For Windows developers, few tasks are more challenging than debugging—-or more crucial. Reliable and realistic information about Windows debugging has always been scarce. Now, with over 15 years of experience two of Microsoft’s system-level developers present a thorough and practical guide to Windows debugging ever written.

Mario Hewardt and Daniel Pravat cover debugging throughout the entire application lifecycle and show how to make the most of the tools currently available—-including Microsoft’s powerful native debuggers and third-party solutions.

To help you find real solutions fast, this book is organized around real-world debugging scenarios. Hewardt and Pravat use detailed code examples to illuminate the complex debugging challenges professional developers actually face. From core Windows operating system concepts to security, Windows® Vista™ and 64-bit debugging, they address emerging topics head-on—and nothing is ever oversimplified or glossed over!

C++ is the primary language used in game development; however, game programming has a unique set of challenges, which general application development techniques and recommendations don't apply to. Written to address this issue, C++ for Game Programmers provides practical suggestions for what C++ features to use in game development and why. Many of the misconceptions of C++ are clarified, and programmers learn the most effective methods for using the language to create games. This is primarily a book about ideas and concepts: it is not just a source of C++ code to use in your game project. Instead, C++ for Game Programmers covers how things work from a game-development perspective, and provides practical rules to follow. It points out the most effective C++ practices and steers developers away from the potentially dangerous ones. It describes common C++ techniques to solve specific problems faced by most developers, and focuses on techniques that have been proven in real games. Additionally, specific new technologies such as STL are covered in detail, along with the challenges specific to different platforms such as PCs or game consoles. The techniques presented apply to all aspects of game programming, including graphics, physics, and AI. C++ for Game Programmers is the perfect resource for game programmers looking to perfect their C++ skills, and experienced programmers interested in entering the game industry. Graphics, embedded systems, and real-time systems programmers facing the same challenges as game programmers will also benefit from the ideas and techniques covered.

Hard drive failures may be responsible for the biggest headaches IT professionals experience. Recovering lost or corrupted data from failed disks is a nightmare. Fortunately, you have help. TechRepublic asked its members what recovery methods worked best for them. Solutions poured in from IT professionals who've tried everything, revealing that, in many cases, hopeless situations aren't hopeless. In fact, data can often be retrieved from failed disks, if you know how. 200 Ways to Revive a Hard Drive collects more than 200 creative, resourceful, and crafty tips from TechRepublic members. In their own words, here are the solutions they've turned to when trying to rescue data following a hard disk crash or failure.

Quality rigging and animation preparation is vital for creating characters that can truly act and make an audience believe they are live, emotive beings. LightWave 3D [8] Cartoon Character Creation - Volume 2: Rigging & Animation includes both general theory and comprehensive tutorials for every aspect of rigging and animating 3D characters. Learn how, why, and when to use the most efficient techniques so you can have fun animating your own fantastic 3D characters.

• Learn all about rigging characters, including weight mapping, bone creation, IK, and deformations.
• Discover advanced rigging techniques, including expressions, FK/IK blending, quadruped rigging, and more.
• Find out how to use the animation controls and animate using inverse kinematics.
• Explore the intricacies of facial animation, including morphs, facial expressions, lip sync, and advanced morph controls.
• Learn how to use dynamics for secondary body motion and clothing.

Character design, modeling, and texturing are the fundamental building blocks of character animation. LightWave 3D [8] Cartoon Character Creation Volume 1: Modeling & Texturing includes both general theory and comprehensive tutorials for every aspect of modeling and texturing 3D characters. Learn how, why, and when to use the most efficient techniques so you can have fun creating your own fantastic 3D characters.

• Find out how to configure LightWave 3D for character creation, and learn the necessary steps of the character concept, design, and planning stages.
• Discover multiple methods for modeling characters and clothing using subdivision patches.
• Understand the techniques for creating complex UV mapping.
• Learn about surface attributes and surfacing characters.
• Enhance the appearance of your characters through the use of gradients and procedural textures.
• Explore a variety of techniques for creating image maps and applying them to your characters.

LightWave 3D is one of the most popular 3D packages on the market today, offering the most complete set of tools, the best-looking and fastest out-of-the-box renderer, and one of the most powerful IK engines available. Professional director and animator Timothy Albee updates the best-selling LightWave 3D 7 Character Animation with discussions of advanced animation tools, facial animation, and IK Booster. In addition, he details how to use LightWave to build strong, dependable character setups; provides proven, hands-on tools for mastering the complex mechanics of animation; and covers the importance of storytelling and acting through animation.

• Explore the complete crafting of powerful and reliable character setups.
• Master subtle acting techniques that imbue scenes with life, drama, and power, such as anticipation, gesture, overlapping action, and silhouette.
• Discover how IK Booster adds more power, ease, and functionality to LightWave’s existing Inverse Kinematics system.
• Use LightWave’s Dope Sheet, Dope Track, and Motion Mixer tools to improve your output in creating animation.
• Find out how to use morph targets to sculpt your characters’ facial performances.

A concise introduction to the fundamentals of working with MySQL.

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system that is rapidly growing in popularity. Known for its speed, reliability, and ease of use, MySQL has proven itself to be particularly well suited both for beginners and for experienced developers to create sophisticated database-backed Web sites and applications.

MySQL Tutorial is a clear, concise introduction to the fundamental concepts and techniques of working with MySQL. It teaches the beginning MySQL user how to create and administer powerful databases that can be used at home, at work, and on the Web.

Whether you are a novice to databases or a technical professional looking to find out more about how MySQL works, MySQL Tutorial efficiently guides you through the information you need in order to get started with MySQL and quickly become proficient.

You love it as the world’s most popular desktop Linux distribution, and now Ubuntu is available at a server near you. Embracing the very same features desktop users have grown to love, system administrators are rapidly adopting Ubuntu due to their ability to configure, deploy, and manage network services more effectively than ever.

Practical Ubuntu Server Administration guides you through all of the key configuration and administration tasks you’ll need to know. Whether you’re interested in adopting Ubuntu within a Fortune 500 environment or just want to use Ubuntu to manage your home network, this book is your go-to guide to using the distribution securely for a wide variety of network services. Topics include file, print, web, and FTP management, command-line tips and tricks, automated installation, configuration and deployment processes, and kernel management.

Most books on operating systems deal with theory while ignoring practice. While the usual principles are covered in detail, the book describes a small, but real UNIX-like operating system: MINIX. The book demonstrates how it works while illustrating the principles behind it. Operating Systems: Design and Implementation Second Edition provides the MINIX source code. The relevant selections of the MINIX code are described in detail. When it first came out, MINIX caused something of a revolution. Within weeks, it had its own newsgroup on USENET, with 40,000 people. Most wanted to make MINIX bigger and fancier. Instead, Linux was created. That has become quite popular, very large, and complicated. MINIX, on the other hand, has remained small and suitable for instruction and example. The book has been revised to include updates in MINIX, which started out as a v 7 unix clone for a floppy-disk only 8088. It is now aimed at 386, 486, and pentium machines and is based on the international posix standard instead of on v7. There are now also versions of MINIX for the Macintosh and SPARC available. Professional programmers will find this book to be a valuable resource and reference book.

Written for the intermediate or advanced C++ programmer, renowned C++ expert Scott Meyers provides essential techniques for getting more out of the Standard Template Library in Effective STL, a tutorial for doing more with this powerful library.

STL is a hugely powerful feature of today's C++, but one with a well-earned reputation for complexity. The book is organized into 50 tips that explore different areas of the STL. Besides providing a list of dos and don'ts, Meyers presents a lot of background on what works and what doesn't with STL. Each tip is demonstrated with in-depth coding samples, many of which make use of two-color printing to highlight the most important lines of code. (Advanced developers will enjoy Meyers's in-depth explanations, while those who are in a hurry can skip ahead to the recommended tip itself.)

A good part of this book involves using containers, like vectors and maps, which are built into STL. (Besides the standard built-in containers, the author also highlights recent additions to STL like B-trees, which are available as extensions from other vendors.) You'll learn the best ways to allocate, add, change, and delete items inside containers, including associative containers like maps. You'll also learn to avoid common pitfalls, which can result in writing code that is slow or just plain wrong.