What Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways, and especially in taking ye colours of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.
—Newton to Hooke, 5 February 1676; Corres 1, 416.
Embodied in this statement is the simple truth that all work is derived, in one manner or another, from insights and knowledge gained from others. And so it is with this book. Its creation would have been impossible without a talented team of Giants, whose contributions we can only feebly recognize.
I'm especially grateful to my wife Carol, whom I neglected for all these months. It was her patience, love, and support that kept me going. And to my parents, Ken and Sally, thank you for providing the nurturing that made me what I am today.
Thanks to the creator of Tcl/Tk, John Ousterhout, who brought graphical programming from the dungeons of assembler to the bright light of high-level programming. And let's not forget the Tcl community, largely responsible for shaping the development of Tk. Thanks in particular to one Tcl illuminary, Cameron Laird, the maintainer of the Perl/Tk FAQ.
Many thanks to Linda Mui, our editor, and to the book's reviewers: Andy Duncan, Brand Hilton, Nick Ing-Simmons, Slaven Rezic, and Martin Stoufer. They all devoted lots of time and effort, and on short notice, to the task at hand. Unfortunately for me, but luckily for you, they spotted many typographical and technical errors, and provided many ideas that enhanced the quality of this work. I'm especially indebted to Andy, Brand, and Slaven who read the entire manuscript multiple times.
I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the many programmers from the Perl community who helped shape Perl/Tk, either by directly contributing code, or simply providing thoughtful and accurate answers to questions posted on the mailing list and on comp.lang.perl.tk. I've no doubt missed some names, and I apologize in advance. Here, then, is the partial list: Andrew Allen, William Asquith, Graham Barr, Booker C. Bense, Eric Bohlman, Achim Bohnet, H. Merijn Brand, John Cerney, Damian Conway, brian d foy, Marc Dashevsky, Chris Dean, Dominique Dumont, Jack Dunnigan, Toby Everett, Ron Hartikka, Hans Jørgen Helgesen, Grant Hopwood, Rajappa Iyer, Tim Jenness, Mark Lakata, Tripp Lilley, Greg London, Tad McClellan, Andrew Page, Phiroze Parakh, Ben Pavon, Bent B. Powers, Peter Prymmer, Ala Qumsieh, Andreas Reuter, Thomas Schmickl, Monty Scroggins, Rob Seegel, Jason A. Smith, Jonathan Stowe, Anthony Thyssen, Damion K. Wilson, and Ilya Zakharevich.
As an unsung hero, thanks to Malcolm Beattie, creator of tkperl, from which Perl/Tk sprang. And, lastly, copious thanks to Nick Ing-Simmons and Larry Wall. Together they have created my favorite language, Perl, and my favorite Perl module, Tk.
My husband Michael has been an incredible source of support for me, encouraging me and allowing me to take the time out from our lives together to complete this. Thanks to our kitties, Thumper and Sasha, and the "puppies," Brandy and Theo. All our animals kept me company by walking across the keyboard at the perfect moment or barking just to keep me awake. As always, any typos are purely the cats' fault, but I love them anyway. Many thanks to my parents, Patricia and Delvin, who have been there for me my whole life helping me out when I needed it and sometimes when I didn't know I needed it.
Thanks to all the staff at O'Reilly, especially our editor Linda Mui. Thanks to all the technical reviewers; you did a great job: Andy Duncan, Brand Hilton, Nick Ing-Simmons, Slaven Rezic, and Martin Stoufer. I want to specifically thank Brand Hilton, who often encouraged me and sent me emails answering questions that I would toss to him out of the blue.
A huge thanks to everyone out there in the Perl community who has contributed to, or even just used, Perl/Tk. You all know who you are; keep up the great work.
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