Spawn 296

"THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF AL SIMMONS," Part One The road to SPAWN's record-setting 300th issue BEGINS HERE!!! Witness the secrets of Al Simmons past, present and future!!! Every hero! Every villain! Revisit Spawn's legend in an epic, wide-screen story from critically acclaimed illustrator, JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER, and legendary creator, TODD McFARLANE!

VENGEANCE and the LIFE and DEATH of AL SIMMONS! Al Simmons ups the pressure in his war with Heaven and Hell. As Spawn and his twisted new allies—Overtkill, Cy-Gor, The Curse, and The Freak—challenge the powers that be, Al confronts the one enemy he has been hunting since his return…the sinister demon responsible for his true love’s murder. Also contains the hit “History of Spawn” from SPAWN #296–297, which recounts Al Simmons’ life as a soldier, and his death and afterlife as the anti-hero Spawn. Collects SPAWN #291-297

Written by the author of Expect, this is the first book to explain how this new part of the UNIX toolbox can be used to automate telnet, ftp, passwd, rlogin, and hundreds of other interactive applications. The book provides lots of practical examples and scripts solving common problems, including a chapter of extended examples.

Since the publication of the first edition, important developments have emerged in modern mushroom biology and world mushroom production and products. The relationship of mushrooms with human welfare and the environment, medicinal properties of mushrooms, and the global marketing value of mushrooms and their products have all garnered great attenti

A unique six-year compilation of British rural news, interspersed with the author's own observations on birds, mammals, fish, and aspects of Britain's countryside today. Most rural subjects are covered in a comprehensive snapshot of country life at the start of the new Millennium. From December 1999 to February 2006, scores of different issues are compressed into hundreds of bite-sized, easily digested articles. From angling to animal rights campaigns, foxhunting to farming, game shooting to wildlife conservation, a diverse collection of views, comment and advice is presented. The batty and the bizarre also get a look-in, as do the controversial and the downright crazy. With its packed pages, A Country Pillow Book could become a bedside companion for the rural researcher or a useful tool for the country-loving insomniac.

Master professional techniques in 3ds max with expert guidance from this unique book and DVD-ROM package! A must have guide for those with 3ds max experience who want to get more out of the base kit this versatile package provides. Save money by finding out how to get the most realistic effects from 3ds max without having to spend more on plugins. This book includes all you need to know to create realistic earth, air, fire and water effects with Discreet's powerful 3ds max animation kit. Inspirational color images cover every page as Pete shares his professional insight, detailing the breakdown of the extensive catalog of visual reference material supplied on the DVD-ROM to ensure your effects are more realistic when working in 3ds max. This information is then used within the body of the tutorials which teach not only how to create each effect, but why we have performed that specific step so that you have a complete understanding of all the processes involved. The free DVD-ROM also contains 5 hours and 45 minutes of free video tutorials in which Pete walks you through additional effects while still maintaining the same quality and format as the tutorials in the book. 'I congratulate Pete on this amazing accomplishment. I am certain that those of you who read this will find it incredibly useful, both as an educational tool and as a volume of reference. I encourage you all to read and absorb the information found within, and use it to help strengthen both your own skills, and to help strengthen and maintain our ever spreading 3D community.' Jason 'Buzz' Busby (www.3dbuzz.com)

Object-Oriented scripting with Perl and Python Scripting languages are becoming increasingly important for software development. These higher-level languages, with their built-in easy-to-use data structures are convenient for programmers to use as "glue" languages for assembling multi-language applications and for quick prototyping of software architectures. Scripting languages are also used extensively in Web-based applications. Based on the same overall philosophy that made Programming with Objects such a wide success, Scripting with Objects takes a novel dual-language approach to learning advanced scripting with Perl and Python, the dominant languages of the genre. This method of comparing basic syntax and writing application-level scripts is designed to give readers a more comprehensive and expansive perspective on the subject. Beginning with an overview of the importance of scripting languages—and how they differ from mainstream systems programming languages—the book explores: Regular expressions for string processing The notion of a class in Perl and Python Inheritance and polymorphism in Perl and Python Handling exceptions Abstract classes and methods in Perl and Python Weak references for memory management Scripting for graphical user interfaces Multithreaded scripting Scripting for network programming Interacting with databases Processing XML with Perl and Python This book serves as an excellent textbook for a one-semester undergraduate course on advanced scripting in which the students have some prior experience using Perl and Python, or for a two-semester course for students who will be experiencing scripting for the first time. Scripting with Objects is also an ideal resource for industry professionals who are making the transition from Perl to Python, or vice versa.