First, I'd like to acknowledge Guido Van Rossum for creating such a way cool language as Python.

I'd like to thank my agent, Neil Salkind, for nursing my insecurities and answering my novice writer questions.

I'd like to thank Jenny Watson, my acquisitions editor at Wiley, for being willing to go to bat for an unpublished writer's crazy ideas. Thanks to Ed Connor, my development editor, for his gentle prodding, high standards, and encouragement. Thanks also to Jesse Keating for his help with technical editing, and to Brent Rufener for providing a cover photo.

Finally, but most important, thanks to my family for putting up with my frequent unavailability during the last few months — writing is a solitary art, and it will be nice to reacquaint myself with my loved ones.