Colophon

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Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animal on the cover of Visual Basic Shell Programming is a sea urchin ( globigerina foraminifer ). The name "sea urchin" is derived from an Old English word for the spiny hedgehog , a land animal similar to the American porcupine; they have been referred to as the "porcupines of the sea." Like a porcupine's quills, the sea urchin counts on its long spines to deter hungry predators.

The sea urchin's outer skeleton, called a test, is composed of ten fused plates that encircle the sea urchin's inner organs. Every other section has holes through which the sea urchin can extend its tubed feet. These feet are controlled by a water vascular system. By changing the amount of water inside, the animal can extend or contract its feet to move about. Sea urchins primarily use their feet to hang on to the bottom while feeding, but they can move quickly if necessary, moving on their feet, spines, or even their teeth. The sea urchin uses its teeth to scrape rocks clean of algae. Due to such wear, the animal's teeth frequently grow and replace worn ones.

The sea urchin is sought out as food for birds, sea stars, cod, lobsters, and humans . Sea urchin eggs, commonly known as roe, are considered a delicacy in Asia and the United States and are a main component of sushi.

Jeffrey Holcomb was the production editor for Visual Basic Shell Programming . Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary was the copyeditor. Mary Sheehan, Nancy Kotary, and Madeleine Newell provided quality control. Mary Sheehan and Emily Quill provided production assistance. Nancy Crumpton wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

Alicia Cech and David Futato designed the interior layout based on a series design by Nancy Priest. Mike Sierra implemented the design in FrameMaker 5.5.6. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Rhon Porter using Macromedia FreeHand 8 and Adobe Photoshop 5. This colophon was written by Maureen Dempsey.

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