Acknowledgments

Writing a book is a lot of work! And I'm not talking about my work. There are so many people who have contributed some excellent work to the book you're holding, and I'm glad to have this opportunity to thank them for their hard work.

First, thanks go to Jim Sumser, Lead Editor with Apress. Jim read my original proposal for the book and must have seen something promising because I've had nothing but complete support during the entire writing and editing process. When he e-mailed to let me know that Apress wanted to do the book, I think my heart actually skipped a beat when I realized he was serious and that I would actually have to write this thing!

I figured out quickly that I was going to need some serious organizational help with getting this book written. I have to thank Tracy Brown Collins at Apress, my Project Manager, for her work and apologize for any stress I may have caused her. For a book with this many drawings, figures, photos, and screenshots, I am amazed at her ability to keep it all organized and keep me moving forward towards a finished project. Tracy, you helped this writer stay on track, and you did it with kindness and support. Thank you so much!

Evun an Englush major can make spelling and grammur mustakes (just kidding). For helping me clean up the text and fix quite a few errors, I have Susannah Davidson, Bill McManus, and Ami Knox to thank. Going over their fixes and suggested changes was a good review for me—thank you all for the great work!

You might have noticed that this book has a lot of figures. Well, someone had to help me clean them up and redraw my horrid hand sketches. I was fortunate to have a team that really deserves the credit, and this includes April Milne. Thank you all for taking what looked perfect in my head but terrible on paper and turning it into something to be proud of! And a special thank you goes to Kurt Krames for the great cover mixture of Mayan pyramid and NXT robot. Who could imagine these two images sharing a book cover?

And finally, with any technology book, a huge amount of thanks has to go to the technical editor. I was fortunate to have Brian Davis help me with testing the robots and double-checking my programs. He caught quite a few errors and offered up some suggestions for better ways to explain some complicated subjects. The book is much improved thanks to his efforts. Thank you, Brian, for your attention to details and for your feedback.

Another thank you goes to Jeff Gennick who provided questions and feedback during the writing of my chapters. Jeff (and his dad, Jonathan Gennick, another Apress staff member) purchased an NXT kit early on and helped me with early testing of the initial robot designs. Thanks go to both of them for their help.

I'm certain there are others who were working hard behind the scenes, and I'd like to thank everyone who had a hand in getting this book completed.