xiiiForeword
This book happened because the daughter (hi, Kylie) of a friend (hi, Ross) asked me what I do. As it
happened, I had my laptop with me at the time, so I showed her. Kylie was 15 at the time, so she
promptly lost interest. I was working as a web developer (writing middleware and database code rather
than front-end code), so I explained that Facebook worked in a similar way. That got her attention. It
pays to know one's audience.
That experience gave me the idea of writing a book to get young people started on programming.
Later that year, when Apress asked me to write a book, I managed to talk them into writing one for
beginners.
So, if you want to try writing software, this book is for you. It's by no means an exhaustive
explanation of either topic (how it works and how it's written are really two topics), but it's a start. I hope
it's enough of a start that you can have a new hobby: writing software. If you then learn more, you might
even make a career of it someday. I hope some of the people who read this book end up in the
profession, as we need more sharp minds writing software.
If that happens to be you, welcome to the quirky, frustrating, fascinating, and sometimes lucrative
world of software development.
Jay Bryant