Acknowledgments

When I read single-authored books, I usually visualize the author talking to me. Since I started working on this book, that image has changed; I visualize not just the author, but a team. I realize now that a great deal of teamwork goes into it! Some bright people from France, California, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia contributed to this book.

I am amazed to see how things have progressed since the thought of writing this book got into my head one hot summer afternoon last year. I would first like to thank Bruce Tate and Michael Loukides for connecting the dots and putting me in touch with O'Reilly. Thanks to John Osborn of O'Reilly for his encouragement and spearheading the development of this book. I like his high expectations for quality and emphasis on coverage to meet the needs of Java and C++ programmers.

This book would have been hard to read and taken a lot more time to get out if not for the incredible effort of Ralph P. Davis as the development editor. Ralph is diligent, technical, so pleasant to work with, and has a great sense of humor. I am amazed at how he managed all the edits and versions without missing a beat at any time. Thanks Ralph. I was also very fortunate to have the expert opinions of Christophe Nassare as the technical editor. A number of gotchas and examples are better due to him. Merci beaucoup, Christophe.

Thanks to Anthony Mason for reviewing the book and offering to help in any way possible when he heard I was writing. Naresh Chaudhary was one of the early reviewers of the book. Naresh, thanks for the important role you played in making this a better book. Thanks to Chau Nguyen and John A. Fuqua for taking time from their very busy schedule and providing valuable input. Special thanks to Surendra Bhat for not only reviewing the book, but for recommending other good reviewers as well. I admire your quality. I consider Ted Neward a perfect example of a great software developer. I am very privileged to have had him as one of the early reviewers of this book. Thanks Ted!

I would like to express my special thanks to Brad Abrams, lead program manager of the CLR team at Microsoft, for being kind enough to spend and hour discussing the book with me at the end of a very long day. The comments he provided after reviewing parts of the book have been very valuable.

Thanks to my friend Siva Thiagarajan who gave me the wings to get into training and mentoring, and paved the way for me to experiment and learn. I would like to thank Jay Zimmerman for providing me an opportunity to speak at the No Fluff Just Stuff software symposium series, and for encouraging me to write. You are a good friend and mentor.

I've learnt a great deal from my students in the industry and at the University. I'd like to thank those who have taken my courses and asked those excellent questions to further their understanding and mine.

Most of what I do has been influenced by the hard work of my parents, Padmavathy and Ramamurthy. Thank you both. Thanks to Professor PSK (uncle P. S. Krishnamoorthy) for getting me excited about computers. You have had more far-reaching influence on others than you realize. Thanks to my dear aunt and uncle, Mythili and Balu, for shaping me.

None of this would've been possible but for the sacrifice of my family. Thanks to my sons, Karthik and Krupakar, for being so patient when I had to hide in the office several nights and weekends. I am blessed with incredible support and encouragement from my wife Kavitha. Thank you for your love without gotchas!