Search icon Close icon
Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Save more on your purchases now! discount-offer-chevron-icon
Savings automatically calculated. No voucher code required.

Change country

Modal Close icon
Country selected Country selected
country flag United States
Country selected
country flag United Kingdom
Country selected
country flag India
Country selected
country flag Germany
Country selected
country flag France
Country selected
country flag Canada
Country selected
country flag Russia
Country selected
country flag Spain
Country selected
country flag Brazil
Country selected
country flag Australia
Country selected
country flag Argentina
Country selected
country flag Austria
Country selected
country flag Belgium
Country selected
country flag Bulgaria
Country selected
country flag Chile
Country selected
country flag Colombia
Country selected
country flag Cyprus
Country selected
country flag Czechia
Country selected
country flag Denmark
Country selected
country flag Ecuador
Country selected
country flag Egypt
Country selected
country flag Estonia
Country selected
country flag Finland
Country selected
country flag Greece
Country selected
country flag Hungary
Country selected
country flag Indonesia
Country selected
country flag Ireland
Country selected
country flag Italy
Country selected
country flag Japan
Country selected
country flag Latvia
Country selected
country flag Lithuania
Country selected
country flag Luxembourg
Country selected
country flag Malaysia
Country selected
country flag Malta
Country selected
country flag Mexico
Country selected
country flag Netherlands
Country selected
country flag New Zealand
Country selected
country flag Norway
Country selected
country flag Philippines
Country selected
country flag Poland
Country selected
country flag Portugal
Country selected
country flag Romania
Country selected
country flag Singapore
Country selected
country flag Slovakia
Country selected
country flag Slovenia
Country selected
country flag South Africa
Country selected
country flag South Korea
Country selected
country flag Sweden
Country selected
country flag Switzerland
Country selected
country flag Taiwan
Country selected
country flag Thailand
Country selected
country flag Turkey
Country selected
country flag Ukraine
Country selected
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Conferences
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Home > Programming > Functional Programming > Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms
Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms
Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms

Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms: Learn functional data structures and algorithms for your applications and bring their benefits to your work now

Arrow left icon
Profile Icon S. Khot Profile Icon Mishra
Arrow right icon
€20.98 €29.99
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5 (2 Ratings)
eBook Feb 2017 318 pages 1st Edition
eBook
€20.98 €29.99
Paperback
€36.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at €18.99p/m
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon S. Khot Profile Icon Mishra
Arrow right icon
€20.98 €29.99
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5 (2 Ratings)
eBook Feb 2017 318 pages 1st Edition
eBook
€20.98 €29.99
Paperback
€36.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at €18.99p/m
eBook
€20.98 €29.99
Paperback
€36.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at €18.99p/m

What do you get with eBook?

Product feature icon Instant access to your Digital eBook purchase
Product feature icon Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms

Chapter 2.  Building Blocks

This chapter serves as a refresher on some fundamentals concepts.

How fast could an algorithm run? How does it fare when you have ten input elements versus a million? To answer such questions, we need to be aware of the notion of algorithmic complexity, which is expressed using the Big O notation. An O(1) algorithm is faster than O(logn), for example.

What is this notation? It talks about measuring the efficiency of an algorithm, which is proportional to the number of data items, N, being processed.

This chapter starts with a look at the O notation. Space/time trade-off is another important aspect of algorithm design. Let's look at a dynamic programming problem to better understand this fundamental notion.

Next, we will look at vectors and list data structures and note the trade-offs.

We will conclude by looking at the complexities of some functional idioms.

By the end of this chapter, you will have a good understanding of algorithmic complexities....

The Big O notation

In simple words, this notation is used to describe how fast an algorithm will run. It describes the growth of the algorithm's running time versus the size of input data.

Here is a simple example. Consider the following Scala snippet, reversing a linked list:

scala> def revList(list: List[Int]): List[Int] = list match { 
     |   case x :: xs => revList(xs) ++ List(x) 
     |   case Nil => Nil 
     | } 
revList: (list: List[Int])List[Int] 
scala> revList(List(1,2,3,4,5,6)) 
res0: List[Int] = List(6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

A quick question for you: how many times does the first case clause, namely case x :: xs => revList(xs) ++ List(x), match a list of six elements? Note that the clause matches when the list is non-empty. When it matches, we reduce the list by one element and recursively call the method.

It is easy to see the clause matches six times. As a result, the list method, ++, also gets invoked four times. The ++ method takes time and is directly proportional...

Space/time trade-off

A trade-off is a balancing act: when we take something, we give away another thing!

Algorithm designs too, at times, trade-off some amount of memory to save on the overall time. Let's look at two problems to better appreciate this important concept.

A word frequency counter

Let's say we have a list of words. The task is to find how many times a word occurs in the list in order to compute every word's frequency.

Here is a brute force approach:

    w <- each word in the list, count <- 1  
      w1 <- all other words in the list 
        If (w == w1)  
           Increment count  
                  println(w, " = ", count)

The following diagram shows the comparisons for the first two elements:

A word frequency counter

The preceding diagram shows how the algorithm works for the first two words. Each word ends up being compared with other words. Note that even if we know the answer for the word "is," we end up recomputing it again.

The algorithm performs O...

Referential transparency

We appreciate the virtues of caching, but we do this to look at referential transparency, a cornerstone of functional programming.

In the preceding example, note that we are able to cache the results, as the results of the computation are not going to change for the same input. We need not repeat the computations; instead, we could compute the answer once and save and substitute it.

In the FP world, where we can substitute a function by its value, the function is called referentially transparent. Just like we avoid repeated calls in the previous algorithm, repeated calls to such functions could be avoided by caching the result.

Mathematical functions are referentially transparent. For example, the following Clojure functions are referentially transparent:

user=> (* 3 4) 
12 
user=> (apply + [1 2 3 4 5 6]) 
21

You will always get 21 when you add up 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. Multiplying 3 and 4 will always give the result 12.

Note

Note that the preceding functions are pure...

Vectors versus lists

Prepending an element to a linked list is very fast. In fact, it is an O(1) operation, meaning the original list is simply pointed at by the new element node. The change happens only at the head of the list. As we don't need to traverse the list at all, this is a fixed cost, that is, O(1) operation.

Accessing an element at some index n is slower, meaning it is proportional to the number of elements in the list. We need to start at the head and keep traversing the nodes and keep counting. We do this until we reach the nth node. If we access the second last node, we will have traversed almost all of the list.

When any operation could make us look at almost all the elements, the complexity would be O(n). This means it would be proportional to the number of elements.

On the other hand, appending an element to a list is costly when we need to preserve the original list. In the next chapter, we need to traverse and copy all the elements, so we will preserve the current...

The Big O notation

In simple words, this notation is used to describe how fast an algorithm will run. It describes the growth of the algorithm's running time versus the size of input data.

Here is a simple example. Consider the following Scala snippet, reversing a linked list:

scala> def revList(list: List[Int]): List[Int] = list match { 
     |   case x :: xs => revList(xs) ++ List(x) 
     |   case Nil => Nil 
     | } 
revList: (list: List[Int])List[Int] 
scala> revList(List(1,2,3,4,5,6)) 
res0: List[Int] = List(6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

A quick question for you: how many times does the first case clause, namely case x :: xs => revList(xs) ++ List(x), match a list of six elements? Note that the clause matches when the list is non-empty. When it matches, we reduce the list by one element and recursively call the method.

It is easy to see the clause matches six times. As a result, the list method, ++, also gets invoked four times. The ++ method takes time and is directly proportional...

Space/time trade-off

A trade-off is a balancing act: when we take something, we give away another thing!

Algorithm designs too, at times, trade-off some amount of memory to save on the overall time. Let's look at two problems to better appreciate this important concept.

A word frequency counter

Let's say we have a list of words. The task is to find how many times a word occurs in the list in order to compute every word's frequency.

Here is a brute force approach:

    w <- each word in the list, count <- 1  
      w1 <- all other words in the list 
        If (w == w1)  
           Increment count  
                  println(w, " = ", count)

The following diagram shows the comparisons for the first two elements:

The preceding diagram shows how the algorithm works for the first two words. Each word ends up being compared with other words. Note that even if we know the answer for the word "is," we end up recomputing it again.

The algorithm performs O(n2) comparison. Thus, the runtime complexity...

Left arrow icon

Page 1 of 7

Right arrow icon
Download code icon Download Code

Key benefits

  • Moving from object-oriented programming to functional programming? This book will help you get started with functional programming.
  • Easy-to-understand explanations of practical topics will help you get started with functional data structures.
  • Illustrative diagrams to explain the algorithms in detail.
  • Get hands-on practice of Scala to get the most out of functional programming.

Description

Functional data structures have the power to improve the codebase of an application and improve efficiency. With the advent of functional programming and with powerful functional languages such as Scala, Clojure and Elixir becoming part of important enterprise applications, functional data structures have gained an important place in the developer toolkit. Immutability is a cornerstone of functional programming. Immutable and persistent data structures are thread safe by definition and hence very appealing for writing robust concurrent programs. How do we express traditional algorithms in functional setting? Won’t we end up copying too much? Do we trade performance for versioned data structures? This book attempts to answer these questions by looking at functional implementations of traditional algorithms. It begins with a refresher and consolidation of what functional programming is all about. Next, you’ll get to know about Lists, the work horse data type for most functional languages. We show what structural sharing means and how it helps to make immutable data structures efficient and practical. Scala is the primary implementation languages for most of the examples. At times, we also present Clojure snippets to illustrate the underlying fundamental theme. While writing code, we use ADTs (abstract data types). Stacks, Queues, Trees and Graphs are all familiar ADTs. You will see how these ADTs are implemented in a functional setting. We look at implementation techniques like amortization and lazy evaluation to ensure efficiency. By the end of the book, you will be able to write efficient functional data structures and algorithms for your applications.

Who is this book for?

This book is for those who have some experience in functional programming languages. The data structures in this book are primarily written in Scala, however implementing the algorithms in other functional languages should be straight forward.

What you will learn

  • Learn to think in the functional paradigm
  • Understand common data structures and the associated algorithms, as well as the context in which they are commonly used
  • Take a look at the runtime and space complexities with the O notation
  • See how ADTs are implemented in a functional setting
  • Explore the basic theme of immutability and persistent data structures
  • Find out how the internal algorithms are redesigned to exploit structural sharing, so that the persistent data structures perform well, avoiding needless copying.
  • Get to know functional features like lazy evaluation and recursion used to implement efficient algorithms
  • Gain Scala best practices and idioms

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Feb 23, 2017
Length: 318 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785885884
Category :
Programming
Concepts :
Functional Programming

What do you get with eBook?

Product feature icon Instant access to your Digital eBook purchase
Product feature icon Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

Product Details

Publication date : Feb 23, 2017
Length: 318 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785885884
Category :
Programming
Concepts :
Functional Programming

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
€18.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
START FREE TRIAL
BUY NOW
€189.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just €5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
START FREE TRIAL
BUY NOW
€264.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just €5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
START FREE TRIAL
BUY NOW

Frequently bought together

Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms
Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms
Read more
Feb 2017 318 pages
Full star icon 5 (2)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €20.98
  • Paperback Paperback €36.99
€20.98 €29.99
€36.99
Everyday data structures
Everyday data structures
Read more
Mar 2017 344 pages
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €20.98
  • Paperback Paperback €36.99
€20.98 €29.99
€36.99
Python Data Structures and Algorithms
Python Data Structures and Algorithms
Read more
May 2017 310 pages
Full star icon 2.7 (11)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €20.98
  • Paperback Paperback €36.99
€20.98 €29.99
€36.99
Stars icon
Total € 110.97
Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms
€36.99
Everyday data structures
€36.99
Python Data Structures and Algorithms
€36.99
Total € 110.97 Stars icon

Table of Contents

13 Chapters
1. Why Functional Programming? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
1. Why Functional Programming?
The imperative way
Higher level of abstraction
Functional programming is declarative
No boilerplate
Higher order functions
Controlling state changes
Recursion aids immutability
Copy-on-write
Laziness and deferred execution
Composing functions
Summary
2. Building Blocks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Building Blocks
The Big O notation
Space/time trade-off
Referential transparency
Vectors versus lists
Complexities and collections
Summary
3. Lists Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Lists
First steps
List head and tail
Drop elements
Concatenating lists
Persistent data structures
Tail call optimization
List append
List prepend
Getting value at index
Modifying a list value
Summary
4. Binary Trees Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Binary Trees
Node definitions
Building the tree
Comparing trees
The accumulator idiom
Binary Search Trees
Exercising it
Summary
5. More List Algorithms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. More List Algorithms
Binary numbers
Greedy algorithms and backtracking
Summary
6. Graph Algorithms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Graph Algorithms
Reversing a list
Graph algorithms
Cycle detection
Summary
7. Random Access Lists Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Random Access Lists
Incrementing a binary number
List of tree roots
Summary
8. Queues Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Queues
Understanding FIFO queues
Functional FIFO queues
Invariants
Implementing a priority queue
Understanding priority queues/heaps
Leftist trees
Functional heaps
Summary
9. Streams, Laziness, and Algorithms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Streams, Laziness, and Algorithms
Program evaluation
Argument evaluation
Memoization - remembering past results
Streams
Some algorithms on stream
Summary
10. Being Lazy - Queues and Deques Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Being Lazy - Queues and Deques
Imperative implementations
Amortization
Problem with queues
Strict versus lazy
Streams
Streams meet queues
A sense of balance
Amortized deques
Summary
11. Red-Black Trees Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Red-Black Trees
Terminology
Almost balanced trees
The concept of rotation
Red-Black trees
Inserting a node
Verifying the transformation
Complexity
Summary
12. Binomial Heaps Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. Binomial Heaps
Binomial trees
A binomial heap
Binary number equivalence
Summary
13. Sorting Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
13. Sorting
Stable and unstable sorting
Bubble sort
Selection sort
Insertion sort
Merge sort
Quick sort
Summary

Recommendations for you

Left arrow icon
Composing Software
Composing Software
Read more
Sep 2024 238 pages
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €25.99
€25.99
Bare-Metal Embedded C Programming
Bare-Metal Embedded C Programming
Read more
Sep 2024 438 pages
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €17.99
  • Paperback Paperback €31.99
€17.99 €25.99
€31.99
TradeStation EasyLanguage for Algorithmic Trading
TradeStation EasyLanguage for Algorithmic Trading
Read more
Sep 2024 282 pages
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €15.99
  • Paperback Paperback €29.99
€15.99 €23.99
€29.99
Technical Program Manager's Handbook
Technical Program Manager's Handbook
Read more
Sep 2024 368 pages
Full star icon 5 (3)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €17.99
  • Paperback Paperback €31.99
€17.99 €25.99
€31.99
Everyday data structures
Everyday data structures
Read more
Mar 2017 344 pages
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €20.98
  • Paperback Paperback €36.99
€20.98 €29.99
€36.99
ChatGPT and Prompt Engineering for Software Development
ChatGPT and Prompt Engineering for Software Development
Read more
Jul 2023 4hrs 23mins
Video
Video
  • Video Video €41.99
€41.99
Learn Java 17 Programming
Learn Java 17 Programming
Read more
Jul 2022 748 pages
Full star icon 3.3 (12)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €17.99
  • Paperback Paperback €33.99
€17.99 €26.99
€33.99
Learn Python Programming
Learn Python Programming
Read more
Jun 2018 508 pages
Full star icon 4.1 (28)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €18.99
  • Paperback Paperback €34.99
€18.99 €27.99
€34.99
Software Architecture Patterns for Serverless Systems
Software Architecture Patterns for Serverless Systems
Read more
Feb 2024 488 pages
Full star icon 5 (15)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €23.99
  • Paperback Paperback €43.99
€23.99 €34.99
€43.99
Mastering Python Design Patterns
Mastering Python Design Patterns
Read more
May 2024 296 pages
Full star icon 4.5 (6)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €15.99
  • Paperback Paperback €21.99
€15.99 €23.99
€21.99 €29.99
Right arrow icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
(2 Ratings)
5 star 100%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
mloves2travel Jul 09, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This is by far the best Packt publishing book I've ever read. This is comparable to the quality of a Manning Press book. I highly recommend this book and it's especially useful if you are preparing for technical interviews.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Bookreader Apr 02, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This is not a perfect book, but it's really good for being a Packt book. It's a nicer read than all other functional programming books I have. I've never written this about a book before - but reading this one actually makes me happy. It's simply a fun read! Not full of jokes, but fun in the way that every page makes me really curious about what's in the next page. And every chapter makes me curious about what's in the next chapter. I usually only review bad books, to warn others, but I think this one deserves a good review because it stands out so strongly among the competition when it comes to Packt books. Another reviewer said that it's more like a Manning book, but I disagree. I like this one more than I like the Manning books I've read. There are a few errors in the book (not many) and at some points the explanations could be better / clearer. But if you stop and think a bit you will probably manage fine without a perfect explanation. Everything is in there to be able to figure the missing parts out yourself (contrary to the Functional Programming in Scala book from Manning, to take an example of a book with way too many missing explanations).
Amazon Verified review Amazon

People who bought this also bought

Left arrow icon
Domain-Driven Design with Golang
Domain-Driven Design with Golang
Read more
Dec 2022 204 pages
Full star icon 4.4 (19)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €17.99
  • Paperback Paperback €33.99
€17.99 €26.99
€33.99
Template Metaprogramming with C++
Template Metaprogramming with C++
Read more
Aug 2022 480 pages
Full star icon 4.6 (14)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €19.99
  • Paperback Paperback €35.99
€19.99 €28.99
€35.99
The Python Workshop Second Edition
The Python Workshop Second Edition
Read more
Nov 2022 600 pages
Full star icon 4.6 (21)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €21.99
  • Paperback Paperback €38.99
€21.99 €31.99
€38.99
Event-Driven Architecture in Golang
Event-Driven Architecture in Golang
Read more
Nov 2022 384 pages
Full star icon 4.9 (11)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €20.98
  • Paperback Paperback €37.99
€20.98 €29.99
€37.99
50 Algorithms Every Programmer Should Know
50 Algorithms Every Programmer Should Know
Read more
Sep 2023 538 pages
Full star icon 4.5 (67)
eBook
eBook
  • eBook eBook €20.98
  • Paperback Paperback €29.99
€20.98 €29.99
€29.99 €37.99
Right arrow icon

About the authors

Left arrow icon
Profile icon S. Khot
S. Khot
Atul S. Khot is a self-taught programmer and has written software programmes in C and C++. Having extensively programmed in Java and dabbled in multiple languages, these days, he is increasingly getting hooked on Scala, Clojure, and Erlang. Atul is a frequent speaker at software conferences and a past Dr. Dobb's product award judge. He was the author of Scala Functional Programming Patterns and Learning Functional Data Structures and Algorithms, published by Packt Publishing.
Read more
See other products by S. Khot
Profile icon Mishra
Mishra
Charit Mishra is an ICS/SCADA security professional. He works as a security architect for critical infrastructure industry (oil and gas, energy and utility, transport, telecom, and so on) and holds extensive experience in security standards, framework, and technologies, with real hands-on experience in security. He has obtained leading industry certifications, such as OSCP, CEH, CompTIA Security+, and CCNA R&S. Also, he holds a master's degree in computer science. He regularly delivers professional trainings on critical infrastructure security internationally.
Read more
See other products by Mishra
Right arrow icon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

How do I buy and download an eBook? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Where there is an eBook version of a title available, you can buy it from the book details for that title. Add either the standalone eBook or the eBook and print book bundle to your shopping cart. Your eBook will show in your cart as a product on its own. After completing checkout and payment in the normal way, you will receive your receipt on the screen containing a link to a personalised PDF download file. This link will remain active for 30 days. You can download backup copies of the file by logging in to your account at any time.

If you already have Adobe reader installed, then clicking on the link will download and open the PDF file directly. If you don't, then save the PDF file on your machine and download the Reader to view it.

Please Note: Packt eBooks are non-returnable and non-refundable.

Packt eBook and Licensing When you buy an eBook from Packt Publishing, completing your purchase means you accept the terms of our licence agreement. Please read the full text of the agreement. In it we have tried to balance the need for the ebook to be usable for you the reader with our needs to protect the rights of us as Publishers and of our authors. In summary, the agreement says:

  • You may make copies of your eBook for your own use onto any machine
  • You may not pass copies of the eBook on to anyone else
How can I make a purchase on your website? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

If you want to purchase a video course, eBook or Bundle (Print+eBook) please follow below steps:

  1. Register on our website using your email address and the password.
  2. Search for the title by name or ISBN using the search option.
  3. Select the title you want to purchase.
  4. Choose the format you wish to purchase the title in; if you order the Print Book, you get a free eBook copy of the same title. 
  5. Proceed with the checkout process (payment to be made using Credit Card, Debit Cart, or PayPal)
Where can I access support around an eBook? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
  • If you experience a problem with using or installing Adobe Reader, the contact Adobe directly.
  • To view the errata for the book, see www.packtpub.com/support and view the pages for the title you have.
  • To view your account details or to download a new copy of the book go to www.packtpub.com/account
  • To contact us directly if a problem is not resolved, use www.packtpub.com/contact-us
What eBook formats do Packt support? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Our eBooks are currently available in a variety of formats such as PDF and ePubs. In the future, this may well change with trends and development in technology, but please note that our PDFs are not Adobe eBook Reader format, which has greater restrictions on security.

You will need to use Adobe Reader v9 or later in order to read Packt's PDF eBooks.

What are the benefits of eBooks? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
  • You can get the information you need immediately
  • You can easily take them with you on a laptop
  • You can download them an unlimited number of times
  • You can print them out
  • They are copy-paste enabled
  • They are searchable
  • There is no password protection
  • They are lower price than print
  • They save resources and space
What is an eBook? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Packt eBooks are a complete electronic version of the print edition, available in PDF and ePub formats. Every piece of content down to the page numbering is the same. Because we save the costs of printing and shipping the book to you, we are able to offer eBooks at a lower cost than print editions.

When you have purchased an eBook, simply login to your account and click on the link in Your Download Area. We recommend you saving the file to your hard drive before opening it.

For optimal viewing of our eBooks, we recommend you download and install the free Adobe Reader version 9.