Acknowledgments

I wrote this book with a little help from my friends, and enemies.

To get the enemies out of the way first, I use that word to make a point; they are not bad people, nor are they out to get me (I hope). But there were a few who made my life a little more difficult, pushing me into doing things I would otherwise not have done and into raising own level of performance. And I am grateful to them for that, but I’ll show my gratitude by not naming them.

On the friendly side, I thank my wife, Regine, and my daughter, Maria, for love, support, and challenge. I thank my son Jacob (now six years old) for his reckless enthusiasm and original wisdom, some of which is reflected in this book.

On a more practical level, the most important contributions have come from the co-authors: my good friend, Marcus Baker, whom I have never met; and Chris Shiflett, who took the time out of a busy schedule to produce an introduction to security.

Like many other Manning authors, I am deeply impressed with the Manning staff and their commitment to quality. They know and do what it takes to lift a book to a higher level of readability and interest. Maybe I’m just conceited, but I like the result so much that whenever I need to reread a chapter, I actually enjoy it!

The review process is exhausting but important. Publisher Marjan Bace, in particular, has a unique ability and determination to take the least-uplifting feedback, even when it’s unspecific, and squeeze something useful out of it.