Acknowledgments

I'd like to start by thanking the members of the Apress team whom I worked closely with throughout the writing process, for their guidance and encouragement. I'd like to thank Jonathan Hassell, and in particular Brent Dubi who kept me upbeat as I worked through the dead of night by randomly sending me songs to listen to while I worked. My great thanks also go to my technical editor Tony Champion, who came on board rather late in the process, but expertly picked up numerous issues I had missed, and made some great suggestions.

I would like to thank Greg Harris (www.GregMHarris.com) who donated his time to review several chapters, and provided me with extensive feedback. His feedback with the previous edition was a huge help, and once again he volunteered his time to reviewing several chapters - his contributions have been invaluable. I would also like to thank Peter Gfader who allowed me to pick his brain on duplex communication strategies.

My thanks go to all the Silverlight bloggers who provided solutions to difficult problems. I've credited you in the text when you've provided information that helped me along my way. I also would like to thank the readers of the previous edition who provided feedback such that I could improve this edition, including Ben Hayat, Josh Sommers, and Marc Tempkin.

Finally, on a personal note, I'd really like to thank my girlfriend Olga. She has been very patient with me as I worked feverously on this book, with not much time for anything else. She kept me sane when it all started to get too much, and I feel really blessed to have her in my life.