Acknowledgments

Many people helped me along the path to learn enough to write this book.

My parents recognized my passion for computer science when I was a teenager, and they sacrificed to get me a personal computer at a time when those were not common. Also thanks to my parents and my grandfather, I got my education at the University of California.

Many professors showed me the traditional computer science theory and practice, but I want to thank two in particular: Dr. Kevin Karplus and Dr. Dan Scripture. They created a class I took on Technical Writing, which showed me how important it is to practice writing in a field that requires so much care to communicate complex ideas.

I’ve been inspired by many managers and colleagues. Keith Reynolds gave me some early C code projects, which taught me that the practice of programming is mostly working on other people’s code. David Bredenberg inspired me by his example to spend time helping other software developers. Rhea Barron’s coaching took my technical writing to a new level.

I’m honored that the following technical reviewers offered their time for the second edition of this book: Ronald Bradford, Jean-François Gagné, Steven Grimm, Samuel Mullen, Alex Ostrum, Jennifer Pesek, Max Tilford, and Pim van der Wal. All their feedback made the book better. Thank you!

I also thank the numerous people who have given positive reviews and feedback since the first edition of my book was published.

My deepest thanks to my wife Jan Dwyer, who is an accomplished writer and a database developer in her own right. She was the first reviewer of every draft of both editions of this book. Her contributions and perspective have been invaluable, but her consistent support, encouragement, and inspiration were what made me able to finish this project.