Acknowledgments
Any list of thanks has to start with my parents for fostering my interest in
computing even when we were living in countries that made that a
major challenge, and with my partner Joe for putting up with it today
when it has flowered into a major obsession. I'd also like to acknowledge
my employer, Berbee, for giving me an opportunity to delve deeply
into Java and build skills as an architect of reusable APIs; for letting me
stay clear of the proprietary, platform-specific tar pit that is engulfing so
much of the programming world; for surrounding me with such incredible
colleagues; and for being supportive when I wanted to leverage
these experiences in writing this book. Marc Loy got me connected with the wonderful folks at O'Reilly by inviting
me to help with the second edition of Java Swing, and Mike Loukides
has been patiently working on me ever sinceencouraging me to write a
book of my own. In Hibernate he found the perfect topic to get me
started. Deb Cameron, our revisions editor for the Swing effort, has
played a big role in turning my tentative authorial ambitions into a
rewarding reality. I'm also grateful she was willing to 'loan me out' from helping with the third edition of Learning Emacs to take on the Hibernate project. I'm particularly indebted to my technical reviewers: Adrian Kellor and
Curt Pederson. They looked at some very early drafts and helped set my
tone and direction, as well as reinforcing my enthusiasm about the value
of this project. As the book came together, Bruce Tate provided an important
sanity check from someone actively using and teaching Hibernate,
and he offered some great advice and even more encouragement. Eric
Knapp reviewed a large portion with an eye toward using the book in an
instructional setting at a technical college, and reminded me to keep my
feet on the ground. Tim Cartwright jumped in at the end, working with a
nearly complete draft in an effort to understand Hibernate as a potential
platform for future work, and providing a great deal of useful feedback
about the content and presentation. I'd also like to thank the many members of O'Reilly's production department
who put in lots of work under an unusually tight schedule. |