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Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.
The animals on the cover of Perl and XML are West African green monkeys. The green monkey, more commonly known as a vervet, is named for its yellow to olive-green fur. Most vervets live in semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa, but some colonies, thought to be descendants of escaped pets, exist in St. Kitts, Nevis, and Barbados. The vervet's diet mainly consists of fruit, seeds, flowers, leaves, and roots, but it sometimes eats small birds and reptiles, eggs, and insects. The largely vegetarian nature of the vervet's diet creates problems for farmers sharing its land, who often complain of missing fruits and vegetables in areas where vervets are common. To control the problem, some farmers resort to shooting the monkeys, who often leave small orphan vervets behind. Some of these orphans are, controversially, sold as pets around the world. Vervets are also bred for use in medical research; some vervet populations are known to carry immunodeficiency viruses that might be linked to similar human viruses.
The green monkey uses a sophisticated set of vocalizations and visual cues to communicate a wide range of emotions, including anger, alarm, pain, excitement, and sadness. The animal is considered highly intelligent and, like other primates, its ability to express intimacy and anxiety is similar to that of humans.
Ann Schirmer was the production editor and copyeditor for Perl and XML. Emily Quill was the proofreader. Claire Cloutier and Leanne Soylemez provided quality control. Phil Dangler, Julie Flanagan, and Sarah Sherman provided production assistance. Joe Wizda wrote the index.
Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Royal Natural History. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.
Melanie Wang designed the interior layout, based on a series design by David Futato. Neil Walls converted the files from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6 using tools written in Perl by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, and Neil Walls. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Ann Schirmer.
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