Free-Book-Spot--Latest Books
Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST

Complete PCB Design Using OrCAD Capture and Layout is the first book to offer a complete guide on how to use the OrCAD design suite to design and manufacture printed circuit boards. Professionals and students will find this book to be an easily accessible resource covering topics from the basic PCB design principles to advanced levels of specific PCB layout, post processing, and PCB design for manufacturability (DFM) and signal integrity (EMI/EMC).
Detailed instructions and realistic examples drawing from industry standards provide the reader with a comprehensive toolset on how to construct OrCAD Capture parts using the Capture Library Manager, Part Editor, and PSpice Model Editor. The examples build upon one another to show the multi-layered approach and uses of PCB Design and an extensive array of full color images designed to give the readers the most realistic examples possible.
Padstacks are used as the foundation of both footprint design and PCB routing, so the reader will come away from Complete PCB Design with an in-depth knowledge of the extensive capabilities (and limitations) of the OrCAD software package. Schematic designs allow the reader to learn how to add PSpice simulation capabilities to the design, and how to develop custom schematic parts, footprints and PSpice models.
Information is presented in the exact order a circuit and PCB are designed
Straightforward, realistic examples present the how and why the designs work, providing a comprehensi
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST
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Software development projects can be fun, productive, and even daring. Yet they can consistently deliver value to a business and remain under control.
Extreme Programming (XP) was conceived and developed to address the specific needs of software development conducted by small teams in the face of vague and changing requirements. This new lightweight methodology challenges many conventional tenets, including the long-held assumption that the cost of changing a piece of software necessarily rises dramatically over the course of time. XP recognizes that projects have to work to achieve this reduction in cost and exploit the savings once they have been earned.
Fundamentals of XP include:
* Distinguishing between the decisions to be made by business interests and those to be made by project stakeholders. * Writing unit tests before programming and keeping all of the tests running at all times. * Integrating and testing the whole system-several times a day. * Producing all software in pairs, two programmers at one screen. * Starting projects with a simple design that constantly evolves to add needed flexibility and remove unneeded complexity. * Putting a minimal system into production quickly and growing it in whatever directions prove most valuable.
Why is XP so controversial? Some sacred cows don't make the cut in XP:
* Don't force team members to specialize and become analysts, architects, programmers, testers, and integrators-every XP programmer participates in
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST

Extended STL, Volume 1, will be an invaluable resource for every C++ programmer who is at least minimally familiar with the STL.
* Learn specific principles and techniques for STL extension
* Learn more about the STL by looking inside the implementation of STL extensions
* Learn general techniques for implementing wrappers over operating system APIs and technology-specific libraries
* Learn how to write iterator adaptors and understand the reasons behind the restrictions on their implementations and use
Specific coverage includes
* Making the most of collections, and understanding how they differ from containers
* Mastering element reference categories: defining them, detecting them, and using them to design STL extension collections and iterators
* Working with external iterator invalidation, and understanding its surprising impact on the design of STL-compatible collections
* Adapting real-world APIs ranging from file
* system enumeration to scatter/gather I/O
* Using standalone iterator types, from simple std::ostream_iterator extensions to sophisticated adaptors that filter and transform types or values
The accompanying CD-ROM contains an extensive collection of open-source libraries created by the author. Also included: several test projects, and three bonus chapters.
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST

Based on a motion picture screenplay.
List:
Foster, Alan Dean - Chronicles Of Riddick.lit
The Chronicles Of Riddick.pdf
Review:
You gotta love the sci-fi invention of Crematoria...
I suspect a reader's evaluation of The Chronicles of Riddick, the book, are influenced by one's "Riddick" experiences. Mine are, in chronological order, The Chronicles of Riddick (the movie), Pitch Black (the book), and The Chronicles of Riddick (the book). Next will be Pitch Black (the movie).
The Chronicles of Riddick (the book) answered some of my questions. Who the heck WAS Kyra, anyway. Ahhh... the kid in Pitch Black. What was the relationship between Imam and Riddick? Again, that's in Pitch Black. Why are the mercs all after Riddick? You guessed it... Pitch Black!
The Chronicles of Riddick (the book) was based on the screenplay, and I was anticipating a repeat of the movie, nothing more, yet I was pleased with the additional detail. The book ends wit a "Historians' Note on Pre-Necroism." Perhaps the neo-Riddick reign will be worthy of another book and movie.
I was hoping for some additional information on the species called Elementals. Remember this dialogue?
Dame Vaako: " You don't pray to our God. That is hardly a surprise. You pray to no God, I hear. That is not especially a surprise, either. My curiosity picking at me again, I suppose. What do you do instead? With what do you fill that void in human speculation?'
Aereon: "Elementals -- we calculate."
D
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST

Toolset development is an extremely broad topic. Game Engine Toolset Development provides you with a core set of skills and a comprehensive insight that will aid you in the development of game engine utilities, significantly reducing the time period associated with the construction phase of a project. The book starts off with topics regarding development methodologies and best practices, and then proceeds into advanced topics like swap chain management and MVC object model automation with CodeDom. An introductory working knowledge of C# and the .NET 2.0 framework is expected, allowing the content of each topic to be directed towards the subject and avoiding trivial and introductory explanations. Readers are not required to have any experience developing game engine tools. Terminology and design fundamentals specific to toolset development are clearly depicted and explained. The companion Web site provides downloads of all source code from the book, as well as several bonus chapters.
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST
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This best-selling, easy to read, communication systems book has been extensively revised to include an exhaustive treatment of digital communications. Throughout, it emphasizes the statistical underpinnings of communication theory in a complete and detailed manner.
Guides students through topics ranging from pulse modulation to passband digital transmission, and from random processes to error-control coding. Dozens of examples that relate to real-world communication systems. For undergraduates. DLC: Telecommunication.
Review:
one of the best...
having spent 2 quarters of preparation in learning "signal and systems", we moved to this book for the 3rd quarter and got through 40% of it in 10 weeks at Caltech. It's one of the harder text books to read, only because it contains so much information in every section of every chapter. Following through all the formulas and derivation isn't always trivial, but when if you manage to do so, everything becomes crystal clear.
Review:
A BOOK FOR PROFESSORS NOT STUDENTS
IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS BOOK COMPLETELY YOU MUST READ IT MAY BE HUNDREDS TIMES,IF YOU HAVE TIME!MATHEMATICAL AND LOGICAL EXPLANATIONS ARE ACTUALLY NOT ENOUHG.SOMETHINGS THAT MAY BE EXPLAINED IN A FEW MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS WERE EXPLAINED IN A LOT OF TEXT.WHY?I REALLY DID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT.
Review:
Definitely not the best
First, you really need to have prior exposure to the subject to thoroughly understand some of the topics involved. Som
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST

Starting Electronics is unrivalled as a highly practical introduction for hobbyists, students and technicians. Keith Brindley introduces readers to the functions of the main component types, their uses, and the basic principles of building and designing electronic circuits.
Breadboard layouts make this very much a ready-to-run book for the experimenter; and the use of multimeter, but not oscilloscopes, puts this practical exploration of electronics within reach of every home enthusiast's pocket.
The third edition has kept the simplicity and clarity of the original. New material includes sections on transducers and more practical examples of digital ICs.
* A punchy, practical introduction to self-build electronics
* The ideal starting point for home experimenters, technicians and students who want to develop the real hands-on skills of electronics construction
* Circuits use breadboards, a multimeter and widely available components, making them accessible to the first-time electronics experimenter
Review:
A great little book to start with...
After a semester of pure theory on characteristics, filters, Fourier transforms, etc., I was fed up and decided to look for a title on beginning hands-on electronics. I read this baby in a few hours and was very pleased. The diagrams included schematics, breadboard dittos of the schematics, and photos of the parts and tools. Very easy to read and covers resistors, capacitors, diodes, op-amps and transistors. Also exp
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST

Chris Crawford on Game Design is all about the foundational skills behind the design and architecture of a game. Without these skills, designers and developers lack the understanding to work with the tools and techniques used in the industry today. Chris Crawford, the most highly sought after expert in this area, brings an intense opinion piece full of personality and flare like no other person in this industry can. He explains the foundational and fundamental concepts needed to get the most out of game development today. An exceptional precursor to the two books soon to be published by New Riders with author Andrew Rollings, this book teaches key lessons; including, what you can learn from the history of game play and historical games, necessity of challenge in game play, applying dimensions of conflict, understanding low and high interactivity designs, watching for the inclusion of creativity, and understanding the importance of storytelling. In addition, Chris brings you the wish list of games he'd like to build and tells you how to do it. Game developers and designers will kill for this information!
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST
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The second edition of Martin Fowler's bestselling UML Distilled provides updates to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) without changing its basic formula for success. It is still arguably the best resource for quick, no-nonsense explanations of using UML.
The major strength of UML Distilled is its short, concise presentation of the essentials of UML and where it fits within today's software development process. The book describes all the major UML diagram types, what they're for, and the basic notation involved in creating and deciphering them. These diagrams include use cases; class and interaction diagrams; collaborations; and state, activity, and physical diagrams. The examples are always clear, and the explanations cut to the fundamental design logic.
For the second edition, the material has been reworked for use cases and activity diagrams, plus there are numerous small tweaks throughout, including the latest UML v. 1.3 standard. An appendix even traces the evolution of UML versions.
Working developers often don't have time to keep up with new innovations in software engineering. This new edition lets you get acquainted with some of the best thinking about efficient object-oriented software design using UML in a convenient format that will be essential to anyone who designs software professionally. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: UML basics, analysis and design, outline development (software development process), inception, elaboration, managing risks, cons
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Posted: October 19th, 2007, 6:47pm CEST

This book avoids the traditional definition-theorem-proof format; instead a fresh approach introduces a variety of problems and examples all in a clear and informal style. The in-depth focus on applications separates this book from others, and helps students to see how linear algebra can be applied to real-life situations. Some of the more contemporary topics of applied linear algebra are included here which are not normally found in undergraduate textbooks. Theoretical developments are always accompanied with detailed examples, and each section ends with a number of exercises from which students can gain further insight. Moreover, the inclusion of historical information provides personal insights into the mathematicians who developed this subject. The textbook contains numerous examples and exercises, historical notes, and comments on numerical performance and the possible pitfalls of algorithms. Solutions to all of the exercises are provided, as well as a CD-ROM containing a searchable copy of the textbook.
Review:
Progresses Well - Used for Self Study
I self studied this book to improve my applied math skills. The book progresses well, with examples clear and easy to follow, even for a non mathematician such as myself. My background is only through the Calculus level. The book begins with linear equations then moves to matrix algebra, a logical approach. The author balances nicely what he refers to as "scaffolding" and the inherent efficiency of the topic.
With
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