Acknowledgments from the First Edition

First and foremost, I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed the material in this book as it was written: Gabe Benveniste, Mike Clark, Damon Clinkscales, Stuart Halloway, Bethany Jane Hanson, Joseph Heck, Manton Reece, Daniel Steinberg, Dave Thomas, and Glenn Vanderburg as well as a whole lot of people at Apple (you guys know who you are). These people had front row seats to the creative process, watched a book grow, made tons of helpful comments, and asked all the right questions along the way. They even came through when I asked them to review chapters over the Thanksgiving holiday. The book you hold in your hands is, in large part, a result of their input. I owe them all my gratitude and thanks.

Special thanks go to Dave and Daniel who both went way beyond the call of duty. Any time I can repay the favor, guys, and review material for you, I'll be there.

Of course, there's the editorial team without whom an author is just somebody who scribbles random gibberish on paper. Chuck Toporek, who has worked with me on three books and become a friend along the way, brought this idea to me and helped me bring it to fruition. In addition to editing the book, Chuck picked up the pen and authored Appendix A. Jill Steinberg, also a friend, was the copyeditor for the book. She fretted over my use of words and helped turn them into something that I'm proud to put on the bookshelf. In addition to wielding the red pencil, she also offered valuable advice and critique during the early work on this book. Both Chuck and Jill are top-notch. Without them, this would not be a coherent book.

Many thanks to the women and men of the Apple Developer Connection who were of great assistance throughout the project. Without their support, this book couldn't have been written and printed in 2003. Writing about an OS is not an easy task. Writing about one that is evolving as fast as Mac OS X is and still being timely is even harder. Without the support of the ADC and others at Apple, by the time we got a decent book together, news of the next version of Mac OS X would have made it obsolete.

Great thanks, as always, to Tim O'Reilly for so many things, but most of all for always listening and being willing to try to do what's right, even if it's risky and hasn't been done before. The production of this book was anything but typical. The last chapter was written during the 2003 Thanksgiving holiday and the book should be in stores by the end of the year or just afterin other words, it came together very rapidly. We've bent a few rules along the way and without Tim's support, it couldn't have happened.

David Futato watched as I took a design tuned from years of FrameMaker use and implemented it afresh using Adobe InDesign. Along the way, he offered many helpful suggestions and tips. I may have executed the layout and tweaked it to work well in a new environment, but the design is his and I hope it was implemented to his satisfaction.

During the writing of this book, many things happened in my personal life for which I am thankful. I moved to Portland, Oregon, a fantastic place to live even with the rain. I watched two of my best friends get married: Jason Hunter to Kathlyn in Yosemite; and Jim Driscoll to Sent-si in Hawaii. And, with the help of Dr. Atkins, I weigh less than I have in 10 years. I'm not sure how I managed to do all that while writing a booka process that found me up until the wee hours of the night and, on more than one occasion, watching the sunrise before going to bed.

The music. Always the music. iTunes shows the following artists as the most frequently played during the creation of this book: Amon Tobin, BT, The Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, The Crystal Method, Electric Skychurch, Everclear, Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook), Filter, Fischerspooner, Fluke, Foo Fighters, Groove Armada, Josh Wink, Juno Reactor, No Doubt, The Orb, Paul Oakenfold, Paul van Dyk, Pink Floyd, Tabla Beat Science, Timo Maas, Tori Amos, Underworld, and Venus Hum. You better believe that I can't write without music.

And finally, many thanks to my family and friends who lent their support to the book writing process and who always encouraged me to chase my dreams.