Acknowledgments

Writing any book presents a challenge, and this is particularly true for a geographically distributed group of technologists. You’re able to hold the finished book now because of significant help that we received from other people.

First of all, we’d like to thank the Tuscany community for creating and using the software, getting involved on the Tuscany mailing lists, and motivating us to write this book in the first place. We hope this book helps to add some detail to the many topics that we’ve talked about on the mailing lists over the last few years.

The process of writing has been a voyage of discovery for all of us, and the shape and focus of the book wouldn’t be what it is without the many reviewers who’ve given their time to read and comment on the manuscript during its development. This includes Jeff Davis, Mykel Alvis, Ara Ebrahimi, Doug Warren, Alberto Lagna, Jeff Anderson, Mike Edwards, Kevin Williams, Marco Ughetti, Robert Hanson, and Tray Scates. We’re also grateful to the MEAP subscribers who’ve given us valuable feedback via the Manning forum.

The team at Manning has been particularly helpful and understanding. Megan Yockey originally commissioned the book, and Marjan Bace gave us the confidence to get started. Most important, Jeff Bleiel has been our constant companion during the development of the book, nudging us in the right direction and giving us unfaltering encouragement. We also thank the many other members of the Manning team who helped us behind the scenes, including production team members Mary Piergies, Linda Recktenwald, Allison Cichosz, Katie Tennant, and Janet Vail, as well as Doug Warren, who did a final technical review of the manuscript during production.

It goes without saying that this exercise has taken up many weekends and evenings, and so our final thanks go to our families.

SIMON L To Maddy, thank you for sticking with it. You can have me back now.

MARK I would like to thank my loving and beautiful wife, Amy, for her enduring patience and support throughout this project. Perhaps I shall spend less time at my computer now that it’s finished. Thanks to my daughters, Emily (age 3) and Chloe (age 1), for their understanding that Daddy sometimes needed to write his book rather than play princesses or read nursery rhymes. Thanks to our family and friends for their support and for keeping my girls company while I worked on this book.

RAYMOND I greatly thank my wife, Tao, for accepting my endless excuses to spend hours of weekend time writing the book. Thanks to my sons, Thomas and Jerry; you can now have more time with me and be proud of your Daddy for publishing a book.

HALEH I thank my dear family—Bahman, Aurash, and Armaan—who always support and encourage my endless projects.

SIMON N To my wife, Charlotte, thank you for your understanding and patience as I spent many hours at the computer and on the phone doing “book stuff,” including a considerable amount of time while we were traveling in New Zealand. To my sons, David and Adam, and my parents, thank you for your interest and encouragement in this venture.