About the Authors

Mark Riehl has over 10 years of experience in software development in a number of operating systems using Perl, XML, and C/C++. Most of his software experience is network related , having recently led teams developing a web-based network planning tool and a client/server modeling and simulation effort that combined both live and virtual components . Mark is a Lead Software Engineer with Agile Communications, Inc. (http://www.agilecommunications.com), a company dedicated to finding innovative solutions to challenging technical problems. He is also a user and faithful supporter of open source software and contributes to the community whenever time permits . Mark has both BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering. In his spare time, Mark enjoys spending time with his wife Alyse, working on house projects, going to the beach , and riding a bicycle up and down the New Jersey coastline.

Ilya Sterin has over seven years of experience in systems programming as well as software development. His interests include low-level programming, including parsers, compilers, and so on. Ilya has extensive knowledge in Perl, C/C++, Java, and XML. He's made a lot of contributions to the Perl community, by writing modules that are available on CPAN and by administering the content of the official Perl XML web site (www.perlxml.net). Ilya is a senior software developer at Ford Motor Company where he leads the development of Asset Management software. He also teaches programming classes at a local community college. Ilya spends numerous sleepless nights hacking on interesting code and thinking of ideas that will benefit the open source software world. When not in front of the computer, Ilya actually has a life. He loves spending time with his family, especially his 3-year-old son, Elijah.