Acknowledgments

F

IRST AND FOREMOST

I would like to thank my wife, Kristen, for patience and for 

bearance above and beyond reasonable limits. I would also like to thank our horse, 

Rhiannon, for giving her something to do while I worked. My parents, Jack and 

Rosemary, supported me in numerous ways throughout the writing of the book. In 

particular I would like to thank my father for the prescient advice he often gave 

me,  Write if you get work.  All the members of my and Kristen's family gave me 

encouragement, for which I am grateful.

I must thank Jesse Erlbaum, who served as the chief technical editor for this book. 

However, his contributions to my life began years ago. When I came to work for Jesse 

at Vanguard Media in 1999, I knew plenty about coding but very little about being a 

programmer. Jesse took me under his wing and taught me how to be a professional, 

how to value quality in my work, and how to demand it from others. Under his 

direction I published my first CPAN module HTML::Template which is based on 

his work. Jesse's friendship, humor, and advice have been indispensable to me; that he 

helped me complete this book is but the latest in a long series of kindnesses.

Neil Watkiss joined our team as a technical editor during the crucial final 

weeks. Under extreme pressure he delivered admirably. Without his help the book 

might never have been completed.

The people I worked with at Apress did a great job on the book and kept me 

motivated throughout the project. Jason, Grace, Alexa, Ami, Erin, Stephanie, Doris, 

Susan, Kari thanks!

My friends put up with my haggard face on many occasions during the writing 

of this book. They even managed to seem interested when I would describe it at 

length and in mind numbing detail. Chris, Sean, Catherine, Mia, Fritz, Nat, Jarett, 

Carson, Danielle, Fran, Agneta thank you all. I plan to become human again 

soon and look forward to seeing you all more often.

My coworkers at About.com were often helpful and always patient when I 

couldn't keep the stress from showing. Len, Peter, Rudy, Matt, Adam, Lou, Rachel, 

Nathan, Tim thank you.

I would like to thank Larry Wall for giving us both Perl and the Perl community. 

Without his work, I'm certain the programming world would be a much less inter 

esting place. I must also thank Jarkko Hietaniemi and Andreas J. Koenig for giving 

the Perl community CPAN and also for patiently answering my questions about its 

history. I'd also like to thank the many developers who contribute to CPAN and 

maintain Perl. In particular, the following people answered my questions and pro 

vided me with invaluable insight into the minds behind Perl: Elaine Ashton, 

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