Acknowledgments

This book represents the efforts of many people and I sincerely thank them for their contribution.

Many thanks to the entire team at Wrox/Wiley. You made this book possible! Scott Meyers took this book from a proposal to a real project. Tom Dinse diligently and patiently reviewed the manuscript and managed the schedule. Many others worked seamlessly behind the scenes to make things happen.

Thanks much to Yakov Fain for meticulously reviewing and validating the manuscript for its technical correctness. He deserves special praise for his attention to detail and valuable insight.

I sincerely appreciate all of you (everyone at Wiley and Yakov) for working extra hard against tight timelines to make things happen on schedule.

Special thanks to the folks at Adobe. Thanks to Jeff Vroom for his early encouragement and support. Thanks to James Ward for the encouraging words he wrote in the forward to this book. Many thanks to Jeremy Grelle, the lead of the Spring BlazeDS project at SpringSource for his help.

Thanks to Jerry Bezdikian for my About the Author photo.

Above all, thanks to my friends and family for their assistance and encouragement. My wife, Caren, and sons, Ayaan and Ezra, were extremely loving and accommodating while I took out time on many evenings, early mornings, and nights in the last many months to finish the book. They were very involved in the project. My five year old, Ayaan, continuously knew how I was progressing through the book, often encouraging me to finish a chapter sooner than I would otherwise have. My three year old, Ezra, was quieter than his normal naughty self when I was working hard typing away on my keyboard. My wife, Caren, planned the last many weekdays and weekends, solely around my writing schedule. She fed me with delicious food as she always does and helped me stay focused all along, even when the task looked too difficult. Without their affection, I would have never been able to write this book.

Thanks also to my parents (Mandakini and Suresh), my in-laws (Cissy and Frank) and all other near and dear ones for their continuing support and encouragement.

My sincere thanks and gratitude to all of you who contributed towards this book.