Acknoledgments(致谢)
Writing a book like this is a major endeavor. I want to take this opportunity to thank some of the many people who helped mait possible. First, let me thank my wife, Ann, and daughter, Treenah, for their support and patience during the many hours I spent in front of a computer screen coding and writing. My colleagues at Kentucky State University have also been very supportive, especially my new chairperson, Dr. Barbara Buck, who provided much encouragement for my writing.
There are several people and one organization that had a great deal to do with my getting involved with TAPI in the frist place. The organization is Project JEDI, which produced the translation of the TAPI header file for use in Delphi.
The pioneering work of the original translators, Alexander Staubo and Brad Choate, was followed by the excellent new translation by Marcel van Brakel,
with contributions from Rudy Velthuis and myself.
The TAPI portion of this book is based to some extent on a series of articles I wrote in Delphi informant Magazine beginning in the late 1990s. Thanks to my good friend Jerry Coffey, the editor of Delphi Informant Magazine, for his continued encouragement to explore and write about TAPI. Thanks also to Major Ken Kyler, with whom I wrote the first three articles. Ken provided me with my frist introduction to the world of TAPI. I would  be remiss(失职) if I did not acknowledge my current co-author, John Penman. In the process of writing this book, we have read each others's text in some detail. Working with John on this book has been delightful(愉快的) from the start. Finally, let me acknowledge my excellent technical editor, Gary Frerking, president of TurboPower. He was extremely helpful in identifying portions of the text that were not clear and code that needed further work.
Before closing, I want to acknowledge the importance of my guru and spiritual teacher, the late Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. The meditative disciplines he introduced to me and so many others have helped make my life more full and productive.
As with any programming project, there are team players, project leaders, and technical staff. In this context, Alan and I are project leaders who have written this book, but without the team players and technical staff, there wouldn't be a book for us to write and you to read and hopefully assimilate(吸取) some useful knowledge. So, it is in this vein that I would like to thank the team players for their contribution(贡献) to making this book a reality. First, a special thanks must go to Marcel van Brakel, a former JEDI knight of Project JEDI(www.jedi.org), who gave some of his valuable time to test and debug all of the Winsock examples, as well as provide constructive criticism and suggestions for the chapters. I would also like to thank Chad Z. Hower for undertaking the role of technical editor for the winsock chapters, which he carried out so ably. To those two guys, thanks a million!
I would also like to thank Alan C. Moore for his encouragement(鼓励
) and wit during the time we worked together on the book. You will be amazed(惊讶
) to know that we have never met in person, but we forged an excellent friendship through our electronic collaboration on this book. Perhaps we will collaborate on another!
I would like to thank Jim Hill, Wes Beckwith, and the hard-working staff at Wordware Publishing for their unfailing patience in spite of numerous missed milestones.
To end on a personal note, I would like to express heartfelt thanks to my dad for his unstinting and uncomplaining support for me while I was on contract in Scotland during the last 18 months. Thanks for being a great dad.
Finally, I must thank my dear wife, Jocie, and my two children, David and Diana, for their loving support during the development of this tome.
Jhon C. Penman