Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the help of a lot of really talented people.

Dr. Ross Allen provided exceptional technical editing and, in the process, added and clarified a lot of very important information contained herein. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Ross had many really good ideas for simply improving the writing of the book, and I think many sections are easier to understand because of his insight.

The Peachpit production team did an excellent job both editorially and with the design. Good editing is a thankless job because when it's done well, it's completely invisible. So you'll have to take my word for it that Judy Ziajka took a lot of clumsy words and made them more coordinated. My image for the book was of something that veered more toward "photography book" than "computer book," and Hilal Sala and Diana Van Winkle did an excellent job of working my text and pictures into Diana's design. Alison Kelley, meanwhile, kept the whole thing together and moving.

Finally, a big thanks to Pam Pfiffner for getting this book started in the first place and for bringing me onboard.