Code in the Cloud (Pragmatic Programmers) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is not for experienced developers. It is not for inexperienced developers either. The only way I can rationalize this book is by imaging how the author is holding a hand of a very young child guiding him through the development of the child's first web page. It is really very frustrating. The writing is lucid and clear. Everything is covered. The book even has a chapter on CSS. The breadth of the book is very good, but the depth is so shallow, I can't help shaking my head. If you have been developing web apps for any length of time, you have nothing to learn from this book.
Often times I read reviews on Amazon about books that have great content, but are poorly produced. This book is the exact opposite. It is well produced, well written, but its content is worthless. I'm giving it 3 stars because I can't deny that there may be audience out there for this book - very very inexperienced developers just starting out. Maybe they will find it useful.

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One of the most exciting recent changes in the computing world is cloud computing. Cloud computing is a dramatic shift in how applications are developed and used---and even in what applications are. With cloud computing, developers are no longer building applications that run on a user's desktop computer. Instead, they're building services on the network that can be used by thousands of users at the same time. Cloud services are an exciting opportunity for developers: the cloud is a platform for creating services, a new kind of application that can reach more users, and provide those users with more capabilities than a desktop application ever could. Building applications as cloud services also makes them scalable: cloud applications can easily and smoothly adapt from running on a single computer for a single user to running on thousands of computers for millions of users.Code in the Cloud will teach you what a cloud service is, and how it differs from traditional applications. It will show you how to build a cloud service, taking advantage of the services that AppEngine makes available to you, using iterative development of a simple application to guide you through the different aspects of AppEngine development, using either Python or Java. Through the process of working on a simple application, you'll learn about how to build an application as a service; how to manage persistent data using AppEngine; how to build dynamic, interactive user interfaces that run in a user's web-browser; how to manage security in a web application; and how to interact with other services running in the AppEngine cloud.

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Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, 2nd Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is totally appropriate for someone who has never programmed before. Everything is explained, right from the ground up, in a lively, interesting style which doesn't dumb things down.
In terms of the language Python, not all aspects of the language are described - only the parts that are absolutely necessary to know to create games. A reader who wants to learn more about programming should definitely start off with this book first, and then supplementing that with other books specifically about Python (or other programming ideas) if they find they have an interest in that direction.
Topics covered
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The first ten chapters do a brilliant job of leading the reader through the creation of many small games in the text console, which cumulatively cover all the basics of programming: variables, datatypes, expressions, strings and their methods, booleans and if statements, loops, functions, variable scope, lists, dictionaries, string formatting, ASCII. You will use these to create text games such as hangman and choose your own adventure.
Chapter 11 explains Cartesian co-ordinates and some arithmetic that will be used later on.
Chapter 12 to 15 then create one new game per chapter, using the techniques learned so far, adding a great description of how to create simple but effective artificial intelligence.
Chapters 16 to 18 then break out of the text console, using the pygame library to display a window with coloured rectangles, polygons, circles and bitmaps. It then covers methods of animating these images, reading the keyboard, basic 2D collision detection, reading the mouse, bitmaps and scaled sprites, and creating music.
The final chapter caps the whole thing off with a final big game that incorporates all the techniques discussed, with music and the works.
Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book for it's target market: Kids who want to learn to program, specifically so they can create their own games. Adults who have never programmed before will also find it very useful, although there may be a couple of chapters they can skim over.
Inspirational and brilliant.

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"Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python" teaches you computer programming in the Python programming language. Each chapter gives you the complete source code for a new game and teaches the programming concepts from these examples.The book is available under a Creative Commons license and can be downloaded in full for free from http://inventwithpython.com"Invent with Python" was written to be understandable by kids as young as 10 to 12 years old, although it is great for anyone of any age who has never programmed before.This second edition has revised and expanded content, including using the Pygame library to make games with graphics, animation, and sound.

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