Acknowledgments

As with the first four editions, this book required the combined efforts of many people. I would like to take the time to acknowledge as many of these people as possible, for without them, this book would never have happened.

First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife Sharon for all her help. Not only did she provide support and encouragement throughout this lengthy process, she is also the first line editor for all my writing.

I would also like to thank my mom and the rest of my family for their continued support.

It is hard to believe that the work on the first edition of this book began in 1998. For all these years, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone at Pearson—on all five editions. Working with editors Mark Taber and Tonya Simpson on this edition has been a pleasure.

A special thanks goes to Jon Upchurch for his expertise with much of the code as well as the technical editing of the manuscript. Jon’s insights into an amazing range of technical topics have been of great help to me.

Finally, thanks to my daughters, Stacy and Stephanie, and my cat, Paulo, for always keeping me on my toes.