Writing a book is an immense task. It would not be possible without the help of friends, colleagues, collaborators, and many other people, to whom I would like to express my deepest gratitude.
Particularly, I would like to thank numerous colleagues from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, Poland. In this respect I would like to express special thanks to Professor Artur Rydosz for his meticulous verification of the manuscript, as well as to PhD students Mateusz Knapik and Jakub Grabek for their help in preparing the book.
Special thanks also go to Professor Kazimierz Wiatr, Director of the Academic Computer Centre Cyfronet, for his continuous support and good wishes.
Furthermore, I'm very grateful to the Wiley team who greatly helped in making this book happen. They did brilliant work to make this book as good as possible.
I'm also very grateful to my many colleagues around the world, and especially to my students and readers of this and my previous books, for their e-mails, questions, suggestions, and bug reports, and all the discussions we have had. All of these helped me to develop better text and software. I also ask for your support now and in the future!
Finally, I would like to thank my family: my wife Magda, my children Nadia and Kamil, and my mother, for their patience, support, and encouragement while I was working on this book.