Acknowledgments

Looking back at the events and people that allowed me to write this book makes me feel extremely humble and grateful. I'm so happy to have been a part of the Harvest project with Mike Schwartz, Peter Danzig, and the others. That led directly to my work with kc claffy and Hans-Werner Braun at NLANR/UCSD. The Squid project would have never been at all without their support, and the grant from the National Science Foundation.

I'm also very thankful for all the hard work put in by the small crew of Squid developers: Henrik Nordström, Robert Collins, Adrian Chadd, and everyone else who has contributed time and code to the project. And I'm sorry that you ever had to read and/or fix any ugly code I wrote.

To all the reviewers who read the drafts—Joe Cooper, Scott Pepple, Robert Collins, and Adrian Chadd—thanks for finding my mistakes and suggesting ways to make the book better. I also owe so much to the people at O'Reilly for making the book possible, and for making it all come together. My editors Tatiana Diaz and Nat Torkington, the production editor Mary Anne Mayo, the graphic designer Melanie Wang, the illustrator, Rob Romano, the XML mungers Andrew Savikas and Joe Wizda, and the countless other folks working behind the scenes for me.

To my good friend, and business partner, Alex Rousskov: thanks for giving me the time and freedom to see this little project through. Finally, to the members of my new family, Annie and Blooey, thanks for putting up with the late nights. Can I make it up to you with extra back scratches?