Acknowledgments

My first tip o’ the hat goes to my editor, Kelly Talbot of Wiley, who received all my raving, meandering

prose and actually carved a book out of it. Although I kvetched a bit, he was a calm and steady hand

navigating this project to a successful completion. (Yes, it’s true, I did call him a slave driver in the heat

of the moment. Yes, he is one of the most organized editors I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.

Other authors, take note. The editor is always right.)

The second acknowledgment goes to Ed Finkler, who pored over every line of code and made incredibly

insightful remarks throughout. Despite the fact that he received the manuscript at quite an advanced

stage, he bravely ordered a whole series of changes in order to bring my game up. He followed this up

with a tenacious immunity to my whining and crying, and then nodded and patted my head when I

finally came around to his point of view. Any technical difficulties you may have with the code are

totally his fault. (Just kidding! Seriously, he’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know about software, and

without him, this book would have been quite different.)

Neil Salkind, my agent, is a pearl beyond price. He’s the kind of guy who will quietly listen to your

half-baked ideas and help you shape them into a real pitch that will actually get a publisher’s attention.

Without him, I’d just be another guy with dreams of authorship and nothing to his credit.

With any book, there are dozens of folks who toil behind the scenes, and it’s impossible to name them

all, but I’d like to try. Jenny Watson, who acquired the idea for Wiley, thanks so much for listening to my

pitch. Your guidance and feedback in the early stages were very appreciated.

Thanks, Debra and Cate, who took over during production edits — What can I say? Cate, I dub thee

“World’s Most Efficient Copyeditor” (although I’m sure you will make Copyeditor into two words, which

will be funny as all get out — sorry, a little editor humor there). Debra — thanks for taking my calls out

of the blue and for helping me put the last little touches on this puppy. Your solid Jersey wisdom on

“data are” versus “data is” was much appreciated and a source of much mirth.

Thank you, good folks at EllisLab, for creating CodeIgniter — you don’t know how much this

framework has changed my relationship with web development and with my clients. In particular,

thanks to Derek Allard for responding to my first tentative e-mails and giving me feedback. Thank

you, thank you, thank you!

To my clients, who accommodated me as I pursued this book, even though you had pressing deadlines

and requests of your own: You’re simply the best, and I’m damn lucky to be working with you.

Lastly, I extend my thanks to my divine spouse, Hope, who endured many weekends of solitude while

I wrote in my little study. And no, I can’t forget the contributions made by Marlowe (our little Yorkie)

and Kafka (our lovable mutt), who spent many a slow afternoon sleeping by my feet as I tapped away at

the keyboard.

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