Acknowledgments

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When I was first exposed to the .NET Framework, I was blown away. I have not had this much fun programming since I was a kid and first learned how to write "Choose Your Own Adventure" programs on my older brother's TRS-80. For that, I would like to thank Scott Taylor and the development team at GiftCertificates.com for sending me to the Microsoft PDC where I was inundated with .NET. It was the beginning of the end ”my life has not been the same since. I would also like to extend a great deal of thanks to Mark Anders, Scott Guthrie, Rob Howard, and Susan Warren from the Microsoft .NET development team for all the hard work they and their team have put into making .NET such a great technology, and for providing endless amounts of help and support.

Ken Scribner, co-author of Understanding SOAP wrote, "No book gets published without the hard work and dedication of a lot of people " Truer words could not have been written. Prior to working on this book I had no idea the amount of work that goes into getting a technical book published. All of the people at Sams Publishing and Pearson have been tremendous. Specifically, my undying gratitude goes to Rosemarie Graham for EVERYTHING especially the stuff we didn't deserve, like the cookies to keep us going at night, and the undying and undeserving patience. I'd like to also thank Pamalee Nelson for helping to keep us in line, Kevin Howard for reading and remarking on everything we wrote, Amy "S" Sorokas for taking very good care of us, and Leah Kirkpatrick for keeping the process going.

I have been trying to find a way to explain my level of appreciation and professional admiration for my co-author, Donny Mack, but it is too hard to explain. This book, and all things .NET I have worked on are a credit to the insane amount of time Donny and I have spent tinkering , hacking, mishandling and generally screwing around with .NET. I have yet to meet anyone other than Donny who shares my same level of passion and devotion to learning new things. It is through "The Mack" that I have managed to stay on track (I typically get bored quickly). My eternal thanks and respect go to Donny for all that we have worked on together.

I would lastly (but not leastly can I say that?) like to thank Lance Hayes for helping Donny and me make CodeJunkies.Net and DotNetJunkies.com successful, and for being a great friend through rock stardom and code geekdom; Jon Serious well, for being so serious; Scott Hirsch and Dan Gumm at SecureWebs.com for providing the best support from a Web host we have ever had, and doing all the things for us they didn't have to; Charlene, Lisa, and Joe for providing a wonderful and fulfilling working environment for Donny and me while we were at Microsoft; Robert Hess, Erika Weichers, and Jennie Peabody for being such great hosts and producers of MSDN's The .NET Show; Dene "425" Holdsworth and the great team of (not so serious) people at GotDotNet.com ”yes, I still have my leopard skin bracelet; Scott Mitchell, Charles Carroll, Steve Smith, and Steve Schofield for helping build a tremendous ASP.NET> developer community; my father, Jerry Lemmon, for helping me get my original education in Visual Basic; Antoine Victor, Michael Jimenez and Lance Baldwin at NetDesk for teaching me how to be a dev-geek; Dawniel Giebel for being there, for being you, and for being everything to me; Cathy Seven for helping to make me who I am; my mother, Ann Turner, for being extremely supportive through the really good times and the really rough times; and the rest of my family for always being there ”I cannot explain how much I appreciate it. I love you all.

”Doug Seven

Shoot, I can't beat Doug's acknowledgment so I'll make mine short and sweet ” essentially name drop. There are so many people that I would like to acknowledge , but I don't have the patience to go through and thank you all so if I know you, thank you! Obviously, near the top of the list is Microsoft Corporation ”thank you for providing me the tools to rapidly achieve my goals (sorry you aren't at the top of the list, my mom reserves that spot). Special thanks to the Mark Anders, Rob Howard, and Scott Guthrie for their above-and-beyond help.

I'd like to thank all my close friends , family, and business partners for putting up with my ornery behavior when things weren't going "according to plan" ”mom, dad, sister, grandma, aunt, uncles, Doug, Lance, V-Child, etc. ”I am going to leave out the friends list because I know I'll forget someone and then I'll be in big trouble ”so this goes to all my friends Thanks!

I can't forget Sams Publishing for giving us opportunities and believing in us ”RG, SS, Shelly, Leah, Jennifer, Jodie, "The Don", Paul, and so on and so forth. The great people at GotDotNet.com and ASP.net for helping us build a great Website, especially Dene "Airy Fairy" Holdsworth. Charles Carroll for having a great resource for people to learn .NET. And all the other great .NET resource sites, you know who you are thanks.

To everyone else who put up with my often less than generous demeanor over the last year, ("I need coffee, NOW!"), I dedicate this to you, you know who you are!

”Donny Mack

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