acknowledgments

As a new author, one thing I learned very quickly is that there are many, many people involved in producing a book. I absolutely would not have survived without all the wonderful support, feedback, and encouragement I’ve received over the course of writing the book.

First, I’d like to thank Stephen Soehnlen at Manning for approaching me with the idea to write this book, and Marjan Bace for green-lighting it. They took a chance on me, a first-time author, and for that I am truly appreciative. Next, a huge thanks to my development editor, Dustin Archibald, for patiently guiding me through Manning’s writing and revising processes while also pushing me to become a better writer and teacher. Similarly, a big thanks to Mike Shepard, my technical editor, for sanity checking all my code and offering yet another channel of feedback. I’d also like to thank Tammy Coron and Toni Arritola for helping to point me in the right direction early on in the writing process.