Acknowledgments

This book, like all gargantuan projects, was a team effort. Its pages were touched by many hands, at Wiley and elsewhere. Losing even a single pair of these hands would mean you wouldn't have this book in yours right now, so I want to thank each and every person on my team, whether I sent you 20 e-mails a day or never met you.

My most heartfelt thanks go to my project editor Brian MacDonald, and my acquisitions editor Scott Meyers, who were nothing short of bodacious to work with. When I think of how many times I pushed for some new, unconventional feature or change to the established Bible series, and then look at this book and see all of my ideas in print, I know it's Brian and Scott who have somehow done their magic, convinced the right people, and made it happen. Thank you.

Perhaps every author forms a good relationship with his project editor just because he's the person who's there from the first day of writing through the last, exhausted round of edits. But I think Brian MacDonald is exceptional. I've never worked with an editor half as good. He had the right solution for every problem. He was behind me and my ideas through thick and thin. His edits were always spot-on. He was always available, always funny, and he even got my nerdy jokes. Trust me, if you're writing a programming book, bribe whoever you need to hire Brian.

I can't talk about my team without mentioning the exhaustive copy editing done by Karen Gill. She kept tabs on all my writing, cut down my useless tiresome redundant logorrhea, and made this book less of a slog to get through. Trust me, you owe her one. I have the feeling her job is a little thankless, but I do thank her.

Caleb Johnston, besides being a good friend, was a terrific technical editor. Somehow, with a full course load for his master's degree, he managed to find the time to review this entire book by himself. (The previous edition, although smaller, had three technical editors!) More than just scrutinizing it, he made detailed and thoughtful criticisms, with as much ruthlessness as I demanded of him. He found some quirky errors, and because he found them, you won't have to.

Special thanks go out to my friend Corey Lucier at Adobe, who was kind enough to answer a few questions about the internal workings of Flash Player or forward them on to Flash Player engineers. Their additions helped me be even more accurate in this book, and Corey's help was invaluable.

Special thanks also go to Whitney Gardner, who made two sublime illustrations for this book when I was at my wit's end.

Thanks to the U.S. economy for making my day job so unprofitable it made sense to sit in my room and write for nine months. Thanks to coffee: you complete me. Thanks to my crazy SafeType keyboard, which saved me from crippling arm pain. Thanks to my friends for, I dunno, whatever, I like you.

Last but not least, thanks and lotsa lotsa love to my parents.