Acknowledgments

First, thanks to God, without whose grace, none of this would have been possible.

Second, many many thanks to my family for their understanding during yet another writing project. Next, I would like to thank my co-author, Eric Naiburg, for his persistent tenacity against those difficult challenges, above and beyond the actual writing, that always seem to arise in an attempt to derail the completion of such an endeavor.

Very special thanks to Mike Engle, one of the most skilled system architects and OO practitioners I have had the pleasure to work with. His unrelenting review and commentary on this book's content was invaluable.

You may think this unusual, but upon reflection, I would like to thank the “difficult” people who I have worked with over the years. We all have these people in our lives: the people that tell you “it won't work” or “it can't be done,” the nasty boss, the peer who ignores your contributions, the bureaucrats, the politicians, and so on. They give us some of our greatest challenges in life and some of our greatest blessings—they provide us with the constructive dissonance that keeps us dissatisfied and helps us to “move on” to the places fate intends us to be. They have no idea or intent to do us this favor, but they do. Welcome them. They are a gift. If not for them, I wouldn't be where I am at this place in time, completing my second book. To all of them, I sincerely and honestly say thank you.

—Bob Maksimchuk

I would like to first thank my co-author, Mr. Robert (Bob) Maksimchuk. Without Bob, none of this would have been possible, both from his direct contribution to this book, which is quite extensive, and his drive of both himself and me to create a high-quality, well-constructed book.

A tremendous thank you to my family. When Bob and I were writing our first book, my daughter Katherine was just on the way; now she has spent time sitting on my lap while writing this book, along with my son Joseph. Thanks to my loving wife Karalyn, without whom I wouldn't be where I am today, for her support and for keeping the children out of the way when needed.

—Eric Naiburg

We would both like to thank Mary O'Brien, Audrey Doyle, Brenda Mulligan, Gina Kanouse, Sarah Kearns, Ben Lawson, and the rest of the Addison-Wesley team and Mike Hernandez for working with us on the development of this book. Thanks to all our reviewers for keeping us grounded with their reviews and comments. Also, thanks to the numerous members of the worldwide field organization of Rational Software who have allowed us to learn from them and their clients.

And a special thank you to both Dr. Alan Brown and Grady Booch.