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Acknowledgments
I couldn't have written this book without some early influences in both writing and programming. So I
have to thank to Dick Holland, Keith Hull, Janet Constantanides, Phil Schlump, and Pat LaFollett for my
education (only three of those were my teachers – Phil and Pat are former co-workers who are natural
mentors). More recently, I have to thank John Sederberg, Terry Dexter, and Daniel Padilla for taking a
chance on a guy whose degrees were not in computer science. Finally, I have to thank Mary Jackson
(good friend and fabulous software developer) for putting me in touch with Steve Anglin at Apress.
Ewan Buckingham and Adam Heath have put up with a lot from me, as I went from working on the
book full-time to writing all day at work and having to write part-time at home, too. That made my
response time slower than anyone liked at times. Also, Ewan and my technical reviewer, Massimo
Nadone, have had a number of good ideas that have made the book better than I could have done on my
own. They are intelligent and conscientious professionals, and I thank them for their efforts.Jay Bryant