Acknowledgments
Gratitude may seem like a cliché, but this is only because it’s such a fundamental part of human nature. While I was writing the book, many people gave me good reasons to be grateful, and I would like to thank them all.
First of all, writing a book in my spare time has given me a new understanding of just how taxing such a project is on marriage and family life. My wife Cecilie stayed with me and actively supported me during the whole process. Most importantly, she understood just how important this project was to me. We are still together and I look forward to being able to spend more time with her and our kids Linea and Jarl (who miss me, although I’ve been right here all the time).
Both my parents and in-laws have also been a huge help in keeping the family running during those times when I needed to direct my efforts towards the book. I couldn’t have done it without them.
On a more professional level, I wish to thank Manning for giving me this opportunity. Karen Tegtmeyer originally “discovered” me and helped me establish a relationship with Manning. Michael Stephens initiated the project and believed in me when things looked bleak. There were times when it looked like I’d never be able to finish the book by myself, but Michael took a chance with me, and I’m immensely grateful that I was allowed to complete the book as the consistent work of a single person. Cynthia Kane served as my development editor and kept a keen eye on the quality of the text. She helped me identify weak spots in the manuscript and provided extensive constructive criticism. Despite all the frustration along the way, I’m particularly grateful that she convinced me to rework chapters 1 through 3. Kill your darlings, as the saying goes. I’m much happier with the final result, and I have Cynthia to thank for that.
Although writing the book was an unpaid side project, I never had any doubt that it would impact my work performance. When I started the project, my manager at the time, Peter Haastrup, was very supportive. I want to thank both him and our CEO, Niels Flensted-Jensen, for providing an inspiring and supportive work environment. Unfortunately, the company went out of business, but my new employer, Jørn Floor Andersen, has been exceptionally patient with me.
Karsten Strøbæk and Brian Rasmussen read through numerous early drafts and provided much helpful feedback. Karsten also served as the technical proofreader during production.
The following reviewers read the manuscript at various stages of development and I am grateful for their comments and insight: Christian Siegers, Amos Bannister, Rama Krishna Vavilala, Doug Ferguson, Darren Neimke, Chuck Durfee, Paul Grebenc, Lester Lobo, Jonas Bandi, Braj Panda, Alan Ruth, Timothy Binkley-Jones, Andrew Siemer, Javier Lozano, David Barkol, and Patrick Steger.
Many of the participants in the Manning Early Access Program (MEAP) also provided feedback and asked difficult questions that exposed the weak parts of the text.
I was so fortunate that the existing .NET DI CONTAINER community received the book project with a very positive attitude. Several of the specific DI CONTAINERS’ creators offered to review the chapters on “their” container. Krzysztof Koźmic reviewed the Castle Windsor chapter, Stephen Bohlen the Spring.NET chapter, Nicholas Blumhardt the Autofac chapter, Chris Tavares the Unity chapter, and Glenn Block looked over the MEF chapter while Jeremy Miller answered my stupid questions via Twitter and the StructureMap forum. I’m grateful for their participation, for it provided confirmation that my way of presenting their work could be aligned with their own. I would also like to thank Glenn Block for contributing the foreword.
Mogens Heller Grabe courteously allowed me to use his picture of a hairdryer wired directly into a wall outlet, and Patrick Smacchia provided me with a copy of NDepend and reviewed the related section.
In many ways, Martin Gildenpfennig sowed more seeds for this book than he may realize. Even before I was (lightly) exposed to Martin Fowler’s presentation of TDD back in 2003, Martin Gildenpfennig had already introduced me to the concept of unit testing, although we never got around using it at that time. Much later, I was stuck with the false conviction that SERVICE LOCATOR was a blessing, and, with a few simple sentences, he made me realize that there’s a better alternative.
My former colleague, Mikkel Christensen, was a pleasure to work with while I wrote great portions of the book. We had many good discussions about API design and patterns, and I could bounce even my craziest ideas off of him and always get an open and qualified discussion out of it.
Finally, I wish to thank Thomas Jaskula for all the support and inspiration along the way. We’ve never had the pleasure of meeting each other, but Thomas has time and again exhibited an almost overwhelming delight with my work. He may not realize it, but there were times when this was the only thing that kept me going.