Acknowledgments

I have received assistance from a great number of people over the 21 months that went into the research and development of this book. I wish to thank first my wife, Rebecca, who tirelessly read through pages of unedited manuscripts, and used her systems programming background to add valuable recommendations. Next, I wish to thank the reviewers whose recommendations led to better chapter organization, fewer content and code errors, and a perspective on which topics to emphasize. Reviewers included Greg Beamer, James Edelen, Doug Holland, Curtiss Howard, Anand Narayanaswamy, and Gordon Weakliem. Special thanks go to Richard Hundhausen whose recommendations went well beyond the call of duty; and Cay Horstmann, who read every preliminary chapter and whose Java allegiance made him a wonderful and influential "Devil's Advocate." I also wish to thank Dr. Alan Tharp who encouraged the idea of writing a book on .NET and remains my most respected advisor in the computer profession.

Finally, it has been a pleasure working with the editors and staff at Prentice Hall PTR. I'm particularly grateful for the efforts of Stephane Nakib, Joan Murray, Ebony Haight, Jessica D'Amico, Kelli Brooks, and Vanessa Moore. This book would not exist without the efforts of my original editor Stephane Nakib. The idea for the book was hers, and her support for the project kept it moving in the early stages. My other editor, Joan Murray, took over midway through the project and provided the oversight, advice, and encouragement to complete the project. Production editor Vanessa Moore and copy editor Kelli Brooks performed the "dirty work" of turning the final manuscript—with its myriad inconsistencies and word misuse—into a presentable book. To them, I am especially grateful. Working with professionals such as these was of inestimable value on those days when writing was more Sisyphean than satisfying.