Time To Play

19 Jul

If you want to have a chance of winning one of this months books then please sign up on the Meetup page.  

At the end of July the lucky winner will get a physical copy with an ebook for the runner up.

Summer Is Here

Its Time To Play

The summer is here. The sun is shining. The sky is blue and there isn’t a cloud to spoil the view.

That’s why there is no better time to stay indoors and play with your computer.

You work all day with Java, so there isn’t any this month. We have Javascript, Lua, Scala and hardware but no Java.

Write A Game To Play

HTML5 Game Development with ImpactJS

by Davy Cielen and Arno Meysman

ImpactJS is a JavaScript library specially geared towards building 2-dimensional games. It is intuitive and versatile and allows the game developer to get results in no time while keeping an easy overview when games grow more complex. Games built with ImpactJS can be published on websites and even as an app on both Android and iOS.

With “HTML5 Game Development with ImpactJS”, building games for the Web and app markets has never been so easy. Using the ImpactJS JavaScript engine, you only need this book and basic knowledge of JavaScript in order to build and publish your own game.

Developing Mobile Games with Moai SDK

by Francisco Tufró

Code mobile games in Lua using Moai.

Its a fast, minimalist, open-source Lua mobile framework for pro game developers. Moai is built around Lua, a common programming language for games, and offers a single open-source platform for both the front-end elements seen by consumers and the back-end infrastructure.

Developing Mobile Games with Moai SDK will guide you through the creation of two game prototypes in a step-by-step way, giving you the basic tools you need in order to create your own games.

Play With Some New Web Technologies

Learning Play! Framework 2

by Andy Petrella

What better technology is there better to play with than Play!

The Learning Play! Framework 2 has been created for web developers that are building web applications. The core idea is to focus on the HTTP features and to enable them through a simplification lens. Building a web application no longer requires a configuration phase, an environment setup, or a long development lifecycle – it’s integrated!

Learning Play! Framework 2 will enable any web developers to create amazing web applications taking advantage of the coolest features. It’s the fastest way to dive into Play!, focusing on the capabilities by using them in a sample application. Although essentially Java based code, a Scala version is presented as well – giving an opportunity to see some Scala in action.

Socket.IO Real-time Web Application Development

by Rohit Rai

The expectations of users for interactivity with web applications have changed over the past few years. No more does the user want to press the refresh button to check if new messages have arrived in their inbox; people expect to see updates in their applications in real-time. Mass multiplayer online games have given up the requirement of plugins and are built entirely in JavaScript. Socket.io enables you to build these highly interactive applications that work cross-browser.

“Socket.io Real-time Web Application Development” is a guide to building, deploying, and scaling highly interactive real-time web applications using socket.io. This book will guide you through the building of a chat system using Node.js and socket.io, helping you get familiar with various features of the framework. Going further it will empower you to deploy and scale your applications in production.

Play With Some Raspberry PI

Raspberry Pi Networking Cookbook

by Rick Golden

The Raspberry Pi is more than just a platform for teaching students how to program computers! The recipes in this book show you how this inexpensive computer can be used out of the box for a number of practical solutions that utilise existing networks and connectivity.

The Raspberry Pi Networking Cookbook is an essential reference full of practical solutions for use both at home and in the office. Beginning with step-by-step instructions for installation and configuration, this book can either be read from cover to cover or treated as an essential reference companion to your Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi Media Center

by Sam Nazarko

Low-cost and high-performing, with a massively diverse range of uses and applications, the Raspberry Pi is set to revolutionise the way we think about computing and programming. Using it as a Media Centre allows everyone to have a low-cost device that is always on, attached to their TV.

Imagine controlling your TV with your smartphone, dynamically streaming content that you have on various devices across your home, as and when you want. Raspberry Pi Media Centre will show you how to configure the complete experience using readily available and accessible tools, so that you too will soon be enjoying your media from the comfort of your own sofa.

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