There are fundamental principles for problem analysis and algorithm design that are continuously used in bioinformatics. This book concentrates on a clear presentation of these principles, presenting them in a self-contained, mathematically clear and precise manner, and illustrating them with lots of case studies from main fields of bioinformatics (e.g. sequencing and mapping, string storage and manipulation, pattern matching, alignment, gene identification, genome rearrangement, structure prediction, regulatory networks, pseudoknot detection). Emphasis is laid on algorithmic "pearls" of bioinformatics, showing that things may get rather simple when taking a proper view into them. The book closes with a thorough bibliography, ranging from classic research results to very recent findings, providing many pointers for future research. Overall, this volume is ideally suited for a senior undergraduate or graduate course on bioinformatics, with a strong focus on its mathematical and computer science background.

Following on from the successful MPEG-2 standard, MPEG-4 Visual is enabling a new wave of multimedia applications from Internet video streaming to mobile video conferencing. The new H.264 ‘Advanced Video Coding’ standard promises impressive compression performance and is gaining support from developers and manufacturers. The first book to cover H.264 in technical detail, this unique resource takes an application-based approach to the two standards and the coding concepts that underpin them.

• Presents a practical, step-by-step, guide to the MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 standards for video compression.
• Introduces the basic concepts of digital video and covers essential background material required for an understanding of both standards.
• Provides side-by-side performance comparisons of MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 and advice on how to approach and interpret them to ensure conformance.
• Examines the way that the standards have been shaped and developed, discussing the composition and procedures of the VCEG and MPEG standardisation groups.

Focussing on compression tools and profiles for practical multimedia applications, this book ‘decodes’ the standards, enabling developers, researchers, engineers and students to rapidly get to grips with both H.264 and MPEG-4 Visual.

About the Author

Iain Richardson is a lecturer and researcher at The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. He was awarded the degrees of MEng (Heriot-Watt University) and PhD (The Robert Gordon University) in 1990 and 1999 respectively. He has been actively involved in research and development of video compression systems since 1993 and is the author of over 40 journal and conference papers and two previous books. He leads the Image Communication Technology Research Group at The Robert Gordon University and advises a number of companies on video compression technology issues.

Macromedia Director 6 is the premier authoring tool for delivering interactive content on both the Internet and the desktop. It is the dominant multimedia package for Windows 95/NT, Windows 3.1, and the Macintosh. A quarter million developers use Director(R) to incorporate animation and audio into dynamic Web pages, and to create engaging interactive corporate presentations, multimedia advertising, entertainment CD-ROMs, enhanced music CDs, and even DVDs. Director 6 is a complete multimedia authoring environment that integrates graphics, video, sound, and 3D images into compelling interactive products.

Director in a Nutshell is the most concise and complete guide available for Director. It also covers the use of Director on the Internet with Shockwave, Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Java in a Nutshell and WebMaster in a Nutshell have established themselves as indispensable developer references, and Director in a Nutshell continues this family tradition. Like all In a Nutshell books, it takes the Director topic and drills down, expands, and delights the reader by providing useful information that the reader didn't even expect to find.

Director in a Nutshell condenses hundreds of Director tips and techniques into a desktop quick-reference format that is a must-have addition to every Director developer's library. The book begins with an overview of Director's interface and the new features in version 6. It covers the use of video, audio, graphics, text, buttons, menus, and 3D images in Director. It highlights cross-platform differences for developers under both Windows 3.1/95/NT and the Macintosh. It also includes a detailed chapter on optimizing performance and memory usage. Director in a Nutshell is an indispensable companion book to Lingo in a Nutshell.

Each chapter is devoted to topics such as palettes, sound, or digital video.Director in a Nutshell is the only book to integrate Director's multiple facets into a comprehensive discussion of each topic. The reader gets both the nitty-gritty details and the bigger context in which to use them.

Director in a Nutshell also covers:

• Covers the latest features of Director 7, including the 7.0.2 maintenance release.
• New Sprite operations, Behaviors, and Inspectors in Director 6
• All commands and options in the Score, Cast, Paint, Text, Palette, and Video Windows
• Animation techniques and shortcuts
• All supported file formats and media types for both import and export
• Lists of palettes, transitions, cursors, ink effects, and window types
• Video playback and manipulation, including QuickTime, Video for Windows, and QTVR
• Creating run-time Projectors and optimizing playback on all platforms
• Comprehensive command summaries by topic
• Hundreds of Director shortcuts
• Shockwave and Internet-enabled Projectors
• Sound playback, including Shockwave audio and cue points
• Browser scripting, media control, and performance optimization
• Analyzing the Score and Cast, the run-time environment, and anlyzing performance and memory usage

This book will benefit a very large audience of Director 6 users. Beginners will value the concise and complete coverage of every topic and function. Intermediate users will appreciate the explanations that illuminate the big picture surrounding every operation. Advanced users will find the book an indispensable reference tool to remind them of the proper syntax, commands, and shortcuts in Director. This book will even help content-providers understand how proper graphics, audio, and video preparation can eliminate repetitious revisions and save programming time.

Director in a Nutshell is a high-end handbook, at a low-end price -- an indispensable desktop reference for every Director user.

Provides a concise and complete guide for Macromedia Director 7, addressing its new features as well as those in Shockwave 7. Covers earlier versions for those still working with Director 5, 6, and 6.5. Softcover.

The introduction of the Microsoft® .NET framework not only brings developers a powerful, cohesive toolset for the development of new Windows and Web applications -- it also replaces COM as the technology of choice for building components on Windows platforms. Components are the fundamental building blocks of .NET applications; they can both simplify and add flexibility to complex applications. Applied properly, component-oriented programming enable reuse, allow for long-term maintenance, application extensibility and scalability. Component technology is nothing new, but the .NET Framework offers developers a new way to develop binary components rapidly, without the hurdles that many COM developers have had to deal with prior to .NET. While retaining all of the core concepts that define component-oriented development--language independence, separation of interface from implementation, binary compatibility, versioning, concurrency management, location transparency, security, deployment--.NET is built upon a fresh component-oriented runtime that has an easier time providing these core concepts. Programming .NET Components offers a complete introduction to the new Microsoft .NET component model, focusing on the aspects of .NET that make it ideal for building reusable, maintainable, and robust components. Author Juval Löwy, a noted authority on component-oriented programming, teaches the intricacies of .NET component programming and the related system issues to application developers, along with relevant design guidelines, tips, best practices, and known pitfalls. The book is packed with helpful original utilities aimed at simplifying the programming model and increasing the developer productivity. The book begins with an appreciation for the "why" and fundamentals of component-oriented programming, and then continues with an introduction to .NET essentials. Following practical, expert advice on effective .NET development techniques, the book then devotes a chapter to each of the following features critical to component development:

• Resource management
• Versioning
• Events
• Asynchronous calls
• Multithreading
• Serialization
• Remoting
• Component services
• Security.

Programming .NET Components offers everything you'll need to know to program components for real-life .NET applications, using Windows Forms, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, or web services. Anyone interested in developing .NET applications, especially enterprise level, will find this book an invaluable resource.

Colliding billiard balls. Missile trajectories. Cornering dynamics in speeding cars. By applying the laws of physics, you can realistically model nearly everything in games that bounces around, flies, rolls, slides, or isn't sitting still, to create compelling, believable content for computer games, simulations, and animation. Physics for Game Developers serves as the starting point for those who want to enrich games with physics-based realism. Part one is a mechanics primer that reviews basic concepts and addresses aspects of rigid body dynamics, including kinematics, force, and kinetics. Part two applies these concepts to specific real-world problems, such as projectiles, boats, airplanes, and cars. Part three introduces real-time simulations and shows how they apply to computer games. Many specific game elements stand to benefit from the use of real physics, including:

• The trajectory of rockets and missiles, including the effects of fuel burn off
• The collision of objects such as billiard balls
• The stability of cars racing around tight curves
• The dynamics of boats and other waterborne vehicles
• The flight path of a baseball after being struck by a bat
• The flight characteristics of airplanes

You don't need to be a physics expert to learn from Physics for Game Developers, but the author does assume you know basic college-level classical physics. You should also be proficient in trigonometry, vector and matrix math (reference formulas and identities are included in the appendixes), and college-level calculus, including integration and differentiation of explicit functions. Although the thrust of the book involves physics principles and algorithms, it should be noted that the examples are written in standard C and use Windows API functions.

Serves as the starting point for those who want to enrich games with physics-based realism. Must know basic college-level classical physics and be proficient in trigonometry, vector and matrix math and college-level calculus, including integration and differentiation of explicit functions. Softcover.

SQL*Plus is available at every Oracle site--from the largest data warehouse to the smallest single-user system--and it's a critical tool for virtually every Oracle user. Despite its wide use, few developers and DBAs know how powerful a tool SQL*Plus can be.

This pocket reference provides quick reference information that will help you use SQL*Plus, Oracle's interactive query tool. It summarizes all of the SQL*Plus syntax, including the syntax for the Oracle9i release. This book boils down the most vital information from Gennick's best-selling book, "Oracle SQL8Plus: The Definitive Guide", into an accessible summary and works as a vital companion to the larger book. It concisely describes interacting with SQL*Plus, selecting data, formatting reports with SQL*Plus, and tuning SQL queries. It also contains quick references to the SQL*Plus commands and format elements.

The new 2nd edition of our Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference includes many new features for Oracle9i (e.g., COALESCE function, searched CASE expressions, new table join syntax, partition operations, MERGE statement, and syntax changes in existing SQL*Plus statements such as ACCEPT, DESRIBE, HELP, and SET) It also adds sections on basic SQL (a much-requested feature): INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, SELECT, and transaction management. The pocket reference size is especially appropriate for this particular subject, since Oracle SQL*Plus is used on every possible platform, it's particularly convenient to be able to carry a small book around from office computer to home computer to laptop.

Provides quick reference information that will help you use SQL Plus, Oracle's interactive query tool. Summarizes all of the SQL Plus syntax, including the syntax for new Oracle8i release 8.1.6 features. Softcover. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the heart of a relational database management system. It's the language used to query the database, to create new tables in the database, to update and delete database fields, and to set privileges in the database. Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference is for everyone who needs to access an Oracle database using SQL--developers, DBAs, designers, and managers. SQL is based on research dating back to the late 1960s, but its first commercial release was in the RDBMS announced by the fledgling Oracle Corporation in 1979. Since that time, every other database vendor has adopted SQL, and ANSI and the ISO have made it a standard. Although vendors diverge in their extensions to SQL, the core language is standard across vendor boundaries. Despite SQL's long history and relative simplicity, few developers and database administrators are truly masters of SQL. The constant stream of vendor enhancements, the hard-won experience in tuning SQL for best performance, and the requirements of particular operational environments mean that there is always more to learn about SQL. Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference delivers all the information needed to keep ahead of the learning curve on standard SQL and Oracle's extensions to it. This single, concise reference volume will hold its own against a stack of Oracle manuals and even yield insights and examples not available in those manuals. There are chapters on basic SQL elements (naming requirements, column types, pseudo-types, data conversion rules, operators); Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML); common language elements (constraints, storage clause, predicates); SQL functions; PL/SQL (including procedures, functions, and packages); SQL*Plus, and Oracle SQL optimization and tuning. The book covers Oracle 8i, release 8.1.6.

A guide to using SQL programming language, for any user. Teaches the basic elements of SQL, SQL Data Definition Language, Data Manipulation Language, and functions, as well as SQL*Plus and PL/SQL statements and options. Softcover. DLC: SQL (Computer program language).