Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Even though this book is essentially "my" book, it has been influenced in many ways (all of them good) by multiple individuals. Because the roles that each of these individuals played in the creative process were very significant, I would like to take the time to thank as many of them as I can remember here. Mary Ann Woychowsky, for understanding my "zoning out" when writing and for asking, "I guess the book is finished, right?" after catching me playing Morrowind when I should have been writing. Benjamin Woychowsky, for asking, "Shouldn't you be writing?" whenever I played a computer game. Crista Woychowsky, for disappearing with entire seasons of Star Gate SG-1, after catching me watching them when I should have been writing. My mother, Nan Gerling, for sharing her love of reading and keeping me in reading materials. Eric Garulay, of Prentice Hall, for marketing this book and putting me in touch with Catherine Nolan. Catherine Nolan, of Prentice Hall, for believing in this book and for her assistance in getting started with a book. Bruce Perens, for his belief that because I use Firefox, I had not tread too far down the path that leads to the dark side. Denise Mickelson, of Prentice Hall, for making sure that I kept sending in chapters. Chris Zahn, of Prentice Hall, for his editing, for answering my often bizarre questions, and for his knowledge of things in general. Thanks to George Nedeff for managing the editorial and production workflow and Heather Fox for keeping this project in the loop and on track. Any errors remaining are solely my own. I would like to thank the late Jack Chalker for his assistance with what to look for in writing contracts and for essentially talking me through the process using words that I could understand. Also for his writing a number of science-fiction novels that have influenced the way that I look upon the world. After all, in the end, everything is about how we look upon the world. Dossy Shiobara, for answering several bizarre questions concerning MySQL. Richard Behrens, for his assistance in formulating my thoughts. Joan Susski, for making sure that I didn't go totally off the deep end when developing many of the techniques used in this book. Premkumar Ekkaladevi, who was instrumental in deciding just how far to push the technology. Jon (Jack) Foreman, for explaining to me that I can't know everything. David Sarisohn, who years ago gave a very understandable reason for why code shouldn't be obscure. Finally, to Francis Burke, Shirley Tainow, Thomas Dunn, Marion Sackrowitz, Frances Mundock, Barbara Hershey, Beverly Simon, Paul Bhatia, Joseph Muller, Rick Good, Jane Liefert, Joan Litt, Albert Nicolai, and Bill Ricker for teaching me how to learn.