I want to thank the reviewers of this book who all did a sterling job in tight timeframes. Troy Magennis, thank you for being on the other end of IM conversations and helping me plot the path to completing this book. Charlie Poole, thanks for the conversations over coffee and lunch; they helped clarify some of my ideas.

Christophe Nasarre, Michael Ask, Amit Kalani, Mike Snell, and James Speer, thank you for doing an outstanding job of keeping up with the numerous iterations of this book that spewed forth during the two-month period it took to complete.

Joe Field, thanks for testing and helping to perfect many of the exercises in this book.

Keith Cline, thank you for helping to Americanize my English and making the text more readable.

The team at Addison-Wesley has provided support through this process. This team includes Stephane Thomas, who helped get the project started, and Ebony Height, who has supported the process to the end. I also want to thank Christy Hackerd, who managed the copyediting stage, Curt Johnson, for his efforts marketing the book, and Joan Murray, for coming on board at the last minute to ensure the project got completed.

Finally, a special mention must go to Jim and Michele McCarthy, to whom I have dedicated this book. The McCarthys provided the space for me to write in their home outside Seattle. They also provided immense help to get me past sticking points in the writing process. Jim, thank you for the inspired title, for teaching me about book features, and for helping me understand the editing process. Michele, thanks for the numerous ideas and playing the customer role for some of the exercises. Thank you.