This book blends traditional teaching approaches with the use of mathematics, together with the use of a hardware description language and a concrete processor as vehicles for "hands-on" modelling and experimenting with digital logic and processor design. This unique approach encourages readers to derive their own conclusions via experimentation, enabling them to discover for themselves the fundamental and exciting topics of computer architecture. Features: includes a wide-ranging introductory chapter; outlines basic methods for evaluating processors; investigates advanced topics in processor design; presents a detailed description of a development tool-chain; provides a stand-alone tutorial on using SPIM; focuses on aspects of compilers which are closely tied to the processor; examines the concept of efficient programming; concludes every chapter with a set of example problems. This practical, reader-friendly textbook has been written with undergraduates in mind, and is suitable for self-study.

Create Applications that Gather, Process, and Analyze Information with InfoPath! InfoPath is one of the fastest growing products within the Microsoft Office System. It is a forms-based solution that streamlines the process of gathering, sharing, and using information by enabling teams and organizations to create, share, and work with dynamic forms. Programming Microsoft InfoPath: A Developer's Guide, Second Edition is a completely updated edition of the best-selling book that covers the new features and options of InfoPath with Service Pack 1, that center on east of use for end users and extensibility for developers. The book takes a practical and code-oriented approach to provide the essential skill set needed to develop and implement applications with InfoPath. Updated examples that clearly demonstrate the use of InfoPath with the Service Pack 1 extensions are also included. Programming Microsoft InfoPath: A Developer's Guide, Second Edition is an ideal reference for developers creating distributed applications using InfoPath with Service Pack 1.

About the Author

Thom Robbins is the Director of Developer Outreach for Microsoft. He is responsible for working with the worldwide developer audience and delivering technical content and experiences that enhance their career and experiences with Microsoft. Thom is a regular speaker and author for a variety of magazines. He spends his time working with developers across the world on how they can best use Microsoft technologies.

You've just purchased your first digital camera and you're ready to start taking great pictures right away! Unfortunately, your basic reference-the manual that came with your camera-is full of cryptic information that’s either difficult to understand or too basic to translate into great photographs. You've just found your solution. Quick Snap Guide to Digital Photography gives you a concise introduction that covers not only the most important features of your digital camera, but also explains their function and purpose, detailing how to use them and, more importantly, why. Each topic is covered in two- or four-page spreads with plenty of illustrations that make it easy to see how to apply the techniques described. Appropriate for owners of basic, intermediate, and advanced digital cameras, new users will be shooting prize-winning photos in no time at all.

About the Author

With more than a million books in print, David D. Busch is a best-selling author of books on digital photography and imaging technology, and the originator of popular series like "David Busch's Pro Secrets" and "David Busch's Quick Snap Guides." He has written six hugely successful guidebooks for Nikon digital SLR models, and the most comprehensive manuals for dSLRs from Canon, Sony, and other vendors. His many other books devoted to digital photography include "David Busch's Digital Infrared Pro Secrets" and "Mastering Digital SLR Photography." As a roving photojournalist for more than 20 years, he has illustrated his books, magazine articles, and newspaper reports with award-winning images. Busch has operated his own commercial studio, suffocated in formal dress while shooting weddings-for-hire, and shot sports for a daily newspaper and upstate New York college. His photographs and articles have been published in magazines as diverse as "PhotoGraphic," "Popular Photograph & Imaging," "The Rangefinder," and hundreds of other publications. He's also reviewed digital cameras for CNet Networks and Computer Shopper.

In today's online, connected world where computers outsell TVs and e-commerce sales surpass those of "brick-and-mortar" stores, secure network environments are a necessity. Weaknesses within networks have led to the rapid growth of identity theft and computer virus outbreaks, so the demand for skilled and aspiring system administrators who can protect networks is growing. If you are tasked with protecting your networks from these threats, or are studying security, Introduction to Network Security will help you increase your understanding of potential threats, learn how to apply practical mitigation options, and react to attacks quickly. The book teaches you the skills and knowledge you need to design, develop, implement, analyze, and maintain networks and network protocols. It explains how these systems currently operate and the limitations that lead to security weaknesses. All of the fundamental issues needed to understand network security, including the definition of security terms, security ethics, the OSI network model, and cryptography for networks are covered in detail. The book focuses on the seven layers in the OSI network model by describing each overall layer, its security role, common vulnerabilities, and mitigation techniques. The discussion of each layer is followed by explicit examples of common protocols within the layer and their respective security issues. The last part of the book explores the common risks for secure network design and development, including the impact of modularity on security and a summary of the general security issues. If you are new to network security, a general IT administrator, or a student, this is a must-have a resource to help ensure that you have the skills and knowledge required to protect your networks!

About the Author

Neal Krawetz (Fort Collins, CO) operates Hacker Factor Solutions and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University. He is a computer security professional with experience in computer forensics, profiling, cryptography and cryptanalysis, artificial intelligence, and software solutions: architecture, design, research, and development.

Having your own blog isn't just for the nerdy anymore. Today, it seems everyone—from multinational corporations to a neighbor up the street—has a blog. They all have one, in part, because the folks at WordPress make it easy to get one. but to actually build a good blog—to create a blog people want to read—takes thought, planning, and some effort. From picking a theme and using tags to choosing widgets and building a community, creating your blog really starts after you set it up. In this book by blogger extraordinaire Scott McNulty, you learn how to:

• Install and get your WordPress blog running.
• Set up your site to ensure it can easily grow with you and your readers.
• Be the master of user accounts.
• Manage your site with the WordPress Dashboard and extend its capabilities with plug-ins.
• Make the most of images.
• Work with pages, templates, and links and—of course—publish your posts.
• Deal with comments—if you even want readers commenting at all.
• Find a theme—or build one yourself.
• Maintain your site and fix common problems.
  

About the Author

Scott McNulty is a simple geek living in Philadelphia. Scott has been blogging for just over nine years about whatever strikes his fancy. He runs more WordPress blogs than anyone should, and even has a few other blogs using other blogging engines. More of Scott's words can be found on his personal blog, blog.blankbaby.com, or at Macuser.com, where Scott is a senior contributor, or Obsessable.com, where he writes a weekly feature about technology.

If you’re looking at this book and reading this introduction, you probably have these two questions:

Should I learn Ruby?
Is this the book for me?

Of course, the answers to these questions depend upon who you are and what your situation is. But the fact that you’re curious about Ruby and this book would lead me to suggest that the answer to both question is “Yes!” But I admit I have a biased opinion.

There are a lot of programming languages out there and lots of books on each language. If you quickly read just the next couple of pages, I’ll outline my case for Ruby and this book in detail, but know that Ruby is a language that’s quite powerful and useful but still remarkably easy to learn. This book, then, has the same aspirations: it’s very easy to learn from, and it focuses on providing the most useful information above all.

Don't limit the functionality of your web site! If you're ready to create interactive, dynamic pages for your site, then PHP for Teens is ready to show you how. You don't need any experience with PHP to begin. You'll learn everything you need to know along the way. The topics covered by PHP for Teens will get you up and running whether you're using a PC, a Mac®, or Linux®. You'll cover everything from basic design and introductory PHP concepts to variables, expressions, and operators. You'll also get a quick overview of HTML and PHP form design. Take control of your web site using the power of PHP!

About the Author

Maneesh Sethi is a student at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. As a high-school student, Sethi founded Standard Design, a web-site design company. He is the author of Game Programming For Teens, first and second editions, and Web Design For Teens. Sethi lectures on game programming topics at conferences across the country and has been a guest on G4TechTV. Visit his web site at www.maneeshsethi.com.

The digital age of art has made it easier than ever for an artist to change what his work will look like when complete. Subtle changes in color composition can be made many times to achieve an ideal image. However, masterful color management is about more than knowing how to use the tools offered by your image editor. It's about understanding how to visualize your final image before you begin editing it - seeing your image as you want others to see it. Mastering Digital Color is designed to help you master the skills needed to realize your vision, using color management tools available in the digital world. It presents techniques of practicality and results. By focusing on the practical aspects of color management, this fullcolor book enables you to more clearly visualize the connections between concept and result, bringing the art that you have envisioned to life.

The digital color revolution, although barely ten years old, has enabled photographers and artists all over the world to create and produce their work in a way that has never been available to them. "Mastering Digital Color" fills the void in the market for a complete and accurate guide covering digital color by providing information on digital color control for imaging, photography, digital photography, and computer graphics. Targeting artists (photographers, traditional and digital artists), printmakers, art marketers, industry suppliers, art and trade organizations, art schools and training workshops, "Mastering Digital Color" combines a thorough introduction to this new process, instruction in the latest workflows, and information on the state of the art in this new medium.

About the Author

David Saffir is a nationally-recognized portrait, commercial, and fine art photographer and printmaker, living in the Santa Clarita Valley, California.

Formerly a resident of Santa Barbara, California and New England, David has had a lifelong interest in photography, and particularly the world of nature. He also writes on a number of subjects, and has authored articles on color management, digital capture, and large-format digital printmaking.

Now, David works extensively in portrait and commercial photography. He works primarily with the Hasselblad H1, using Phase One digital camera backs. He also uses Nikon and Canon DSLRs.

He is also an accomplished digital printmaker. He finishes all of his work, and makes limited edition prints for other artists and photographers. He uses HP and Epson professional inkjet products. He teaches workshops in digital printing, including the Clear Focus Studios seminar sessions scheduled in a number of US cities during 2006.

He has also written numerous nationally-published articles on digital image capture, color management, printing software, and digital printing. Most recently he taught web seminars for the Professional Digital Imaging Association on digital capture, color control, and printing. He was a conference-level speaker at WPPI and other venues during 2006. His images have won awards in a variety of print competitions, and they have appeared in a number of publications.

This book, written by veteran Oracle database administrator Iggy Fernandez, a regular on the Oracle conference circuit and the editor of NoCOUG Journal, is a manageable introduction to key Oracle database administration topics including planning, installation, monitoring, troubleshooting, maintenance, and backups, to name just a few. As is clear from the table of contents, this book is not simply a recitation of Oracle Database features such as what you find in the reference guides available for free download on the Oracle web site. For example, the chapter on database monitoring explains how to monitor database availability, database changes, database security, database backups, database growth, database workload, database performance, and database capacity.

The chapters of this book are logically organized into four parts that closely track the way your database administration career will naturally evolve. Part 1 gives you necessary background in relational database theory and Oracle Database concepts, Part 2 teaches you how to implement an Oracle database correctly, Part 3 exposes you to the daily routine of a database administrator, and Part 4 introduces you to the fine art of performance tuning. Each chapter has exercises designed to help you apply the lessons of the chapter. Each chapter also includes a list of reference works that contain more information on the topic of the chapter.

In this book, you'll find information that you won't find in other books on Oracle Database. Here you'll discover not only technical information, but also guidance on work practices that are as vital to your success as technical skills. The author's favorite chapter is "The Big Picture and the Ten Deliverables." If you take the lessons in that chapter to heart, you can quickly become a much better Oracle database administrator than you ever thought possible.

What you’ll learn

• Theory of relational database management systems
• Oracle Database internals
• Licensing, architecture, and sizing
• Software installation and database creation
• Using indexes to improve performance
• User management and data loading
• How to monitor all aspects of your database
• How to solve and fix problems
• Database backups and database recovery
• Database maintenance
• Database tuning
• SQL tuning

Who is this book for?

If you are an IT professional who has been thrust into an Oracle database administration role without the benefit of formal training, or you just want to understand how Oracle Database works, this book is for you. It's the book the author wishes he'd had when he first started using Oracle Database many years ago. It's the book that he would have liked to have given to the many IT colleagues and friends who, over the years, have asked him to teach them the basics of Oracle Database.

About the Apress Beginning Series

The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!

About the Author

Iggy Fernandez is a veteran Oracle database administrator with more than a dozen years of experience. After being forced, literally overnight, from the world of C programming into a junior database administrator position, Iggy has gone on to make a solid career out of working with Oracle Database. Iggy likes to share his knowledge; he is a regular on the Oracle conference circuit and the editor of NoCOUG Journal.

The Reference That Every Unix SysAdmin Needs!

All Unix/Linux systems, regardless of manufacturer, have inherent similarities for administrators. The Unix/Linux Survival Guide details these similarities and teaches SysAdmins how to tackle jobs on all systems. Mixing administrator knowledge and best practices, the book walks admins step-by-step through installing, setting up, and configuring a new system. It also teaches them learn how to administer systems they didn’t set up originally. Intended as a quick and dirty reference for administrators to use in their daily work, the book contains numerous hints on where to look and what to look for to get a Unix/Linux system up to speed and running smoothly. Admins will also learn preventive maintenance techniques to extract and evaluate baseline data and create a warning system that allows them to react to problems before users even notice. Daily task checklists are provided, and other key topics such as backup, security, and documentation are covered in detail. This book provides the knowledge, skill set, techniques, and approach needed to quickly administer a wide range of *NIX systems.

Key Features * Provides a quick, easy-to-use reference for Unix/ Linux system administrators * Teaches what system administrators need to know to avoid system breakdowns * Explains a variety of vital administrative tasks, including programming small scripts, user administration, installing and configuring systems, preparing a new system for production, setting up a test system, backup, documentation, preventive maintenance techniques, and data security ON THE CD Scripts * Contains the administration scripts from the book Figures * Includes all of the figures from the book by chapter SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Unix/Linux operating system; Perl version 5.x or greater; Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.3 or newer for the DocBook example.

About the Author

Erik M. Keller (Munich, Germany) is a freelance consultant and trainer. He has over 18 years of experience on Unix/Linux as an administrator, consultant, DBA, trainer, and developer.

Learn the Future of Computing Today!

Many industry analysts believe that Grid computing will be the next big wave in technology. It is so promising that major technology companies such as IBN, Microsoft, Oracle, and Sun are allocating significant quantities of resources for Grid research and development. A Developer’s Guide to Grid Computing explores the evolution of Grid computing from the early distributed computer paradigm to the modern Grid environments. Most of today’s Grid environments will be examined including OGSA, Resource Managers, and MPI. The book also explores today’s de facto standards for Grid computing including a comprehensive guide to the Globus Toolkit for developers covering installation, system administration, development guides for Grid services, open Grid services architectures for WSRF, commodity Grid kits for Java, Perl, and OGSA-C, and performance evaluation tests. A significant amount of source code samples accompanies each chapter. A Developers Guide to Grid Computing is an ideal resource for computer scientists and researches, graduate students, and IT professionals looking to further expand their Grid Computing skills.

Key Features: * Teaches developers today’s standards for Grid computing * Provides a comprehensive guide to the Globus Toolkit for developers covering installation, system administration, development guides for Grid services architectures, Web Services Resource Framework (WERF), commodity Grid kits for Java, Perl, and OGSA-C, and performance evaluation tests * Explores the evolution of Grid computing from the early distributed computing paradigm to the modern Grid environments * Includes comparisons between today’s Grid computing environments (OGSA, WSRF) and parallel APIs, such as MPI * Features a companion CD-ROM with all the code and figures from the book

On the CD-ROM! * Projects: Contains all the code from examples covered in the book by chapter * Images: Contains all the images in the book, in color, by chapter

System Requirements: Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Pro; Websphere Studio Application Developer (WSAD) v 5.1 with Portal Toolkit is recommended; Pentium II Processor or greater; CD-ROM drive; Hard drive; 128MB of RAM, minimum 256 recommended; 20MB of hard drive space for the code examples.

About the Author

Vladimir Silva (Richmond, VA) acquired an extensive knowledge of computer languages, IBM tools, and technologies as a software engineer for IBM. In addition, he holds two top-level certifications in Software Development (MCSD – Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and OCP – Oracle Application Developer) and received his Master’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University. He has also written several technical articles for IBM developerWorks.