Acknowledgments

First off, kudos to the Manning team for letting us miss deadline after deadline without breaking from their professionalism, guidance, and nudging. We felt it was only appropriate that we try to mimic the current failures of our industry when writing this book, and missing as many deadlines as we did certainly proved that we can. Without the Manning team, we’d probably still be sitting in a hotel lobby in some city discussing what the topic of the book should be.

So special thanks to publisher Marjan Bace, our technical editor Andrew Siemer, our copyeditor Liz Welch, our development editor Cynthia Kane, our proofreader Katie Tennant, and everyone else at Manning who worked with us on the manuscript during its development and production. A big thank-you to our editor Mike Stephens who showed incredible patience, tact, and negotiation skills throughout the journey.

Many of the ideas in this book are offshoots of others from people we respect in the industry. Specifically, thanks to Robert C. “Uncle Bob” Martin, whose principles formed the basis for part 2 of the book, and Michael Feathers, whose book Working Effectively With Legacy Code essentially inspired this book. Thank you to James Kovacs for allowing us to use his title for chapter 9 and to Josh Schwartzberg who provided us with the anecdote to open chapter 2.

We’d also like to thank the many reviewers who read the manuscript at different stages and provided invaluable input: Ayende Rahien, Mike Tian-Jiang Jiang, Berndt Hamboeck, Dave Corun, Derik Whittaker, Josh Schwartzberg, Nikander Bruggeman, Margriet Bruggeman, Liam McLennan, Mark Needham, Peter Ritchie, Philippe Vialatte, Alan Ruth, Rick Wagner, Wendy Friedlander, Horaci Macias, Gary Pronych, Philipp K. Janert, Stuart Caborn, Eric Swanson, Jason Drews, Adam Willie, Rob Windsor, Barabbas Jiang, Ted Neward, and Timothy Binkley-Jones.

Finally, thanks to David Laribee for his encouragement and for having graciously agreed to write the foreword to our book.

Kyle Baley

I’ll start with an apology to my late grandfather. When I was young, I used to watch the Academy Awards with him. When an acceptance speech started to run too long, he’d throw his hands in the air and say, “Oh, for heaven’s sake, thank God and your mother and get the &*%$ off the stage!” Sorry, Grandpa, I may never be here again.

A big thank-you to my parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncle, and extended family who taught me the importance of a sense of humility and humor, not necessarily in that order. A special shout-out to my cousin Jocelyn, whose emails and notes of encouragement always seemed to come at the right time.

Finally, although I always thought it was a cliché for an author to thank his spouse and children, now I know where they’re coming from. A huge thank-you to my beautiful wife Liza and my charming daughter Sydney, both of whom showed infinitely more patience than I did throughout the process. They are Sunshine and Starshine, respectively, to my Moonshine. I also want to throw some thanks to my son Jake, who was born during the writing process. Although he wasn’t quite as patient as the ladies were, he was a consistent source of inspiration nonetheless.

Donald Belcham

I’d like to thank many of my non-IT friends for what they’ve done both for my career path and this book. These are the people who implored me to attend school, set me up with a strong foundational knowledge of how to work as a professional when I first entered the industry, and have continued to support me during the good and the bad that I’ve been through. Without any of you I’d probably still be farming in the hinter-lands of northern Canada.

A big apology goes to all the people who, for the last two years, have had to deal with hearing about “the book.” Thank you for understanding that I couldn’t make many social engagements and that, when I did, I’d have a laptop in tow to write down any fleeting ideas that I may have had.

I’d also like to thank the greater software development community for providing so many thought-provoking ideas and chances to learn, and doing so in an open way. Whether it was coding practices, professional advice, or general business knowledge, I’m thankful to have had the chance to absorb what you’ve had to offer. Without the interaction and learning that you allowed me to participate in, I’d still be writing code in darkness and frustration.

Finally, to The Sixteen Men of Tain, thank you for helping me through the writing process so nicely.