Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animals on the cover of C# Essentials are star-nosed moles (Condylura cristata). Like all moles, star-nosed moles live primarily in underground tunnels that they dig, but they do surface to find food. A mole's rodent-like body is covered in short, waterproof gray fur, and it is about six to eight inches long. A notable feature is its long claws, which are perfect for digging its trenches and foraging for food. It has small ears and eyes, and sharp, pointed teeth. A mole's eyesight and hearing are known to be terrible.

The star-nosed mole gets its name from the approximately 25 feelers on its nose that help it find food, primarily insects, worms, and small fish, as well as other small pond life. The star-nosed mole is the best swimmer in the mole family and can even dive to catch a fish. It prefers to live in wetlands but can be found in various areas of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada.

Moles are mammals who nurse their young, and a female mole has one litter of three to six babies per year. This particular type of mole is considered to be less of a household pest than its mole cousins because its mostly aquatic diet keeps it from rummaging around in backyards for food.

Darren Kelly was the production editor, and Mary Anne Weeks Mayo was the copyeditor for C# Essentials. Matt Hutchinson and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Joe Wizda wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original engraving from The Illustrated Natural History by J. G. Wood, published in 1865. Emma Colby and Melanie Wang produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. Neil Walls converted the files from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6, using tools created by Mike Sierra. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Nicole Arigo.