About the Author
A professional writer for more than six years,Martin C. Brown (MC)is the author of both the
Perl and Python Annotated Archivesand Complete Referencebooks (all four Osborne/McGraw-
Hill),Microsoft IIS 6 Delta Guide(Sams Publishing), and 14 other published computing titles.
His expertise spans myriad development languages and platforms—Perl, Python, Java,
JavaScript, Basic, Pascal, Modula-2, C, C++, Rebol, Gawk, Shellscript, Windows, Solaris,
Linux, BeOS, Microsoft WP, Mac OS, and more—as well as web programming, systems
management, and integration. MC is a regular contributor to ServerWatch.com and IBM
developerWorks.He is also a regular writer of white papers and how-to guides for Microsoft on subjects such as
migrating Solaris/Unix/Linux development and systems administration to Windows 2000 and
2003 Server product lines. He draws on a rich and varied background as a founding member of
a leading U.K. ISP, systems manager and IT consultant for an advertising agency and Internet
solutions group, technical specialist for an intercontinental ISP network, and database designer
and programmer—and as a self-confessed compulsive consumer of computing hardware and
software. In his formative pre-writing life, he spent 10 years designing and managing mixed
platform environments. As a result he has developed a rare talent of being able to convey the
benefits and intricacies of his subject with equal measures of enthusiasm, professionalism, in-
depth knowledge, and insight. MC is currently a member of the MySQL Documentation
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