Morgan Kaufmann eBooks Page 16

The promise of the Semantic Web to provide a universal medium to exchange data information and knowledge has been well publicized. There are many sources too for basic information on the extensions to the WWW that permit content to be expressed in natural language yet used by software agents to easily find, share and integrate information. Until now individuals engaged in creating ontologies-- formal descriptions of the concepts, terms, and relationships within a given knowledge domain-- have had no sources beyond the technical standards documents. Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist transforms this information into the practical knowledge that programmers and subject domain experts need. Authors Allemang and Hendler begin with solutions to the b...

Now that PC users have entered the realm of programmable hardware, graphics programmers can create 3D images and animations comparable to those produced by RenderMan's procedural programs--but in real time. Here is a book that will bring this cutting-edge technology to your computer. Beginning with the mathematical basics of vertex and pixel shaders, and building to detailed accounts of programmable shader operations, Real-Time Shader Programming provides the foundation and techniques necessary for replicating popular cinema-style 3D graphics as well as creating your own real-time procedural shaders. A compelling writing style, color illustrations throughout, and scores of online resources make Real-Time Shader Programming an indispensable tutorial/r...

Written by an expert in the game industry, Christer Ericson's new book is a comprehensive guide to the components of efficient real-time collision detection systems. The book provides the tools and know-how needed to implement industrial-strength collision detection for the highly detailed dynamic environments of applications such as 3D games, virtual reality applications, and physical simulators.Of the many topics covered, a key focus is on spatial and object partitioning through a wide variety of grids, trees, and sorting methods. The author also presents a large collection of intersection and distance tests for both simple and complex geometric shapes. Sections on vector and matrix algebra provide the background for advanced topics such as Voronoi...

XML has become the lingua franca for representing business data, for exchanging information between business partners and applications, and for adding structure-and sometimes meaning-to text-based documents. XML offers some special challenges and opportunities in the area of search: querying XML can produce very precise, fine-grained results, if you know how to express and execute those queries.For software developers and systems architects: this book teaches the most useful approaches to querying XML documents and repositories. This book will also help managers and project leaders grasp how "querying XML fits into the larger context of querying and XML. Querying XML provides a comprehensive background from fundamental concepts (What is XML?) to...