Guides

Based on Big Nerd Ranch’s popular iPhone Bootcamp class, iPhone Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide leads you through the essential tools and techniques for developing applications for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. In each chapter, you will learn programming concepts and apply them immediately as you build an application or enhance one from a previous chapter. These applications have been carefully designed and tested to teach the associated concepts and to provide practice working with the standard development tools Xcode, Interface Builder, and Instruments. The guide’s learn-while-doing approach delivers the practical knowledge and experience you need to design and build real-world applications. Here are some of the topics covered:

• Dynamic interfaces with animation
• Using the camera and photo library
• User location and mapping services
• Accessing accelerometer data
• Handling multi-touch gestures
• Navigation and tabbed applications
• Tables and creating custom rows
• Multiple ways of storing and loading data: archiving, Core Data, SQLite
• Communicating with web services
• ALocalization/Internationalization

"After many 'false starts' with other iPhone development books, these clear and concise tutorials made the concepts gel for me. This book is a definite must have for any budding iPhone developer." –Peter Watling, New Zealand, Developer of BubbleWrap

If you're an experienced programmer, you already have a rock-solid foundation for learning Java. All you need is a resource that takes your experience into account and explains Java's key principles and techniques in an intelligent, efficient way.

Java: Practical Guide for Programmers is precisely that resource. Here, you won't have to wade through hundreds of pages of overly simplistic material to learn the basics of Java programming. Instead, you get highly focused instruction in the core elements of Java 1.4, accompanied by carefully chosen examples and line-by-line analyses that are right to the point. You'll be astonished at how soon you can begin productive coding in Java, and how quickly your skills will progress.

Web resources:
Source code from the book is no longer available at
http://www.zm.sikora.btinternet.co.uk/source.html
Please press the 'Companion Page' button on the upper right side of this page to access a zip file containing it.

Sun J2SE download page
http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.html

Sun J2SE API documentation
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/index.html

* Written expressly for people who already know a procedural or object-oriented programming language.
* Takes a concise approach designed to make the most of the experience you already have.
* Covers the core elements of Java 1.4, including language syntax, OO features, collections, exception handling, input/output, threads, event handling, and Swing components.
* Filled with incisive coding examples and line-by-line analyses.
* Via a companion Web site, provides downloadable example code and links to additional resources.

Struts is an open-source framework that integrates with standard Java technologies and lets developers build web applications quickly and effectively. In much the same way that Java has overtaken C++, Struts is well poised to become the framework for web application development because of its ability to address the types of issues engineers face when building large-scale web applications.

The Struts Framework: Practical Guide for Java Programmers meets the needs of this large audience--estimated today at 2.5 million Java programmers and growing. It provides the systematic exploration required by newcomers as well as the step-by-step instruction for more experienced readers eager to exploit Struts to the fullest. Devoted to the latest version of the framework (v. 1.1) and vividly illustrated with a thorough sample application throughout, this book is an essential resource for all programmers who want to be part of the next stage in the evolution of the web.

* Hard-to-find, practical coverage from a highly visible figure in the Java development world.
* Among the first books to cover the latest release of Struts, version 1.1.
* Reviews all the technologies comprising Struts, including JavaServer Pages, Servlets, XML, Custom Tags, and web and application servers.
* Teaches readers the development practices-including design, debugging, internationalization, and implementation-essential to Struts development.
* Via a companion web site, provides downloadable sample code and data for use in a Struts-based database application.

• Supported by all major database systems, XML provides an easy, standardized method of transferring data between databases and to and from the Web, independent of the software in use
• Offers database programmers and data-driven Web developers detailed guidance on how to understand and work with XML as data
• Numerous hands-on, step-by-step examples help readers learn to simplify database work using XML
• Shows how to use XML to exchange data between multiple databases either internally or with external customers and partners
• Covers XML in popular databases including Oracle Database, SQL Server, and brief coverage of DB2 Database
• Covers basic syntax for XML, the XML DOM, and XSL – with an emphasis on database use, and native XML databases
• Additional topics covered include Native XML databases, XPath, XQuery, XLink, XPointer, DTDs, XML Schemas, among others

Web services are leading to the use of more packaged software either as an internal service or an external service available over the Internet. These services, which will be connected together to create the information technology systems of the future, will require less custom software in our organizations and more creativity in the connections between the services. This book begins with a high-level example of how an average person in an organization might interact with a service-oriented architecture. As the book progresses, more technical detail is added in a "peeling of the onion" approach. The leadership opportunities within these developing service-oriented architectures are also explained. At the end of the book there is a compendium or "pocket library" for software technology related to service-oriented architectures.

· Only web services book to cover both data management and software engineering perspectives, excellent resource for ALL members of IT teams
· Jargon free, highly illustrated, with introduction that anyone can read that then leads into increasing technical detail
· Provides a set of leadership principles and suggested application for using this technology.

Would the basics of SQL querying be useful to you, but you don't want to start at the very beginning? Do you wish you had an easy way to ramp up quickly to get a basic understanding of key features and capability? Then you need this book! Without a ton of conceptual information or general programming basics you already know, this book is a quick guide for computing professionals and programmers to learn the basics--and more--in an easily digestible way.

+ Provides tutorial-based instruction for the main features of SQL for programmers and other technical professionals in need of a brief but really good introduction to SQL.
+ The approach is vendor-neutral-so very adaptable and flexible-but the book's Web site includes information about DBMS-specific peculiarities.
+ The focus is on teaching concepts by walking through concrete examples and explanations, and self-review exercises are included at the end of each chapter.
+ Coverage is on the key features of the language that are required to understand SQL and begin using it effectively.
+ SQL 2003-compliant.

SQL Server 2005 is the largest leap forward for SQL Server since its inception. With this update comes new features that will challenge even the most experienced SQL Server DBAs. Written by a team of some of the best SQL Server experts in the industry, this comprehensive tutorial shows you how to navigate the vastly changed landscape of the SQL Server administration.

Drawing on their own first-hand experiences to offer you best practices, unique tips and tricks, and useful workarounds, the authors help you handle even the most difficult SQL Server 2005 administration issues, including blocking and locking. You'll learn how to fine-tune queries you've already written, automate redundant monitoring and maintenance tasks, and use hidden tools so that you can quickly get over the learning curve of how to configure and administer SQL Server 2005.

What you will learn from this book

• How to use some of the more advanced concepts of installation
• Techniques for properly administering development features such as SQL CLR
• Ways to secure your SQL Server from common threats
• How to choose the right hardware configuration
• Best practices for backing up and recovering your database
• Step-by-step guidelines for clustering your SQL Server

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced developers and database administrators who plan to administer or are already administering an SQL Server 2005 system and its business intelligence features.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working technologists to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

• The perfect reference for programmers, administrators, or Web designers who are new to database development and are uncertain as to how to design and structure a database efficiently
• Shows how to design and implement robust, scalable databases on any of the major relational database management systems, including Access, SQL Server, IBM DB2, MySQL, and Oracle
• Covers all the key database design steps including modeling, normalization, SQL, denormalization, object-modeling, data warehousing, and performance
• Provides plenty of real-world examples and a complete beginning-to-end case study of creating a database that includes the analysis and planning, tables and data structures, business rules, and hardware requirements