Acknowledgments
A textbook of this magnitude is rarely a product of only one person’s effort. I thank all the early and ongoing reviewers of this text and Chris Ramirez of Vertical Technologies Consulting for research and ideas when most needed as well as using the text in his classroom. A big thank you also to Karen Miletsky at Pratt Institute of Design, Russell and Titu Sarder at Netcom Information Technology, and everyone at New York Institute of Technology, RoboTECH CAD solutions, and other premier training centers for their past and present support.
Extensive gratitude also goes to Joseph P. Hayton, Stephen R. Merken, Jeff Freeland, Gnomi Gouldin, Kathleen Chaney, and the rest of the team at Elsevier for believing in the project and for their invaluable support in getting the book out to market. Thank you also to Jan Neff-Sinclair for painstaking proofreading and for providing detailed errata of the previous edition and to Denis Cadu of Autodesk for all the support at the Autodesk Developers Network. Special thanks also to Rick and Ken at Computer Resellers of Macon for all the fixes needed to keep my PC in tip top shape to enable me to make my deadlines!
Finally, I thank my friends and family, especially my parents, Boris and Tatyana Gindis, for their patience and encouragement as well as standing by me as months of work turned into years.
This book is dedicated to the hundreds of students who have passed through my classrooms and made teaching the enjoyable adventure it has become.
April 2014