Acknowledgments

This book was originally conceived in March 2002. It's been a long effort that wouldn't have been possible without the help and support of many people.

Brian Jepson, editor, provided valuable advice about content, structure, and writing. His suggestions about grammar, voice, and style made this book better in ways that nobody will ever know about. Brian also pushed me to get this book done by setting aggressive timelines that kept me up nights—for this I'm also grateful. I've truly enjoyed working with him on this project.

John Osborn, executive editor, conceived the original idea for this book and believed in and supported this project. John is representative of O'Reilly and its employees. Together they make the difficult, often (very) tedious, task of writing a book much easier with their fairness, directness, professionalism, and honesty. I write for O'Reilly because I believe this publisher is truly dedicated to creating a high-quality book that provides great value for the reader. A big plus is that they have a low-bureaucracy environment—contracts, for example, are short and written in plain English, allowing me to understand them without legal advice.

Technical reviewer Shawn Wildermuth provided valuable feedback about the technical content. He pointed out where my explanations needed clarification and where they needed more detail. Shawn also suggested some great, new recipe ideas that I have included in this book.

The ADO.NET programming community gladly shared what they know. I began working with .NET in Beta 1 and, together with this community, learned how to be productive with ADO.NET. With the help of these people, most of whom I don't know and am unlikely to meet, I was able understand ADO.NET well enough to write this book. I hope that this book makes it easier for you to get through the tough times that I remember well.

Thanks also to my friends and family for their encouragement and support. They are always there when I need to take my mind off work.

Finally, thanks to Molly for her support, understanding, patience, and encouragement. I know that in my time off I don't want to think about technology. Molly is an artist and I can't imagine or understand how she put up with me talking about this book when I was struggling with a topic or with motivation. And she did this without complaining or yawning. I love you Molly—you make me laugh and smile.