I am thankful to all the people I have met, for they have contributed to my growth either by being an inspiration or personally guiding and pointing me to the right direction when facing challenging situations or throwing critiques continuously, making me recognize there is always an area for improvement in my career and personal life.
Thanks to my clients, employers, and colleagues for providing invaluable opportunities to expand my knowledge and shape my career.
Thanks to all the people who dwell in IRC. Special thanks to Ron for the Mac screenshots.
I dedicate all my accomplishments to my fun loving dad, my ever loving mom, my supportive sister, my understanding wife Madhu, my friends (particularly Sridhar, Ranjith, Ramya, Antano Solar, and Krishnan), and other relatives for all the guidance, faith, hope, love, and support.
Finally, thanks to Packt Publishing for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my knowledge and thank you for reading!
About the Reviewers
Giovanni Giorgi is an IT professional with a strong cultural background, living in Milan, Italy.
Giovanni was born in 1974; he started playing with Commodore 8-bit computers when he was an 11-year-old child.
During college he studied Latin, Greek during school time, and Turbo Pascal and C programming language as a hobby.
He then attended university in September 1993. After one year he fell in love with open source philosophy.
Giovanni got a Masters degree in Information Technology from DSI of Milan, Italy in 2000. He currently works as an IT Consultant for NTT Data, and has 15 years of experience in banking and finance projects.
He worked with his co-worker on a big project, and he chose Git as the revision control system to coordinate the Pune-based team with the one based in Milan.
He currently write articles on his blog, http://gioorgi.com.
Michael J. Smalley is the founder of Smalley Creative LLC, a technology consulting, education, and development organization originating in Philadelphia, PA. He is a professional systems administrator and programmer, as well as the creator and maintainer of the popular Smalley Creative Blog, a regularly updated source of tutorials, news, and solutions of a technical nature. Michael is interested in entrepreneurship, teaching, creative startups, and financial independence, as well as vintage computers, gaming, road bicycling, and musicianship.
When he isn't hunched over a keyboard, he can be found leading the Bucks County Game Creators Meetup, promoting the fact that technology and an opportunity to learn should be accessible to everyone, singing the praises of being an extrovert in a proudly introverted field, and traveling with his wife Kali.
My gratitude goes out to my intelligent, beautiful, and creative wife Kali M. Whyte-Smalley for always believing in my bold, arguably crazy interests and endeavors, and for encouraging my enthusiasm in bringing these ideas to life and goals to fruition. Thank you to my elegant and selfless mother, Lisa A. Smalley, for encouraging me to stay well-rounded, for showing me the true meaning of fortitude, and for encouraging me to surround myself with people who exemplify these qualities. Thank you to my father Michael G. Smalley for his dedication to our family unit through hard work and commitment, and for recognizing my constant questioning of the world around me not as naivety, but as a desire for truth and knowledge. Thank you to my brother David P. Smalley for continuing to stand as an unyielding ally. Thank you to my charming Persian cat, Desmond, for unknowingly demonstrating that even lifelong dog people can unwillingly become cat people. Finally, thank you to Packt Publishing for giving me this opportunity to share my knowledge, and thank you for reading!