Acknowledgments

To start, I want to thank my late wife Kassia for her love and support during the 25 years we spent together. Kassia always believed in me, and she encouraged me to write this book. She kept pushing me to work on it even after she was diagnosed with incurable cancer. Kassia was an inspiring and brave woman who conquered cancer. Not because she was cured—sadly, she wasn’t—but because she never let cancer change her, and she continued to inspire all those around her. Writing this book throughout her journey with cancer, and then throughout my own grief was a challenging task.

Thank you to my daughters Gisele, Livia, Elena, and Alice for your love, support, and courage.

Thank you, Brian Hogan, for editing this book and for helping me find its real soul. Thank you also for your patience and understanding with all the difficulties I faced while writing this book. You’re a great mentor and a wonderful human being. I have learned a great deal from you.

Thank you, Andy Hunt and The Pragmatic Bookshelf, for publishing this book. You made a long-time dream come true.

Thank you, Tim Anema, Robert Bost, Ilija Eftimov, Mike Fridman, Philip Pearl, Petko Petkov, Renato Suero, and Will Langford, for reviewing the draft of this book, catching errors, and helping me improve it. This book wouldn’t be what it is without your invaluable suggestions and constructive feedback.

Thank you, Marcelo Paternostro, for your insights, suggestions, and friendship.

This book is only possible because the Go programming language exists. Thank you, Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson, for designing this incredible language. Thanks to all Go contributors for developing and maintaining it. Your continuous efforts make Go an amazing language to work with.

A special thanks to all beta readers who read this book while it was still being written. Thank you for your excellent feedback and for finding and reporting errors that would be otherwise hard to spot. I know this book took a long time to complete. Thank you for your patience, support, and kind messages while I dealt with personal issues and continued to work on the book.

While writing this book, I witnessed firsthand the challenges that someone living with cancer faces. For those out there in this situation, particularly women dealing with breast cancer, I acknowledge your challenges, your efforts, and your perseverance. For the caregivers, I understand the toll it takes on you, especially on your mental health. Take care of yourselves so you can take care of your loved ones. In honor of my wife’s memory and out of respect for those impacted by cancer, I will donate part of the proceeds from this book to help those living with or caring for someone with cancer.