This book would never have been written without the help of all the wonderful people at Apress who worked to make sure this book could be the best beginner's tutorial for novice Macintosh programmers. A big round of thanks goes to Michelle Lowman, Jim Markham, Kim Wimpsett, Bill McManus, Jennifer L. Blackwell, and James Bucanek for keeping this project on track and making it fun at the same time.

Another big round of thanks goes to Bill Gladstone and Margot Hutchison at Waterside Productions for always looking out for new opportunities in the book publishing and computer industry.

Thanks also goes to all the stand-up comedians I've met, who have made those horrible crowds at comedy clubs more bearable: Darrell Joyce (http://darrelljoyce.com), Leo "the Man, the Myth, the Legend" Fontaine, Chris Clobber, Bob Zany (www.bobzany.com), Russ Rivas (http://russrivas.com), Doug James, Don Learned, Dante, and Dobie "The Uranus King" Maxwell (www.dobiemaxwell.com). Another round of thanks goes to Steve Schirripa (who appeared in HBO's hit show The Sopranos) for giving me my break in performing at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, one of the few old-time casinos left that hasn't been imploded (yet) to make room for another luxury hotel and casino designed to take money away from people unable to calculate the odds so heavily stacked against them.

Finally, I'd like to acknowledge Cassandra (my wife), Jordan (my son), and Nuit (my cat) along with Loons the parrot and Ollie the parakeet. They didn't help write this book one bit, but their presence has made the process of writing this book much more bearable.