Acknowledgments

Perhaps the only thing more challenging than writing a technical book is writing the second edition. There is a lot of excitement when writing the proposed table of contents for the updated edition but at some point the work must commence. The size and scope of this project meant working together as a team from the start. I had the privilege of working again with Robi Sen from the first edition and also with experienced developer and writer Chris King. Along with the help of the talented team at Manning, we are pleased to present Android in Action, the update to Unlocking Android.

In particular, we’d like to acknowledge and thank those at Manning who helped bring this book about. First, thanks to Troy Mott, our acquisition and development editor, who has been involved in every aspect of both the first and second editions. Troy was there from the beginning, from the “what if” stages, through helping push us over the goal line—twice! Karen Tegtmeyer did all the big and little things to bring the project together; Mary Piergies skillfully piloted the team through the harrowing production process; and Marjan Bace, our publisher, showed an attention to detail at once challenging, beneficial, and appreciated.

Once the writing was done, the next round of work began and special thanks need to go to: Benjamin Berg who performed the pre-production editing pass, Joan Celmer and Liz Welch, our copyeditors, who made our content readable in cases where it went either “too geek” or where the geek in us tried to be “too literary;” Elizabeth Martin, our proofreader, who added common sense to the project, as well as a terrific sense of humor and encouraging attitude; Janet Vail who jumped in at the last minute to help us bring the final pieces of the project together; and finally Dottie Marsico who handles the actual layout of the pages. It is sometimes hard to envision the final product when looking at edits upon edits in MS Word, but Dottie’s magic makes the product you hold in your hands. Thanks to each of you for your special contribution to this project. Next, we would like to thank Candace Gillhooley for her efforts in getting the word out about the book.

And special thanks to the other reviewers who read our revised manuscript at different times during its development: Michael Martin, Orhan Alkan, Eric Raymond, Jason Jung, Frank Wang, Robert O’Connor, Paul Grebenc, Sean Owen, Loïc Simon, Greg Donald, Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Matthew Johnson, and Patrick Steger; and to Michael Galpin and Jérôme Bâton for their careful tech review of the final manuscript during production.

Lastly, we want to thank the thoughtful and encouraging MEAP subscribers who provided feedback along the way; the book is better thanks to your contributions.

Frank Ableson

I would like to thank Robi Sen, Chris King, and Troy Mott for their contributions, collaboration, and endurance on this project! And of course, my wife Nikki and my children deserve special recognition for the seemingly endless hours of wondering when I would emerge from the “lab” and what mood I would be in—either elation when the robot worked, or near depression when the AppWidgets wouldn’t go away. Thank you for getting neither too excited nor too concerned! My staff at navitend also deserve a big thank you for carrying the water while I finished my work on this project. Finally, a big thank you to Miriam Raffay from Madridiam.com, who provided the much-needed Spanish translations for chapter 18. Gracias!

Chris King

I am deeply grateful to Troy Mott and Frank Ableson for bringing me into this project and providing support and inspiration throughout. Troy has been welcoming and enthusiastic, showing great flexibility as we discussed what projects to undertake. Frank has a keen eye for quality, and provided great guidance from start to finish on how to craft the best book possible. I also appreciate all the work done by the reviewers and editors from Manning, whose contributions have improved the text’s accuracy and style. Working on this book has been a joy, and I’ve greatly enjoyed the opportunities to contribute more and more to its progress.

Thanks also to the crew at Gravity Mobile, especially Noah Hurwitz, Chris Lyon, Young Yoon, and Sam Trychin. You guys keep my life fun and challenging, and have made mobile development an even better place to work. Finally, my love to my family: Charles, Karen, Patrick, Kathryn, and Andrew. You’ve made everything possible for me.

Robi Sen

I would like to thank Troy Mott and the team—and everyone at Manning Publications—for their hard work making this book something worth reading. I would like to thank my coauthors, Frank and Chris, who were great to work with and very understanding when I was the one holding things up. I would also like to thank Jesse Dailey for his help with OpenGL as well as David Cartier with the Contacts API. Finally, I would like to thank my family who, more often than I liked, had to do without me while I worked on my chapters, worked multiple jobs, and finished grad school.