Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Apress and Jason Gilmore for giving me the opportunity to write this book.
Thanks to Tom Welsh for the unfaltering criticism that has made it something more than my
incoherent ravings. I thank Susannah Davidson Pfalzer for playing midwife to Jason’s child
after he left the Apress family. This has been a huge undertaking. If I had really understood the
magnitude, I might not have started to begin with, but Susannah kept everything on track and
graciously coped with the events in my life impinging on the schedule.
Thanks to Will McGugan for the many improvements he made in the code, and for his
meticulous attention to detail. Damon Larson did an amazing job turning my technobabble
into coherent English. It was wonderful working with Liz Berry in the last few weeks of mad-
ness as the disjointed word-processed files turned into something that looks suspiciously like
a book.
A whole slew of friends came out of the woodwork as they discovered that I was writing
this book, and I was astonished to discover that they actually wanted to help. The last half of
this book is much richer for the efforts of Matt Ho, Jacob Hoffman-Andrews, Nancy Hunting-
ford, Rachel McConnell, and Erik Ziko.
In particular, Matt Ho’s assistance with Chapter 11 was indispensable. I don’t know if I
could have finished this book on time without the days we spent in his living room. At a point
where I was completely lost, his advice made the path clear. I wish we’d talked much earlier in
the process.
My business partner David Birkhead bought time with our customers to give me an
opportunity to finish this project, and I owe him a huge debt for that. He’s been hugely sup-
portive outside of our business relationship, too. I have to thank our customers Cynthia
Walston and David Alban for being so supportive and accommodating during the last month
of this process.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my father, William James Younker, who passed away
somewher
e around Chapter 5. No matter how poor my family was, he always saw to it that I
had the tools to follow my curiosity. I wish I could show him this book you’re reading. At least
I’ll get to show it to my mother, Hallie Younker, who did an astoundingly good job of bringing
me up given the circumstances that enveloped our lives.
I’d like to thank my teachers, too—I had some amazing ones. I’d like to thank Adréa Shaw
for giving me such wonderful anecdotes about Baylor College of Medicine. I remember the
soft glow of the electron microscope fondly. I’d like to thank David Raikow. He writes more
than anyone I know, and his advice kept me moving along when I got stuck. I’d like to give my
thanks to Ethyl the Dog, too. She was remarkably good at alleviating writer’s block.
I’ve received support in other ways, as well. Roxanne Williams and Sören Ragsdale lent me
technical assistance when necessary. Blair Miller kept me from going insane and from time to
time made sure that I stayed fed. Scott Calvert, Gwen Perry, and David Cutler made sure that I
wasn’t completely isolated from my friends. Kathryn Keslosky’s assistance with revisions was
immensely helpful.
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