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Books > Computing & IT > Computer hardware & operating systems > Personal computers
Developing computer games is a perfect way to learn how to program in modern programming languages. This book teaches how to program in C# through the creation of computer games - and without requiring any previous programming experience. Contrary to most programming books, van Toll, Egges, and Fokker do not organize the presentation according to programming language constructs, but instead use the structure and elements of computer games as a framework. For instance, there are chapters on dealing with player input, game objects, game worlds, game states, levels, animation, physics, and intelligence. The reader will be guided through the development of four games showing the various aspects of game development. Starting with a simple shooting game, the authors move on to puzzle games consisting of multiple levels, and conclude the book by developing a full-fledged platform game with animation, game physics, and intelligent enemies. They show a number of commonly used techniques in games, such as drawing layers of sprites, rotating, scaling and animating sprites, dealing with physics, handling interaction between game objects, and creating pleasing visual effects. At the same time, they provide a thorough introduction to C# and object-oriented programming, introducing step by step important programming concepts such as loops, methods, classes, collections, and exception handling. This second edition includes a few notable updates. First of all, the book and all example programs are now based on the library MonoGame 3.6, instead of the obsolete XNA Game Studio. Second, instead of explaining how the example programs work, the text now invites readers to write these programs themselves, with clearly marked reference points throughout the text. Third, the book now makes a clearer distinction between general (C#) programming concepts and concepts that are specific to game development. Fourth, the most important programming concepts are now summarized in convenient "Quick Reference" boxes, which replace the syntax diagrams of the first edition. Finally, the updated exercises are now grouped per chapter and can be found at the end of each chapter, allowing readers to test their knowledge more directly. The book is also designed to be used as a basis for a game-oriented programming course. Supplementary materials for organizing such a course are available on an accompanying web site, which also includes all example programs, game sprites, sounds, and the solutions to all exercises.
Unlock the secrets of the Terminal and discover how this powerful tool solves problems the Finder can't handle. With this handy guide, you'll learn commands for a variety of tasks, such as killing programs that refuse to quit, renaming a large batch of files in seconds, or running jobs in the background while you do other work. Get started with an easy-to-understand overview of the Terminal and its partner, the shell. Then dive into commands neatly arranged into two dozen categories, including directory operations, file comparisons, and network connections. Each command includes a concise description of its purpose and features.Log into your Mac from remote locationsSearch and modify files in powerful waysSchedule jobs for particular days and timesLet several people use one Mac at the same timeCompress and uncompress files in a variety of formatsView and manipulate Mac OS X processesCombine multiple commands to perform complex operationsDownload and install additional commands from the Internet
You have a Pi 2, but what exactly can you do with it? This book takes you on a tour of the Pi 2 hardware and all of the fantastic things that you can do to create innovative and useful projects with your Pi. Start with creating a workstation that does actual work, and move into installing a custom kernel, creating a clock, learning the ins and outs of the GPIO interface, and pick up some useful C++ skills along the way. Warren Gay, author of Mastering the Raspberry Pi, takes you through a set of experiments to show just what the Pi 2 is capable of and how you can use it to make your own fantastic creations. What You Will Learn: How to create an experimenter's workstation for the Pi 2, complete with breadboard and even Arduino All the details of GPIO, including a custom command for working with it Useful projects like a general purpose clock and the PiSpy Quick intro to C++ for the Pi How to make a multi-core webserver Who this book is for:Intermediate electronics enthusiasts and Pi fans, makers, students, teachers, and everyone who wants to know how to make the Pi really work.
Mastering ARM hardware architecture opens a world of programming for nearly all phones and tablets including the iPhone/iPad and most Android phones. It's also the heart of many single board computers like the Raspberry Pi. Gain the skills required to dive into the fundamentals of the ARM hardware architecture with this book and start your own projects while you develop a working knowledge of assembly language for the ARM 64-bit processor. You'll review assembly language programming for the ARM Processor in 64-bit mode and write programs for a number of single board computers, including the Nvidia Jetson Nano and the Raspberry Pi (running 64-bit Linux). The book also discusses how to target assembly language programs for Apple iPhones and iPads along with 64-Bit ARM based Android phones and tablets. It covers all the tools you require, the basics of the ARM hardware architecture, all the groups of ARM 64-Bit Assembly instructions, and how data is stored in the computer's memory. In addition, interface apps to hardware such as the Raspberry Pi's GPIO ports. The book covers code optimization, as well as how to inter-operate with C and Python code. Readers will develop enough background to use the official ARM reference documentation for their own projects. With Programming with 64-Bit ARM Assembly Language as your guide you'll study how to read, reverse engineer and hack machine code, then be able to apply these new skills to study code examples and take control of both your ARM devices' hardware and software. What You'll Learn Make operating system calls from assembly language and include other software libraries in your projects Interface apps to hardware devices such as the Raspberry Pi GPIO ports Reverse engineer and hack code Use the official ARM reference documentation for your own projects Who This Book Is For Software developers who have already learned to program in a higher-level language like Python, Java, C#, or even C and now wish to learn Assembly programming.
The 1980s was the era when affordable computers came to UK homes. They were known as microcomputers as their 'brain' was a microprocessor chip. Before then, computers were either found in the IT centres of big companies, taking up a whole room, or were large desktop machines with a price tag that put them out of reach for most people. But in February 1980, a company called Sinclair Computers launched their first home computer costing less than GBP100 - the ZX80. It began a very exciting time for all those with an interest in technology, and the UK home computer market was born. The first Sinclair ZX80s were soon joined by a host of competition in the early years of the 1980s as machines were released from companies such as Acorn, Dragon, Tangerine and Commodore. They all wanted a share of a market that would soon be worth millions of pounds. This book explores the history of these companies and the entrepreneurs behind them such as Sir Clive Sinclair of Sinclair Computers and Chris Curry of Acorn Computers. The innovative machines they produced inspired a generation.
The Evolution of Technology Having sold more than 2 million copies over its lifetime, How Computers Work is the definitive illustrated guide to the world of PCs and technology. In this new edition, you'll find detailed information not just about PCs, but about how changes in technology have evolved the giant, expensive computer dinosaurs of last century into the smaller but more powerful smartphones, tablets, and wearable computing of today. Whether your interest is in business, gaming, digital photography, entertainment, communications, or security, you'll learn how computing is evolving the way you live. A full-color, illustrated adventure into the wonders of TECHNOLOOGY This full-color, fully illustrated guide to the world of technology assumes nothing and explains everything. Only the accomplished and award-winning team of writer Ron White and artist Tim Downs has the unique ability to meld descriptive text with one-of-a-kind visuals to fully explain how the electronic gear we depend on every day is made possible. In addition to all the content you've come to expect from prior editions, this newly revised edition includes all-new coverage of topics such as: * How smartphones and tablet PCs put the power of a desktop computer in your hands-literally * How computing technology is linking our homes, work place, entertainment, and daily communications * How advances such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, eBay, and smartphones are expanding our universe of friends, knowledge, and opportunity * How increased miniaturization leads to new products, such as smartphone, smartwatches, and Google Glass * How computing technology takes advantages of quantum physics and innovations no one even imagined a few years ago For two decades, How Computers Work has helped newbies understand new technology, while hackers and IT pros have treasured it for the depth of knowledge it contains. This is the perfect book about computing to capture your imagination, delight your eyes, and expand your mind, no matter what your technical level! Beautifully detailed illustrations and jargon-free explanations walk you through the technology that is shaping our lives. See the hidden workings inside computers, smartphones, tablets, Google Glass, and the latest tech inventions.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Games and Learning Alliance, GALA 2019, held in Athens, Greece, in November 2019. The 38 regular papers presented together with 19 poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 76 submissions. The papers cover the following topics: serious game design and pedagogical foundations; AI and technology for SG; gamification; applications and case studies; and posters. The chapter "Cyber Chronix, Participatory Research Approach to Develop and Evaluate a Storytelling Game on Personal Data Protection Rights and Privacy Risks" is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.
Jump right into the pro-level guts of the Raspberry Pi with complete schematics and detailed hardware explanations as your guide. You'll tinker with runlevels, reporting voltages and temperatures, and work on a variety of project examples that you can tune for your own project ideas.. This book is fully updated for the latest Pi boards with three chapters dedicated to GPIO to help you master key aspects of the Raspberry Pi. You'll work with Linux driver information and explore the different Raspberry Pi models, including the Pi Zero, Pi Zero W, Pi 2, Pi3 B and Pi3 B+. You'll also review a variety of project examples that you can tune for your own project ideas. Other topics covered include the 1-Wire driver interface, how to configure a serial Linux console, and cross-compile code, including the Linux kernel. You'll find yourself turning to Advanced Raspberry Pi over and over again for both inspiration and reference. Whether you're an electronics professional, an entrepreneurial maker, or just looking for more detailed information on the Raspberry Pi, this is exactly the book for you. What You'll Learn Master I2C and SPI communications from Raspbian Linux in C Program USB peripherals, such as a 5-inch LCD panel with touch control and the Pi camera Study GPIO hardware, the sysfs driver interface and direct access from C programs Use and program the UART serial device. Who This Book Is For Advanced Raspberry Pi users who have experience doing basic projects and want to take their projects further.
This book offers a selection of the best papers presented at the 13th International Symposium on Location Based Services (LBS 2016), which was held in Vienna (Austria) from November 14 to 16, 2016. It provides an overview of recent research in the field, including the latest advances in outdoor/indoor positioning, smart environment, spatial modeling, personalization and context awareness, cartographic communication, novel user interfaces, crowd sourcing, social media, big data analysis, usability and privacy.
This textbook provides an introduction to the fundamentals of serious games, which differ considerably from computer games that are meant for pure entertainment. Undergraduate and graduate students from various disciplines who want to learn about serious games are one target group of this book. Prospective developers of serious games are another, as they can use the book for self-study in order to learn about the distinctive features of serious game design and development. And ultimately, the book also addresses prospective users of serious game technologies by providing them with a solid basis for judging the advantages and limitations of serious games in different application areas such as game-based learning, training and simulation or games for health. To cater to this heterogeneous readership and wide range of interests, every effort was made to make the book flexible to use. All readers are expected to study Chapter 1, as it provides the necessary basics and terminology that will be used in all subsequent chapters. The eleven chapters that follow cover the creation of serious games (design, authoring processes and tools, content production), the runtime context of serious games (game engines, adaptation mechanisms, game balancing, game mastering, multi-player serious games), the effects of serious games and their evaluation (player experience, assessment techniques, performance indicators), and serious games in practice (economic aspects, cost-benefit analysis, serious game distribution). To familiarize the readers with best practice in this field, the final chapter presents more than 30 selected examples of serious games illustrating their characteristics and showcasing their practical use. Lecturers can select chapters in a sequence that is most suitable for their specific course or seminar. The book includes specific suggestions for courses such as "Introduction to Serious Games", "Entertainment Technology", "Serious Game Design", "Game-based Learning", and "Applications of Serious Games".
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2017, held in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, in November 2017. The 16 revised full papers and 4 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 65 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on story design, location and generation, history and learning, games, emotion and personality, posters and demos.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Intelligent, Secure, and Dependable Systems in Distributed and Cloud Environments, ISDDC 2017, held in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in October 2017.The 12 full papers presented together with 1 short paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 43 submissions. This book also contains 3 keynote talks and 2 tutorials. The contributions included in this proceedings cover many aspects of theory and application of effective and efficient paradigms, approaches, and tools for building, maintaining, and managing secure and dependable systems and infrastructures, such as botnet detection, secure cloud computing and cryptosystems, IoT security, sensor and social network security, behavioral systems and data science, and mobile computing.
The return of the bestselling Chromebook guide on the market. Chromebook For Dummies, Third Edition, is your easy-to-follow guide to the low-cost alternative to a traditional laptop. This beginner’s manual walks you through setting up your Chromebook, transitioning from using a traditional computer, and customizing the system to fit your needs. In case you’re wondering, the Chromebook can be used for anything you'd normally do online―checking email, browsing websites, watching videos. This book takes you through all of it, giving you the latest updates on new Chromebook hardware and software features. Navigate apps, apply advanced settings and features, and turn to this guide time and again as you customize and optimize your Chromebook’s performance.
New and novice Chromebook users will love this approachable intro to Google’s little portable computer.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference on E-Learning and Games, Edutainment 2017, held in Bournemouth, United Kingdom, in June 2017. The 19 fulland 17 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 47 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: Virtual reality and augmented reality in edutainment; gamification for serious game and training; graphics, imaging and applications; E-learning and game.
Master the skills and knowledge to plan and execute a deployment of iPads that will suit your school and your classroom. This book helps you evaluate your various options for deploying iPads-from configuring the tablets manually, through using Apple Configurator for imaging tablets, to subscribing to the heavy-duty Apple School Manager web service-and then shows you how to put your chosen approach into practice. Step-by-step instructions and practical examples walk you through the key questions you need to answer to get the most from your IT investment and then show you how to turn your decisions into deeds. The iPad is a wonderful device for helping students to study more comfortably and learn more quickly. Apple's popular tablet enables you to put in each student's hands a full-power computer that enables her to access resources both on the school's network and on the Internet; communicate via email, instant messaging, and video chat; and create digital content that she can submit effortlessly to your online marking system. Students love using the iPad-perhaps even more than teachers do! What You'll Learn Plan your iPad deployment and choose the right iPad models, accessories, and apps Image, configure, and deploy iPads in your classroom Review tips, tricks, and techniques for managing iPads and keeping your digital classroom running smoothly Who This Book Is For Teachers and IT administrators at schools or colleges, and administrators and organizers in other bodies that need to deploy iPads en masse to conference attendees or hotel visitors
Design and build custom hardware interfaces for the Raspberry Pi and discover low cost display and sensor options for embedded system projects. With this book you'll master 12C communications using Raspbian Linux in C++ and perform ADC and DAC experiments. You'll experiment with debounce buttons and switches using hardware and software solutions. Develop flywheel rotary encoder effects for ease of tuning and construct a hardware interface to the Music Playing Daemon (MPD) with developed software. Discover how to add your own hardware keypad for remote combination lock applications. Custom Raspberry Pi Interfaces offers a thorough chapter on interfacing 5-volt systems to 3.3-volt Raspberry Pis designed to expand your choice of peripheral options. Ready to go C++ programs involving GPIO and I2C peripherals are provided. This book also explores ADC, DAC, rotary encoders, CMOS shift registers. I2C I/O extenders. What you'll learn: Build simple, low cost input/output interfaces including rotary encoders Interface with 5-volt devices from a 3-volt Raspberry Pi system Apply analog to digital and digital to analog conversions on the Pi Read potentiometers (volume control) from the Pi Determine step, directions, and velocity of a rotary encoder Perform remote interfacing using the I2 PCF8574 chip Work with external CMOS devices like the 74HC595 (in C++) Who this book is for: Students and hobbyists interested in building custom interfaces for their Raspberry Pis.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Entertainment Computing, ICEC 2015, held in Trondheim, Norway, in September/October 2015. The 26 full papers, 6 short papers, 16 posters, 6 demos and 6 workshops/tutorial descriptions presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 106 submissions. The multidisciplinary nature of Entertainment Computing is reflected by the papers. They focus on computer games; serious games for learning; interactive games; design and evaluation methods for Entertainment Computing; digital storytelling; games for health and well-being; digital art and installations; artificial intelligence and machine learning for entertainment; interactive television and entertainment.
This journal subline serves as a forum for stimulating and disseminating innovative research ideas, theories, emerging technologies, empirical investigations, state-of-the-art methods, and tools in all different genres of edutainment, such as game-based learning and serious games, interactive storytelling, virtual learning environments, VR-based education, and related fields. It covers aspects from educational and game theories, human-computer interaction, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and systems design. The 24 papers presented in this 11th issue were organized in four parts dealing with: object reconstruction and management; graphics; VR/AR; and applications.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives, ISSEP 2016, held in Munster, Germany, in October 2015. The 17 full papers presented together with 1 invited talk were carefully reviewed and selected from 50 submissions. The focus of the conference was on following topics: sustainable education in informatics for pupils of all ages; connecting informatics lessons to the students' everyday lives; teacher education in informatics or computer science; and research on informatics or computer science in schools (empirical/qualitative/quantitative/theory building/research methods/comparative studies/transferability of methods and results from other disciplines).
Find out how to use, manage, deploy, and secure Windows To Go, the ultimate mobile edition of Windows 10, designed to boot directly from a USB stick. This book shows you how to use your Windows To Go drive to work at home and on the move and access local and network resources from anywhere. Readers responsible for deploying Windows To Go drives will also learn how to plan for, provision, deploy, and manage Windows To Go devices in the workplace in order to create an effective mobility solution for their users. A Windows To Go drive can be booted on any PC that meets the Windows 7 or later certification requirements, regardless of the operating system running on that PC. What You'll Learn: Understand how Windows To Go differs from a typical Windows installation on a desktop Meet the necessary hardware and software requirements for Windows To Go Boot your Windows To Go drive Use Windows To Go, at home and on the road Plan and deploy Windows To Go in the workplace Secure and protect Windows To Go drives Who This Book Is For: End users and IT professionals
Best-selling author Wallace Wang teaches you how to use El Capitan, the latest version of the Mac operating system, in everyday situations. This book shows you, the beginner Mac user, how to get up and running, operate, and work day-to-day on your Mac. You will learn how to run applications, manage windows and files, work with the internet, and more. You will even learn how to use your Mac with an iPhone and an Apple watch. If you've ever felt that you couldn't learn how to use a Mac, this is your opportunity to give it a go. What you'll learn How to get up and running with Mac OS X El Capitan How to navigate and manage views How to manage your files What entertainment options are available to you, and how to use them How to maintain your Mac How to work with iPhone and Apple watch. Who This Book Is For Anyone who wants to learn how to use OS X El Capitan. No previous experience is required.
This book constitutes the proceedings of the First Joint International Conference on Serious Games, JCSG 2015, held in Huddersfield, UK, in June 2015. This conference bundles the activities of the International Conference on Serious Games Development and Applications, SGDA, and the Conference on Serious Games, GameDays. The total of 12 full papers and 5 short papers was carefully reviewed and selected from 31 submissions. The book also contains one full invited talk. The papers were organized in topical sections named: games for health; games for learning; games for other purposes; game design and development; and poster and demo papers.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Serious Games Development and Applications, SGDA 2014, held in Berlin, Germany, in October 2014. The 14 revised full papers presented together with 4 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 31 submissions. The focus of the papers was on the following: games for health, games for medical training, serious games for children, music and sound effects, games for other purposes, and game design and theories. |
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