About the Author

Kenny Ballou is a life-long learner, developer, mathematician, and overall thinker. He enjoys solving problems, learning about technologies, and discussing new and different ideas.

He graduated from the Boise State University, majoring in applied mathematics, and minoring in computer science. He has been programming professionally for nearly a decade, and is currently working as a software developer for an analytics company in the Boise, Idaho area.

Apart from developing professionally, he is active in the open source community, contributing where he can.

When he is not developing, he enjoys reading, learning, and shredding the local mountains.

You can read more from him on his blog at https://kennyballou.com, check out his code on GitHub at https://github.com/kennyballou/, and follow him on Twitter at @kennyballou.

I stand on the shoulders of those before me. I could not be where I am today without the many that have contributed to my success. Thank you.

I would like to specifically thank Sam Schrader for teaching me to teach myself, Dan Feldhusen, and Dillon Woods for affording me the opportunities to learn more, my parents for encouraging me to always strive for more than even I myself think is achievable, and my closest friends for supporting me through to the end.

I would also like to thank my reviewers and Packt Publishing for the guidance and assistance to shape and improve this book. I'm certain this book would not have been of the great quality it is now without their help.