The first edition of this book came out on the day of my 40th birthday. It feels like yesterday, but actually it was 6 years ago. In a few weeks, the book became a top seller, and to this day that translates into lovely messages and emails I get from readers all over the world. A couple of years later, I wrote a second edition. That turned out to be a better book, which kept growing in sales and popularity. And now here we are, at the third edition, and this time it won't just be me narrating the story, because for this edition I have been joined by my dear friend and colleague, Heinrich Kruger. 

Together, we have reworked the book's structure. We removed what we felt didn't fit anymore, and added what we thought would benefit you the most. We have shuffled things around, amended old chapters, and written new ones. We have made sure that both our contributions and our best ideas are on each page you will read. We are both very happy about this. I always wanted to work on a project like this with Heinrich, for whom I have felt enormous respect since I got to know him. He has brought to this book his unique perspective, his incredible talent as a software developer, and he's helped me with my English too!