Acknowledgments

When thinking about writing a book, you have no idea how much work it’s going to be. It’s safe to say that it literally controls your life for an extended period of time. After a while, the writing part becomes easier. The hard part is to start writing every day. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support, encouragement, and help of others.

In 2010, I started to evaluate Gradle for the first time as a replacement for a Maven project for a previous employer. I probably wouldn’t have done that without the spike initiated by Jonathan Bodner, a long-term acquaintance, whom I deeply admire for his technical insight. He started me on my way to getting excited about Gradle, becoming deeply involved with its community, and writing plugins of my own.

I’ve been a technical reviewer for books published by Manning for many years before writing my own. It started when I met Dan Allen, the author of Seam in Action (Manning, 2008), at one of the No Fluff Just Stuff conferences. After chatting with me for a while, he quickly got me excited about his endeavors and I offered to help him by reviewing his book. My engagement got me a first glimpse of what it means to write a book. I had always wanted to write a book, but never found the appropriate time or topic to jump on it. With Gradle, it just felt right. Thanks, Dan, for your enthusiasm that inspired me to carry on the torch and make it my own.