Acknowledgments

We have spent over 18 months writing this book, but none of our efforts would have been possible without the support of many people—our families, friends, colleagues, and mentors; the entire Go community; and our publisher, Manning.

When you’re writing a book like this, you need an editor who will not only share the good but help you through the bad and be there for you at all cost. Jennifer Stout, you’re a brilliant, nurturing, and amazing friend. Thank you for everything and for being there when we needed you the most. Thank you for making this book a reality. Thanks also to all the other folks at Manning who worked with us during the development and production of our book.

You can’t know everything, so it requires a community of people to give their time and knowledge. We thank the Go community and everyone who participated in reviews and provided feedback on the manuscript at various stages of its development, especially Adam McKay, Alex Basile, Alex Jacinto, Alex Vidal, Anjan Bacchu, Benoît Benedetti, Bill Katz, Brian Hetro, Colin Kennedy, Doug Sparling, Jeffrey Lim, Jesse Evans, Kevin Jackson, Mark Fisher, Matt Zulak, Paulo Pires, Peter Krey, Philipp K. Janert, Sam Zaydel, and Thomas O’Rourke. Thanks also to Jimmy Frasché for his careful technical review of the final manuscript shortly before it went into production.

There are a few other people who need to be acknowledged in particular.

Kim Shrier was there from the very beginning, providing reviews, and giving of his time to teach. We learned so many things from you and we are grateful. The book is better technically because of you.

Bill Hathaway got involved heavily in the last year of writing the book, shaping each chapter; his thoughts and opinions were invaluable. We must give Bill credit as a coauthor of chapter 9. It would not exist without Bill’s time, talent, and effort.

We would also like to recognize Cory Jacobson, Jeffery Lim, Chetan Conikee, and Nan Xiao, who consistently provided time for reviews, opinions, and guidance. Thanks to Gabriel Aszalos, Fatih Arslan, Kevin Gillette, and Jason Waldrip for help with sample code and reviews. And special thanks to Steve Francia for contributing the foreword and endorsing our work.

We end by sincerely thanking our families and friends. Anything that takes this level of commitment and time always has an effect on the ones you love.

WILLIAM KENNEDY

I would like to thank Lisa, my beautiful wife, and my five children: Brianna, Melissa, Amanda, Jarrod, and Thomas. Lisa, I know you and the kids spent way too many days, nights, and weekends without your husband and father. Thank you for letting me take all the time I needed to work on the book: I love each and every one of you.

I would also like to thank my business partner Ed Gonzalez, creative director Erick Zelaya, and the entire team at Ardan Studios. Ed, thanks for supporting me from the beginning. I could not have done this without you. You are more than just a business partner, you are a friend and brother: thank you. Erick, thanks for everything you do to support me and the company. Not sure what we would do without you.

BRIAN KETELSEN

I would like to thank my family for their patience during this four-year-long process of producing a book. Christine, Nathan, Lauren, and Evelyn: thank you for putting up with me as I wrote chapters in a lounge chair by the pool while you were swimming. Thank you for believing that this book could and would be published.

ERIK ST. MARTIN

I would like to thank my fiancée Abby, and my three children Halie, Wyatt, and Allie for being so patient and understanding how much time writing a book and organizing conferences demand. I love you all so very much and am lucky to have you.

I would also like to thank Bill Kennedy for the tremendous effort he has poured into this book—we asked him to help us write it, and he steered the ship most of the way due to the demands of our jobs and organizing GopherCon. I also want to thank the community for all their reviews and words of encouragement.