Acknowledgments

This book has only one author (that would be me), but it’s the product of a team effort. To be honest, the sheer size of this team has been nothing short of alarming. A wise and cynical man once wrote that “a committee is a creature with six or more legs and no brain”—and that’s pretty much been my thinking since my teen years.

Until now, that is. Because the Manning team has proven to be the most efficient, capable, and whip-smart multilegged creature I’ve ever encountered. Don’t believe me? You’ve got all the proof you’ll need resting in your hands—or on your screen.

This book is the product of hours of long editorial board meetings and conversations with Marjan Bace, Bert Bates, Michael Stephens, and Greg Wild, who struggled mightily to shape a training experience that could benefit the greatest number of readers in the most effective possible way. Those individuals know the technology publishing business inside and out; and, more important, they understand the best ways to teach technology.