Acknowledgments

Mark would like to acknowledge the patience, love, and support that his wonderful wife Ginni provided during the long months he spent writing this book. I also want to thank my daughters Rachel and Shana for their understanding when they had to compete with this book for my attention. I also want to thank Mike Loukides and Andy Cohen for their valuable suggestions on the content of this book. I particularly want to thank Paula Ferguson, who spent many long hours above and beyond the call of duty poring over the details of this book to edit it into its final form.

Jonathan sends many thanks to Kristen, who helps him reach for his dreams and does a lot of proofreading, too. To Daphne, thanks for reminding me every day exactly how great it is to work at home. To my cats, Asher and Basteet, thanks for attending my meetings and helping me type. Thanks also to Paula Ferguson for her unflagging attention to detail.

The class hierarchy diagrams in this book were borrowed from David Flanagan's book, Java in a Nutshell. These diagrams were based on similar diagrams for Java 1.1 by Charles L. Perkins.

Finally, a big round of applause to the design and production staff at O'Reilly & Associates for putting out this tome on a very tight schedule. Mary Anne Weeks Mayo was the production manager. Quality was assured through the services of Ellie Fountain Maden and Sheryl Avruch. Seth Maislin wrote the index. Erik Ray, Ellen Siever, and Lenny Muellner contributed their tool-tweaking prowess. Chris Reilley was responsible for illustrations, Nancy Priest for the interior design, Hanna Dyer created the back cover, and Edie Freedman designed the front cover.