I would like to thank my wife, Zurypa Dawletkan, and my son, Bakhtiyar. They supported me and spent weekends and nights to make this book possible.

I would like to thank Luke Presland. He gave me the opportunity to write this book. A big thank you to Rebecca Pedley and Govindan K; your help on the book was great. Thanks to Jalasha D'costa and the other technical editors and the team for their hard work on the publication version of this book, to make it look good. Also, thanks to all the acquisition editors and technical reviewers.

I also would like to thank my brother, Dr. Bolat Makhabel (LinkedIn: BOLATMJ), for providing me with the cover image for this book. He is from a medical science background. The name of the plant in the image is Echinops (the botanical Latin name), Lahsa in Kazakhstan, and Khonrawbas (or Koktiken) in China. This plant is used in the traditional Kazakh medicine and is a part of his research as well.

Although most of my professional knowledge comes from continual practice, its roots are in the firm foundation set up by my university, Tsinghua University, and my teachers, Prof. Dai Meie, Prof. Zhao Yannan, Prof. Wang Jiaqin, Prof. Ju Yuma, and many others. Their spirit is still an inspiration for me to pursue my work in the field of computer science and technology.

I'd like to express my thanks to my wife's parents, Dawletkan Kobegen and Burux Takay, for helping us by taking care of my son.

Lastly, I would also like to express my greatest respect to my sister, Aynur Makhabel, and my brother-in-law, Akimjan Xaymardan, for their valuable virtue.