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 animal on the cover of C in a Nutshell is a cow, in the broad sense that it is a member of the domesticated species generally known as Western or European cattle (Bos taurus). In cattle terminology, the word "cow" refers to an adult female (or more specifically, a female who has given birth), as opposed to a heifer (young female), steer (castrated male), or bull (intact male).

All domesticated cattle evolved from aurochs, ancient long-horned oxen that stood six feet at the shoulder and had roughly half the mass of a rhinoceros. The head of an aurochs (the term is both singular and plural) is currently featured on the Romanian coat of arms and the Moldovan flag, tracing back to the royal standard adopted in 1359 by Bogdan I, founder of the Romanian principality of Bogdania (later renamed Moldova). Full-body profiles of the animal survive in Paleolithic European cave paintings, and animated renderings can be found in video games; aurochs have been objects of fear and worship in a number of societies through the ages.

Aurochs are believed to have originated in India some two million years ago; over time, they spread to neighboring continents and split into at least three genetically distinct groups, which were domesticated independently. Domestication of aurochs began in the southern Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia 8,000 to 10,000 years ago; European cattle descended from this group. Wild aurochs survived in dwindling numbers in the forests of eastern Europe through the Middle Ages (the last one was killed by a poacher in 1627). Attempts were made in Germany in the early twentieth century to breed aurochs back into existence (guided by a pre-Darwinian concept of atavism), using primitive varieties of cattle such as Highland Cattle; the result is a breed known as Heck Cattle.

European cattle, brought to the Americas by Columbus on his second voyage, now number in the hundreds of breeds. It is a popular misconception that only the males have horns; in fact, both sexes are born with horns (except in a few breeds that are polled, or naturally hornless). Seeing horns other than on isolated bulls is unusual because of the common practice in modern cattle management of debudding calves at or shortly after birth (that is, removing the immature base, or horn bud, before an actual horn develops).

Cow horns, which consist of a bony core sheathed in keratinous material, figure in the history of book manufacturing and the promulgation of the alphabet. In sixteenth- to eighteenth-century Europe and in colonial America, a common type of primer was composed of the alphabet (plus other text that varied) printed or written on one side of a piece of paper or parchment, which was then attached to a wooden board and covered with a thin, transparent sheet culled from the outer layer of a cow horn. The board was shaped like a small paddle (with a hole in the handle for attachment to a girdle) to make it easy to transport and share among students. The protective layer of horn extended the life of the paper (a scarce and expensive resource) and inspired the name for the device: a hornbook.

Abby Fox was the production editor for C in a Nutshell. Nancy Kotary was the copyeditor, and Nancy Reinhardt proofread the book. Jamie Peppard and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Ellen Troutman Zaig wrote the index.

Karen Montgomery designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original illustration created by Susan Hart. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Keith Fahlgren from Microsoft Word to Adobe FrameMaker 5.5.6 using Open Source XML technologies. 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, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Abby Fox.