Pro DLR in .NET 4

DLR stands for dynamic language runtime. Maybe you already know something about it and the reason you picked up this book is to learn how the DLR works and how to make use of it. If you haven’t heard of the DLR, you may be wondering whether it’s worth your time learning it. One reason people might regard the DLR as irrelevant to their work is that they think the DLR is for implementing new languages. And since most of us write programs to solve specific problems and very few of us implement languages, learning the DLR may not seem like a good investment. That was in fact my initial misconception when I first heard of the DLR, around the time it was announced in 2007. After some study, I quickly realized the broad applicability of the DLR in many areas of my day-to-day programming work.
Because of that potential misconception, I want to highlight some areas in which the DLR shines. The point I want to get across is that the DLR is not merely for running or implementing dynamic languages. It is also very useful for application scripting, meta-programming, aspect-oriented programming (AOP), building DSLs (domain-specific languages), unit test mocking, and a lot more. Instead of just throwing out those buzz words and iterating through them with dry discussions, I figure the best way to highlight the practical usefulness of the DLR is through some examples. So that’s what this chapter will do. Normally an introductory chapter like this has a Hello World example. We will have not just one, but four, plus some demonstrations. Continue Reading »
Pro DLR in .NET 4

Liferay User Interface Development

Liferay employs a specialized theming system, which allows you to change the look and feel of the user interfaces. As a developer, by using the right tools to create and manipulate themes with Liferay Portal, you can get your site to look any way you want it to. However, the Liferay theming system can be difficult to get started with. This practical guide provides you with a well organized manual for working with Liferay. Continue Reading »
Liferay User Interface Development

Data Warehousing Fundamentals-A Comprehensive Guide For IT Pro

Are you an information technology professional watching, with great interest, the massive unfolding of the data warehouse movement? Are you contemplating a move into this new area of opportunity? Are you a systems analyst, programmer, data analyst, database administrator, project leader, or software engineer eager to grasp the fundamentals of data warehousing? Do you wonder how many different books you may have to read to learn the basics? Are you lost in the maze of the literature and products on the subject? Do you wish for a single publication on data warehousing, clearly and specifically designed for IT professionals? Do you need a textbook that helps you learn the fundamentals in sufficient depth—not more, not less? If you answered “yes” to any of the above, this book is written specially for you. Continue Reading »
Data Warehousing Fundamentals-A Comprehensive Guide For IT Pro

Business Plans to Game Plans

I call this book Business Plans to Game Plans because it takes you from your business plan, that is, what you share with those outside your business, like investors, to your game plan, which is how you really run the business, and what you share with your employees. As a business-planning consultant, I have written countless business plans. While many of them received the funding they were hoping to attract, a number of these businesses failed in the first several years or never got out of the planning stage. In fact, a few of the entrepreneurs I worked with expected the business plan to be a blueprint for how to run the business. Continue Reading »
Business Plans to Game Plans

Building The Data Warehouse

We are told that the hieroglyphics in Egypt are primarily the work of an accountant declaring how much grain is owed the Pharaoh. Some of the streets in Rome were laid out by civil engineers more than 2,000 years ago. Examination of bones found in archeological excavations in Chile shows that medicine—in, at least, a rudimentary form—was practiced as far back as 10,000 years ago. Other professions have roots that can be traced to antiquity. From this perspective, the profession and practice of information systems and processing are certainly immature, because they have existed only since the early 1960s. Information processing shows this immaturity in many ways, such as its tendency to dwell on detail.

Advanced Data Warehouse Design

management and problem solving in order to achieve their operational goals. This situation compels people in those organizations to utilize analysis tools that will better support their decisions. Decision support systems provide assistance to managers at various organizational levels for analyzing strategic information. These systems collect vast amount of data and reduce it to a form that can be used to analyze organizational behavior [53]. Since the early 1990s, data warehouses have been developed and deployed as an integral part of modern decision support systems [205, 269]. Continue Reading »
Advanced Data Warehouse Design

Programming Windows 7 Phone

This book is a gift from the Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft to the programming community, and I am proud to have been a part of it. Within the pages that follow, I show you the basics of writing applications for Windows Phone 7 using the C# programming language with the Silverlight and XNA 2D frameworks.
Yes, Programming Windows Phone 7 is truly a free download, but for those readers who still love paper—as I certainly do—this book will also be available (for sale) divided into two fully-indexed print editions: Microsoft Silverlight Programming for Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft XNA Framework Programming for Windows Phone 7.
With the money you’ve saved downloading this book, please buy other books. Despite the plethora of information available online, books are still the best way to learn about programming within a coherent and cohesive tutorial narrative. Every book sale brings a tear of joy toanauthor’s eye,so please help makethem weepoverflowing rivers.
Continue Reading »
Programming Windows 7 Phone

CSS3 For Web Designers

Looking back upon the storied history of CSS, we see some important milestones that have shaped our direction
as web designers. These watershed techniques, articles, and events helped us create flexible, accessible websites that we could be proud of both visually as well as under the hood. You could argue that things began to get interesting back in 2001, when Jeffrey Zeldman wrote “To Hell With Bad Browsers” (http://bkaprt.com/css3/1/),1 signaling the dawn of the CSS Age. This manifesto encouraged designers to push forward and use CSS for more than just link colors and fonts, leaving behind older, incapable browsers that choked on CSS1. Yes, CSS1. Continue Reading »
CSS3 For Web Designers

Real World Sharepoint 2010

SharePoint 2010 is a truly mass ive platform that can be thought of as an operating system
for Information Workers. In this context, it is becoming increasingly difficult for any single individual
to know everything about SharePoint. Instead, the community of SharePoint professionals is specializing.
Some of us are workflow experts, others are web content management experts, still others are
focused on data integration. Furthermore, it is now impossible to collect all of the end user, administration,
and development knowledge for SharePoint into a single resource. Dedicated SharePoint
professionals have shelves full of books, or maybe just a fully loaded Kindle, with titles covering the
spectrum of subjects from installation and configuration, through customization and development.
Additionally, Microsoft provides MSDN, TechNet, and several SDKs. Continue Reading »
Real World Sharepoint 2010

Create Your Own Website

As the popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web have risen since the beginnings in the early 1990s, virtually all businesses have established an online presence. Many individuals, too, have left their imprints on the web, creating a website for their family or posting pictures of their vacations. If you want to join the millions of people who have created websites but fear you lack the background or expertise for such an endeavor, this book is for you!