Learn What Usability Really Is, Why to Strive for It, and How to Achieve It "Highly useable" software is easy to use. It does what you expect it to. And it does it well. It's not easy to build but as this book demonstrates, it's well worth the effort. Highly useable software is highly successful software—and everyone wins. Inside, an accomplished programmer who has made usability his business systematically explores the world of programming, showing you how every aspect of the work is implicated in the usability of the final product. This is not just an "issues" book, however, but systematic, real-world instructions for developing applications that are better in every way. As you'll learn, there's no such thing as "intuitive" software. Instead, there are just the factors that make it highly useable: simplicity, consistency, the recognition of accepted conventions, and the foregrounding of the user's perspective. With these principles under your belt, you'll quickly discover dozens of ways to make your applications more useable: Making windows and dialog boxes easy to comprehend and use Designing software that is time- and resource-efficient Making your software easy to navigate Reducing the complexity of reports and other presentations of data Understanding how the wrong programming decisions can limit usability Ensuring smooth starts and stops Capitalizing on the usability advantages of object-oriented programming Understanding how usability affects your product's financial success Using the testing process to improve usability Promoting usability in training, installation, and online help Making management decisions that will benefit software usability Some chapters are written primarily for programmers, one primarily for managers. Most are for everyone, and all are filled with illuminating, usually amusing examples drawn from both inside and outside the technical world. A helpful appendix provides information on standards, usability groups, and sources for more information.

This book presents over 100 papers from the 3rd Engineering & Product Design Education International Conference dedicated to the subject of exploring novel approaches in product design education. The theme of the book is "Crossing Design Boundaries" which reflects the editors’ wish to incorporate many of the disciplines associated with, and integral to, modern product design and development pursuits. Crossing Design Boundaries covers, for example, the conjunction of anthropology and design, the psychology of design products, the application of soft computing in wearable products, and the utilisation of new media and design and how these can be best exploited within the current product design arena. The book includes discussions concerning product design education and the cross-over into other well established design disciplines such as interaction design, jewellery design, furniture design, and exhibition design which have been somewhat under represented in recent years. The book comprises a number of sections containing papers which cover highly topical and relevant issues including Design Curriculum Development, Interdisciplinarity, Design Collaboration and Team Working, Philosophies of Design Education, Design Knowledge, New Materials and New Technologies in Design, Design Communication, Industrial Collaborations and Working with Industry, Teaching and Learning Tools, and Design Theory.

The Cambridge Workshops on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT) are a series of workshops held at a Cambridge University College every two years. The workshop theme: “Designing inclusion for real-world applications” refers to the emerging potential and relevance of the latest generations of inclusive design thinking, tools, techniques, and data, to mainstream project applications such as healthcare and the design of working environments. Inclusive Design Research involves developing tools and guidance enabling product designers to design for the widest possible population, for a given range of capabilities. There are five main themes: Designing for the Real-World Measuring Demand And Capabilities Designing Cognitive Interaction with Emerging Technologies Design for Inclusion Designing Inclusive Architecture In the tradition of CWUAAT, we have solicited and accepted contributions over a wide range of topics, both within individual themes and also across the workshop’s scope. We ultimately hope to generate more inter-disciplinary dialogues based on focused usage cases that can provide the discipline necessary to drive further novel research, leading to better designs. The aim is to impact industry and end-users as well governance and public design, thereby effectively reducing exclusion and difficulty in peoples’ daily lives and society.

The 13th International Conference on Human–Computer Interaction, HCI Inter- tional 2009, was held in San Diego, California, USA, July 19–24, 2009, jointly with the Symposium on Human Interface (Japan) 2009, the 8th International Conference on Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics, the 5th International Conference on Universal Access in Human–Computer Interaction, the Third International Conf- ence on Virtual and Mixed Reality, the Third International Conference on Internati- alization, Design and Global Development, the Third International Conference on Online Communities and Social Computing, the 5th International Conference on Augmented Cognition, the Second International Conference on Digital Human Mod- ing, and the First International Conference on Human Centered Design. A total of 4,348 individuals from academia, research institutes, industry and gove- mental agencies from 73 countries submitted contributions, and 1,397 papers that were judged to be of high scientific quality were included in the program. These papers - dress the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of the design and use of computing systems. The papers accepted for presentation thoroughly cover the entire field of human–computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas.

Ace technical interviews with smart preparation Programming Interviews Exposed is the programmer’s ideal first choice for technical interview preparation. Updated to reflect changing techniques and trends, this new fourth edition provides insider guidance on the unique interview process that today's programmers face. Online coding contests are being used to screen candidate pools of thousands, take-home projects have become commonplace, and employers are even evaluating a candidate's public code repositories at GitHub—and with competition becoming increasingly fierce, programmers need to shape themselves into the ideal candidate well in advance of the interview. This book doesn't just give you a collection of questions and answers, it walks you through the process of coming up with the solution so you learn the skills and techniques to shine on whatever problems you’re given. This edition combines a thoroughly revised basis in classic questions involving fundamental data structures and algorithms with problems and step-by-step procedures for new topics including probability, data science, statistics, and machine learning which will help you fully prepare for whatever comes your way. Learn what the interviewer needs to hear to move you forward in the process Adopt an effective approach to phone screens with non-technical recruiters Examine common interview problems and tests with expert explanations Be ready to demonstrate your skills verbally, in contests, on GitHub, and more Technical jobs require the skillset, but you won’t get hired unless you are able to effectively and efficiently demonstrate that skillset under pressure, in competition with hundreds of others with the same background. Programming Interviews Exposed teaches you the interview skills you need to stand out as the best applicant to help you get the job you want.

A theoretical and practical guide to integrating human values into the conception and design of digital games, with examples from Call of Duty, Journey, World of Warcraft, and more. All games express and embody human values, providing a compelling arena in which we play out beliefs and ideas. “Big ideas” such as justice, equity, honesty, and cooperation—as well as other kinds of ideas, including violence, exploitation, and greed—may emerge in games whether designers intend them or not. In this book, Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum present Values at Play, a theoretical and practical framework for identifying socially recognized moral and political values in digital games. Values at Play can also serve as a guide to designers who seek to implement values in the conception and design of their games. After developing a theoretical foundation for their proposal, Flanagan and Nissenbaum provide detailed examinations of selected games, demonstrating the many ways in which values are embedded in them. They introduce the Values at Play heuristic, a systematic approach for incorporating values into the game design process. Interspersed among the book's chapters are texts by designers who have put Values at Play into practice by accepting values as a design constraint like any other, offering a real-world perspective on the design challenges involved.

Although life continues to become increasingly embedded with interactive computing services that make our lives easier, human-computer interaction (HCI) has not been given the attention it deserves in the education of software developers at the undergraduate level. Most entry-level HCI textbooks are structured around high-level concepts and are not directly tied to the software development process. Filling this need, Human-Computer Interaction: Fundamentals and Practice supplies an accessible introduction to the entire cycle of HCI design and implementation-explaining the core HCI concepts behind each step. Designed around the overall development cycle for an interactive software product, it starts off by covering the fundamentals behind HCI. The text then quickly goes into the application of this knowledge. It covers the forming of HCI requirements, modeling the interaction process, designing the interface, implementing the resulting design, and evaluating the implemented product. Although this textbook is suitable for undergraduate students of computer science and information technology, it is accessible enough to be understood by those with minimal programming knowledge. Supplying readers with a firm foundation in the main HCI principles, the book provides a working knowledge of HCI-oriented software development. The core content of this book is based on the introductory HCI course (advanced junior or senior-level undergraduate) that the author has been teaching at Korea University for the past eight years. The book includes access to PowerPoint lecture slides as well as source code for the example applications used throughout the text.

Current multimedia and telecom applications require complex, heterogeneous multiprocessor system on chip (MPSoC) architectures with specific communication infrastructure in order to achieve the required performance. Heterogeneous MPSoC includes different types of processing units (DSP, microcontroller, ASIP) and different communication schemes (fast links, non standard memory organization and access). Programming an MPSoC requires the generation of efficient software running on MPSoC from a high level environment, by using the characteristics of the architecture. This task is known to be tedious and error prone, because it requires a combination of high level programming environments with low level software design. This book gives an overview of concepts related to embedded software design for MPSoC. It details a full software design approach, allowing systematic, high-level mapping of software applications on heterogeneous MPSoC. This approach is based on gradual refinement of hardware/software interfaces and simulation models allowing to validate the software at different abstraction levels. This book combines Simulink for high level programming and SystemC for the low level software development. This approach is illustrated with multiple examples of application software and MPSoC architectures that can be used for deep understanding of software design for MPSoC.

Agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS), a way to simulate a large number of choices by individual actors, is one of the most exciting practical developments in business modeling since the invention of relational databases. It represents a new way to understand data and generate information that has never been available before--a way for businesses to view the future and to understand and anticipate the likely effects of their decisions on their markets and industries. It thus promises to have far-reaching effects on the way that businesses in many areas use computers to support practical decision-making. Managing Business Complexity is the first complete business-oriented agent-based modeling and simulation resource. It has three purposes: first, to teach readers how to think about ABMS, that is, about agents and their interactions; second, to teach readers how to explain the features and advantages of ABMS to other people and third, to teach readers how to actually implement ABMS by building agent-based simulations. It is intended to be a complete ABMS resource, accessible to readers who haven't had any previous experience in building agent-based simulations, or any other kinds of models, for that matter. It is also a collection of ABMS business applications resources, all assembled in one place for the first time. In short, Managing Business Complexity addresses who needs ABMS and why, where and when ABMS can be applied to the everyday business problems that surround us, and how specifically to build these powerful agent-based models.

The Only Tutorial Covering BOTH iOS and Android—for students and professionals alike! Now, one book can help you master mobile app development with both market-leading platforms: Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Perfect for both students and professionals, Learning Mobile App Development is the only tutorial with complete parallel coverage of both iOS and Android. With this guide, you can master either platform, or both—and gain a deeper understanding of the issues associated with developing mobile apps. You’ll develop an actual working app on both iOS and Android, mastering the entire mobile app development lifecycle, from planning through licensing and distribution. Each tutorial in this book has been carefully designed to support readers with widely varying backgrounds and has been extensively tested in live developer training courses. If you’re new to iOS, you’ll also find an easy, practical introduction to Objective-C, Apple’s native language. All source code for this book, organized by chapter, is available at https://github.com/LearningMobile/BookApps Coverage includes Understanding the unique design challenges associated with mobile apps Setting up your Android and iOS development environments Mastering Eclipse development tools for Android and Xcode 5 tools for iOS Designing interfaces and navigation schemes that leverage each platform’s power Reliably integrating persistent data into your apps Using lists (Android) or tables (iOS) to effectively present data to users Capturing device location, displaying it, and using it in your apps Accessing hardware devices and sensors Publishing custom apps internally within an organization Monetizing your apps on Apple’s AppStore or the Google Play marketplace, as well as other ways of profiting from app development, such as consulting and developer jobs