers looking to add data science skills will take a logical journey through the data science pipeline. Author Michael Brzustowicz explains the basic math theory behind each step of the data science process, as well as how to apply these concepts with Java. You'll learn the critical roles that data IO, linear algebra, statistics, data operations, learning and prediction, and Hadoop MapReduce play in the process. Throughout this book, you'll find code examples you can use in your applications. Examine methods for obtaining, cleaning, and arranging data into its purest form Understand the matrix structure that your data should take Learn basic concepts for testing the origin and validity of data Transform your data into stable and usable numerical values Understand supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms, and methods for evaluating their success Get up and running with MapReduce, using customized components suitable for data science algorithms

jQuery simplifies building rich, interactive web frontends. Getting started with this JavaScript library is easy, but it can take years to fully realize its breadth and depth; this cookbook shortens the learning curve considerably. With these recipes, you'll learn patterns and practices from 19 leading developers who use jQuery for everything from integrating simple components into websites and applications to developing complex, high-performance user interfaces. Ideal for newcomers and JavaScript veterans alike, jQuery Cookbook starts with the basics and then moves to practical use cases with tested solutions to common web development hurdles. You also get recipes on advanced topics, such as methods for applying jQuery to large projects. * Solve problems involving events, effects, dimensions, forms, themes, and user interface elements * Learn how to enhance your forms, and how to position and reposition elements on a page * Make the most of jQuery's event management system, including custom events and custom event data * Create UI elements-such as tabs, accordions, and modals-from scratch * Optimize your code to eliminate bottlenecks and ensure peak performance * Learn how to test your jQuery applications The book's contributors include: * Cody Lindley * James Padolsey * Ralph Whitbeck * Jonathan Sharp * Michael Geary and Scott Gonzaaacute;lez * Rebecca Murphey * Remy Sharp * Ariel Flesler * Brian Cherne * Joouml;rn Zaefferer * Mike Hostetler * Nathan Smith * Richard D. Worth * Maggie Wachs, Scott Jehl, Todd Parker, and Patty Toland * Rob Burns

"...lucid, in-depth descriptions of the behavior of every HTML tag on every major browser and platform, plus enough dry humor to make the book a pleasure to read." --Edward Mendelson, PC Magazine "When they say 'definitive' they're not kidding." --Linda Roeder, About.com Put everthing you need to know about HTML & XHTML at your fingertips. For nearly a decade, hundreds of thousands of web developers have turned to HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide to master standards-based web development. Truly a definitive guide, the book combines a unique balance of tutorial material with a comprehensive reference that even the most experienced web professionals keep close at hand. From basic syntax and semantics to guidelines aimed at helping you develop your own distinctive style, this classic is all you need to become fluent in the language of web design. The new sixth edition guides you through every element of HTML and XHTML in detail, explaining how each element works and how it interacts with other elements. You'll also find detailed discussions of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), which is intricately related to web page development. The most all-inclusive, up-to-date book on these languages available, this edition covers HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, and CSS2, with a preview of the upcoming XHTML2 and CSS3. Other topics include the newer initiatives in XHTML (XForms, XFrames, and modularization) and the essentials of XML for advanced readers. You'll learn how to: * Use style sheets to control your document's appearance * Work with programmatically generated HTML * Create tables, both simple and complex * Use frames to coordinate sets of documents * Design and build interactive forms and dynamic documents * Insert images, sound files, video, Java applets, and JavaScript programs * Create documents that look good on a variety of browsers The authors apply a natural learning approach that uses straightforward language and plenty of examples. Throughout the book, they offer suggestions for style and composition to help you decide how to best use HTML and XHTML to accomplish a variety of tasks. You'll learn what works and what doesn't, and what makes sense to those who view your web pages and what might be confusing. Written for anyone who wants to learn the language of the Web--from casual users to the full-time design professionals--this is the single most important book on HTML and XHTML you can own. Bill Kennedy is chief technical officer of MobileRobots, Inc. When not hacking new HTML pages or writing about them, "Dr. Bill" (Ph.D. in biophysics from Loyola University of Chicago) is out promoting the company's line of mobile, autonomous robots that can be used for artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic research, and education. Chuck Musciano began his career as a compiler writer and crafter of tools at Harris Corporations' Advanced Technology Group and is now a manager of Unix Systems in Harris' Corporate Data Center.

Java Message Service, Second Edition, is a thorough introduction to the standard API that supports "messaging" -- the software-to-software exchange of crucial data among network computers. You'll learn how JMS can help you solve many architectural challenges, such as integrating dissimilar systems and applications, increasing scalability, eliminating system bottlenecks, supporting concurrent processing, and promoting flexibility and agility. Updated for JMS 1.1, this second edition also explains how this vendor-agnostic specification will help you write messaging-based applications using IBM's MQ, Progress Software's SonicMQ, ActiveMQ, and many other proprietary messaging services. With Java Message Service, you will:

Build applications using point-to-point and publish-and-subscribe messaging models Use features such as transactions and durable subscriptions to make an application reliable Implement messaging within Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) using message-driven beans Use JMS with RESTful applications and with the Spring application framework

Messaging is a powerful paradigm that makes it easier to uncouple different parts of an enterprise application. Java Message Service, Second Edition, will quickly teach you how to use the key technology that lies behind it.

Use the enormously popular React framework to build dynamic JavaScript applications that take advantage of the capabilities of modern browsers and devices. You will learn how React brings the power of strong architecture and responsive data to the client, providing the foundation for complex and rich user interfaces. Best-selling author Adam Freeman explains how to get the most from React. He begins by describing the React architecture and the benefits it offers and then shows you how to use React and its associated tools and libraries in your projects, starting from the nuts and bolts and building up to the most advanced and sophisticated features, going in-depth to give you the knowledge you need. Each topic is presented clearly and concisely. Chapters include common problems and how to avoid them. What You'll Learn Gain a solid understanding of the React design Create rich and dynamic web app clients using React Create data stores using Redux Consume data using REST and GraphQL Test your React projects Who This Book Is For JavaScript developers who want to use React to create dynamic client-side applications

If you want a basic understanding of computer vision's underlying theory and algorithms, this hands-on introduction is the ideal place to start. You'll learn techniques for object recognition, 3D reconstruction, stereo imaging, augmented reality, and other computer vision applications as you follow clear examples written in Python.

"Programming Computer Vision with Python" explains computer vision in broad terms that won't bog you down in theory. You get complete code samples with explanations on how to reproduce and build upon each example, along with exercises to help you apply what you've learned. This book is ideal for students, researchers, and enthusiasts with basic programming and standard mathematical skills.Learn techniques used in robot navigation, medical image analysis, and other computer vision applicationsWork with image mappings and transforms, such as texture warping and panorama creationCompute 3D reconstructions from several images of the same sceneOrganize images based on similarity or content, using clustering methodsBuild efficient image retrieval techniques to search for images based on visual contentUse algorithms to classify image content and recognize objectsAccess the popular OpenCV library through a Python interface

JavaScript Programmer's Reference is an invaluable resource that won't stray far from your desktop (or your tablet!). It contains detailed information on every JavaScript object and command, and combines that reference with practical examples showcasing how you can use those commands in the real world. Whether you're just checking the syntax of a method or you're starting out on the road to JavaScript mastery, the JavaScript Programmer's Reference will be an essential aid. With a detailed and informative tutorial section giving you the ins and outs of programming with JavaScript and the DOM followed by a command-by-command reference, your next project will pop with interactivity and keep your audience coming back for more. JavaScript Programmer's Reference is your one-stop source for everything you'll need to know to become a cutting edge web developer using the latest tools and techniques available today. In depth explanations and activities to explain not just the command in question, but why it is used in that way Progressive learning curve to not overwhelm and confuse you Handy and extremely informative quick-reference of every command within the JavaScript & DOM specifications

"Pro CSS Techniques" is the ultimate CSS book for the modern web developer. If you've already got web design and development basics under your belt, but want to take your knowledge to the next level and unleash the full power of CSS in your web sites, then this is the book for you. It is a collection of proven CSS techniques that you can use daily to get the most out of the time you spend on your projects, from start to finish.

Every topic is presented in an informative tutorial style, with each point backed up by several real-world examples and case studies. The authors cover all the essential areas of CSS development, like browser support (including IE7), hacks and filters, code management, advanced layouts and styling, typography, and much more. CSS levels 1, 2, and 3 are given a full treatment. The book also includes several reference sections that allow you to look up details quickly and easily.

The book aims to help you in four areas: maintainability, compatibility, reusability, and practicality. You'll be able to keep your code organized and easy to maintain, avoiding browser issues before they crop up (or hacking around them when absolutely necessary). You'll learn to get the most out of your styles with inheritance, and by using techniques you can build on. And you'll learn to use what works in the real world, without getting too caught up in ideals, because you can always optimize later.