Fundamentally, computers just deal with numbers. They store letters and other characters by assigning a number for each one. There are hundreds of different encoding systems for mapping characters to numbers, but Unicode promises a single mapping. Unicode enables a single software product or website to be targeted across multiple platforms, languages and countries without re-engineering. It's no wonder that industry giants like Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM andMicrosoft have all adopted Unicode. Containing everything you need to understand Unicode, this comprehensive reference from O'Reilly takes you on a detailed guide through the complex character world. For starters, it explains how to identify and classify characters - whether they're common, uncommon, or exotic. It then shows you how to type them, utilize their properties, and process character data in a robust manner. The book is broken up into three distinct parts. The first few chapters provide you with a tutorial presentation of Unicode and character data. It gives you a firm grasp of the terminology you need to reference various components, including character sets, fonts and encodings, glyphs and character repertoires. The middle section offers more detailed information about using Unicode and other character codes. It explains the principles and methods of defining character codes, describes some of the widely used codes, and presents code conversion techniques. It also discusses properties of characters, collation and sorting, line breaking rules and Unicode encodings. The final four chapters cover more advanced material, such as programming to support Unicode. You simply can't afford to be without the nuggets of valuable information detailed in Unicode Explained.

Unicode is a critical enabling technology for developers who want to internationalize applications for global environments. But, until now, developers have had to turn to standards documents for crucial information on utilizing Unicode. In Unicode Demystified, one of IBM's leading software internationalization experts covers every key aspect of Unicode development, offering practical examples and detailed guidance for integrating Unicode 3.0 into virtually any application or environment. Writing from a developer's point of view, Rich Gillam presents a systematic introduction to Unicode's goals, evolution, and key elements. Gillam illuminates the Unicode standards documents with insightful discussions of character properties, the Unicode character database, storage formats, character sequences, Unicode normalization, character encoding conversion, and more. He presents practical techniques for text processing, locating text boundaries, searching, sorting, rendering text, accepting user input, and other key development tasks. Along the way, he offers specific guidance on integrating Unicode with other technologies, including Java, JavaScript, XML, and the Web. For every developer building internationalized applications, internationalizing existing applications, or interfacing with systems that already utilize Unicode.

An introduction to the PDF file format, threaded through with practical examples – deconstructing, creating and processing PDF files. After exploring how PDF is produced, and how it can be edited with tools from text editors to Ghostscript to PDFTK, readers will learn to deal with problems with PDF files and common error messages.

The easy way to learn programming fundamentals with Python Python is a remarkably powerful and dynamic programming language that's used in a wide variety of application domains. Some of its key distinguishing features include a very clear, readable syntax, strong introspection capabilities, intuitive object orientation, and natural expression of procedural code. Plus, Python features full modularity, supporting hierarchical packages, exception-based error handling, and modules easily written in C, C++, Java, R, or .NET languages, such as C#. In addition, Python supports a number of coding styles that include: functional, imperative, object-oriented, and procedural. Due to its ease of use and flexibility, Python is constantly growing in popularity—and now you can wear your programming hat with pride and join the ranks of the pros with the help of this guide. Inside, expert author John Paul Mueller gives a complete step-by-step overview of all there is to know about Python. From performing common and advanced tasks, to collecting data, to interacting with package—this book covers it all! Use Python to create and run your first application Find out how to troubleshoot and fix errors Learn to work with Anaconda and use Magic Functions Benefit from completely updated and revised information since the last edition If you've never used Python or are new to programming in general, Beginning Programming with Python For Dummies is a helpful resource that will set you up for success.

Fuzzing is often described as a “black box software testing technique. It works by automatically feeding a program multiple input iterations in an attempt to trigger an internal error indicative of a bug, and potentially crash it. Such program errors and crashes are indicative of the existence of a security vulnerability, which can later be researched and fixed. Fuzz testing is now making a transition from a hacker-grown tool to a commercial-grade product. There are many different types of applications that can be fuzzed, many different ways they can be fuzzed, and a variety of different problems that can be uncovered. There are also problems that arise during fuzzing; when is enough enough? These issues and many others are fully explored. Fuzzing is a fast-growing field with increasing commercial interest (7 vendors unveiled fuzzing products last year). Vendors today are looking for solutions to the ever increasing threat of vulnerabilities. Fuzzing looks for these vulnerabilities automatically, before they are known, and eliminates them before release. Software developers face an increasing demand to produce secure applications---and they are looking for any information to help them do that.

DB2 pureXML Cookbook Master the Power of the IBM Hybrid Data Server Hands-On Solutions and Best Practices for Developing and Managing XML Database Applications with DB2 More and more database developers and DBAs are being asked to develop applications and manage databases that involve XML data. Many are utilizing the highly praised DB2 pureXML technology from IBM. In the DB2 pureXML Cookbook, two leading experts from IBM offer the practical solutions and proven code samples that database professionals need to build better XML solutions faster. Organized by task, this book is packed with more than 700 easy-to-adapt “recipe-style” examples covering the entire application lifecycle–from planning and design through coding, optimization, and troubleshooting. This extraordinary library of recipes includes more than 250 XQuery and SQL/XML queries. With the authors’ hands-on guidance, you’ll learn how to combine pureXML “ingredients” to efficiently perform virtually any XML data management task, from the simplest to the most advanced. Coverage includes pureXML in DB2 9 for z/OS and DB2 9.1, 9.5, and 9.7 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Best practices for designing XML data, applications, and storage objects Importing, exporting, loading, replicating, and federating XML data Querying XML data, from start to finish: XPath and XQuery data model and languages, SQL/XML, stored procedures, UDFs, and much more Avoiding common errors and inefficient XML queries Converting relational data to XML and vice versa Updating and transforming XML documents Defining and working with XML indexes Monitoring and optimizing the performance of XML queries and other operations Using XML Schemas to constrain and validate XML documents XML application development–including code samples for Java, .NET, C, COBOL,PL/1, PHP, and Perl