Best DirectX Software Programming
Understand basic mathematical and 3D concepts; learn how to describe and draw interactive 3D scenes using the Direct3D 9.0 API; use Direct3D and the D3DX utility library to implement a variety of techniques and applications, such as transparency, shadows, reflections, fonts, meshes, using XFiles, progressive meshes, terrain rendering, particle systems, picking, cartoon rendering, and multitexturing; find out how to write vertex and pixel shader programs with the High-Level Shading Language; discover how to write and use effect files with the Direct3D effects framework. Frank Luna is a programmer for Hero Interactive.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book simply covers the fundamental Direct3D topics as well as a bit of math, and it does so from the ground up as far as the DX API goes. But a small warning is in order as well: If you are not an experienced programmer and just want to get started with game development, then this book is NOT for you!"
"Lenghtier explanations and a few more examples would could really benefit the beginner.. especially since like for many books of this kind the author is more a programmer than a technical author or tutor so the writing style is pretty much like: here are the basic points about the theory and here is the program I wrote to show you how it works."
"If you are like me and look at a bunch of DirectX books and just have no idea what the author(s) is talking about, you should try this book, especially if you have a good math background. And if this dude releases a book on DirectX 10, I'll definitely get it. If you know DirectX and are looking for a book on game programming, look for another book."
"It devotes 20 or so pages to each of 20 or so topics (the dimensions of the book are real small though, so the page counts are somewhat misleading)."
With this book understand how vectors, matrices, and transfomations are used in the creation of computer games; discover how to implement lighting, texture mapping, blending, and stenciling to increase the realism of your scenes; explore techniques for creating special effects, including terrain rendering, shadow mapping, particle systems, and reflections; learn about new Direct3D 10 features such as geometry shaders, the stream out pipeline stage, texture arrays, and primitive IDs; test your knowledge and programming skills with the end-of-chapter exercises.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"While his second book was a fairly extensive rewrite focusing on the introduction of shaders, The DirectX 10 book is a fairly direct translation of the DirectX 9 shader approach book."
"What I like the most is the author's verbosity on the maths; he explains how and why everything works, from projection matrices to lighting calculations. Also, even though Win32 programming knowledge is assumed, the author has included a brief tutorial in appendix A which covers the topics he touches during the first chapters."
"This book is fantastic, it goes into perfect detail of why you should use that style, or what a specific line of code does instead of saying, like it does so many times in other books ("You don't need to understand what it's doing, you just need to understand that every program has it") or ("Just add it in, the technical information behind it is beyond the scope of this book"). The math prerequisite in the first two chapters of the book is pretty strait forward, just make sure you have a graphing calculator handy for some of the vector algebra."
"I got this book in June 2011 and after studying it in detail, was much better informed about graphics technology in general and Microsoft DirectX specifically."
"I previously had purchased and used Wendy Jones' and Peter Walsh's books on DX10. Those readers fearful of vector and matrix arithmetic and algebra will undoubtedly stiffen up because Luna starts with these prerequisites."
Written by active members of the Direct3D community, Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11 provides a deep understanding of both the high and low level concepts related to using Direct3D 11. By analyzing when to use various tools and the tradeoffs between different implementations, this book helps you understand the best way to accomplish a given task and thereby fully leverage the potential capabilities of Direct3D 11. The authors have generously provided us with an optimal blend of concepts and philosophy, illustrative figures to clarify the more difficult points, and source code fragments to make the ideas concrete. Later chapters include many examples such as skinning and displacement, dynamic tessellation, image processing (to illustrate DirectCompute), deferred rendering, physics simulations, and multithreaded paraboloid mapping.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"But, at the same time, the author does a great job of explaining the material in a way that is approachable. It’s also not the kind of book that expects you to type in long pages of example code into your computer. Instead the author chooses to highlight specific API calls and explain how different techniques can be implemented using the GPU. But it was very focused on producing functional demos to showcase certain effects (like shadow mapping or ambient occlusion). Instead Zink chooses to go totally knee-deep into the API itself and, as a reader, I came away much more confident that I understood the material. The book covers some topics like deferred rendering, multi-threaded graphics, dynamic tessellation, and physics. Plus, the source code for the examples, and the author’s engine, are available for free online. I mean, after reading the Luna book and doing some online tutorials, I thought I knew about DirectX 11."
"With it having been several years since I last worked with Direct3D (DX9), I wanted a book as a refresher in the DirectX way of doing things when I decided to return to computer graphics. This means the material presented is accurate and well written, but it fails on too many fronts to be considered great. The authors do little to actually explain the behind the scenes workings and I have a feeling if it is your first foray into DX you will be quickly lost. This examples may sound petty, but if you read this book you will constantly roll your eyes at the ridiculousness of these listings. You will be forced to return to the documentation of the DXSDK in order to find anything of use, unless you want to be locked into the Hieroglyph engine. Including raw DX and Win32 code allows future use even through subsequent DXSDK changes with a minimal of rewriting. I recommend picking up Frank D. Luna's Direct3D 10 book to learn the fundamentals of DX programming."
"1) horrendous quality. By print quality this is the worst book I ever purchased in the last years. Mine seems to have print mistakes on the cover and the pages that would make sense to have colored syntax are barely readable because they chose to do greyscale prints."
Best Laser Engineering
A simple Step by Step approach to quickly master Python. More specifically here’s what you can expect to find in this book: Installing Python Working with IDLE Python Files and Directories Python Basic Syntax Variables and Python Data Types Number Data Types Strings Output Formatting Lists Tuples Sets Dictionary Python Operators Built-in Functions Conditional Statements Python Loops User-Defined Functions Python Modules Date and Time Namespaces Classes and Object-Oriented Programming Python Iterators Python Generators Files Handling Errors or Exceptions Help Section. >>Scroll up and grab your copy now!<<. Tags: Python, Learn Coding Fast, Learning code, Database, Python course, Python book, learning Python, Python language, Python examples, Python tutorials, Python programming language, Python coding, Python programming for beginners, Python for Dummies, Pure mathematics Set Theory, Children's Books programming, Topology.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Fairly contemporary delivery of basic Python novice to lower intermediate topics; some material addresses official Python libraries like the Math functions and their usage as well as any official shorthand coding tricks without sacrificing one for the other."
"The book may be overwhelming at first due to the high volume of pages but that is a good thing because there is no need for me to buy a second book for Python beginners guide book."
"An outstanding programming language that uses interpreter and compiler."
"I highly recommend this book for those who are new to programming who want to make powerful and useful programs within a short span of time."
"Smooth transaction and prompt delivery - thanks."
"Examples does not work, plenty of typos."
Best OpenGL Software Programming
OpenGL® SuperBible, Seventh Edition, is the definitive programmer’s guide, tutorial, and reference for OpenGL 4.5, the world’s leading 3D API for real-time computer graphics. The authors explain what OpenGL does, how it connects to the graphics pipeline, and how it manages huge datasets to deliver compelling experiences. This revised and updated edition introduces many new OpenGL 4.5 features, including important ARB and KHR extensions that are now part of the standard. It thoroughly covers the latest Approaching Zero Driver Overhead (AZDO) performance features, and demonstrates key enhancements with new example applications. Richard S. Wright, Jr., Senior Software Engineer for Software Bisque, developed multimedia astronomy and planetarium software using OpenGL.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are a beginner to Opengl, there's going to be some frustration getting through this book, but you will eventually learn the ins and outs of Opengl."
"So complaints about having to learn the framework instead of OpenGL are unfounded."
"OpenGL is hard - no [existing] book is going to get you up to speed."
"If you run into a problem where you can't get the single point to show up, you might need to just move onto an example that actually feeds vertex data to the shader. So if you've struggled for hours trying to get a stupid little dot to show up on your screen and it just doesn't work, just move onto an example where you feed vertices to shader program."
"Can serve as a reference book too."
"Chapters 4 through 6 deal with a lot of concepts and background things, but were mostly necessary to cover. I personally believe that Chapter 5 should have come later in the book because it deals with atomic operations and memory barriers."
"Almost all of the new content in this edition requires features introduced with OpenGL 4.4 or 4.5, or recent OpenGL extensions -- none of which were supported by OS X at the time of writing. 7th ed: OpenGL 4.5. 6th ed: OpenGL 4.3. 5th ed: OpenGL 3.3. 4th ed: OpenGL 2.1. 3rd ed: OpenGL 2.0 and 1.5. 2nd ed: OpenGL 1.2, 1.1."
"As others have said, many figures in the printed version are nigh-on useless (directed at the printer/publisher rather than at the authors)."
Best GIS Programming
Getting to Know ArcGIS , fourth edition, is a comprehensive introduction to the features and tools of ArcGIS for Desktop. He has worked for Rand McNally Canada and for Esri, where he developed cartography for books, and edited and tested GIS workbooks.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is designed for even the least GIS inclined person."
"Book includes a six month license for ArcGIS."
"Concise but very detailed.... , does not contain a disk with data, you have to download it off of the internet."
"Awesome book with code to use on computer."
"Fantastic illustrations and clear, easy-to-follow text."
"This is one of the few guides published directly by ersi."
"It’s a good book."
"NOTE: If you want to utilize the 180 day trial of the product, don't buy this book used."