Brett McLaughlin is a senior-level technologist and strategist, active especially in web programming and data-driven, customer-facing systems. Rarely focused on only one component of a system, he architects, designs, manages, and implements large-scale applications from start to finish with mission-critical implementations and deadlines.
Of course, that’s all fancy-talk for saying that Brett’s a geek, spending most of his day in front of a computer with his hands flying across a keyboard. Currently, he spends most of his time working on NASA projects, which sounds much cooler than it actually is. But hey, maybe that satellite overhead really is controlled by PHP and MySQL…
Nan Barber (editor) has been working on the Missing Manual series since its inception. She lives in Boston with her husband and various electronic devices. Email: nanbarber@oreilly.com.
Holly Bauer (production editor) lives in Ye Olde Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is an avid home cook, prolific DIYer, and mid-century modern furniture design enthusiast. Email: holly@oreilly.com.
Bob Russell (copyeditor) is a documentation specialist and President of Octal Publishing, Inc., in Salem, New Hampshire (www.octalpub.com). Email: bob.russell@octalpub.com.
Bob Pfahler (indexer) is a freelance indexer. For the past five years, he has indexed many computer books as well as biographies, history, and business books. When he is not working, he likes to take bike rides in the foothills outside of Denver. He indexed this book as an associate for Potomac Indexing (www.potomacindexing.com).
Roger House (technical reviewer) is a freelance software developer living in northern California. He has written code in many languages for various kinds of applications. He enjoys algorithm design, use of data structures, and applications of mathematics. Web: www.rogerfhouse.com. Email: rhouse@sonic.net.
Steve Suehring (technical reviewer) is a technical architect with an extensive background finding simple solutions to complex problems. Steve plays several musical instruments (not at the same time) and can be reached through his website www.braingia.org.
Acknowledgments are nearly impossible to do well. Before you can thank anyone of substance, the music swells and they’re shuffling you off stage. Seriously, apart from the writing, there’s my wife, Leigh, and my kids, Dean, Robbie, and Addie. Any energy or joy or relaxation that happens during the long writing process filters through those four, and there are never enough royalties to cover the time lost with them. I suppose it’s a reflection of their love and support for me that they’re OK with me writing anyway.
There’s certainly the writing. Brian Sawyer was the first guy to call me when I became available to write, and he called when I was really in need of just what he gave me: excitement about me writing and encouragement that I could write for the Missing Manual series. I won’t forget that call anytime soon. And, there’s Nan Barber, who IM’ed and emailed me throughout the entire process. She showed a really unhealthy level of trust that wasn’t earned, and I’m quite thankful…especially in the dark days of early August, when I had hundreds of pages left to write, in just a few short weeks.
Roger House and Steve Suehring, my technical reviewers, were both picky and gentle. That’s about all you can ask. And Steve filled out my PHP holes. He caught one particularly nasty issue that I think vastly improved the book. You don’t realize this, but you owe him a real debt of thanks if this book helps you.
—Brett McLaughlin
Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that don’t come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index and cross-references to specific pages (not just chapters).
Recent and upcoming titles include:
Access 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Adobe Edge Animate: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Buying a Home: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
CSS3: The Missing Manual, Third Edition, by David Sawyer McFarland
Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, Third Edition, by Matthew MacDonald
David Pogue’s Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Dreamweaver CS5.5: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
Droid 2: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Droid X2: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Excel 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Facebook: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by E.A. Vander Veer
FileMaker Pro 12: The Missing Manual by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman
Flash CS5.5: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Galaxy S II: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Google Apps: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
HTML5: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
iMovie ’11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Aaron Miller
iPad: The Missing Manual, Fifth Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer
iPhone: The Missing Manual, Sixth Edition by David Pogue
iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual by Craig Hockenberry
iPhoto ’11: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Lesa Snider
iPod: The Missing Manual, Eleventh Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer and David Pogue
JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by Peter Meyers
Living Green: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Microsoft Project 2010: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Motorola Xoom: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Netbooks: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer
NOOK Tablet: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Office 2010: The Missing Manual by Nancy Connor, Chris Grover, and Matthew MacDonald
Office 2011 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Palm Pre: The Missing Manual by Ed Baig
Personal Investing: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider
Photoshop Elements 11: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage
PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual by E.A. Vander Veer
Premiere Elements 8: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
QuickBase: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
QuickBooks 2013: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition by David Pogue
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition by David Pogue
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton
Windows Vista: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Windows 7: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Windows 8: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Word 2007: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
WordPress: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Body: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Money: The Missing Manual by J.D. Roth
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