\chapter*{Preamble}
\thispagestyle{empty}

\section*{Purpose}

The purpose of this document is to describe, explain, and justify the
design of the \texttt{ilog\-.lan\-guage\-.design} package. Its main goal
is to serve as a specification as well as a documentation of the details
of various of its intricacies. As such, it serves mainly its author
helping him to keep track of subtleties he alone may know of but may not
remember---at least not in full detail---and, of course, it is also
meant for those brave enough to use it, let alone those who wish to
understand it in details (\textit{gasp!\/}) to adapt and/or extend its
functionalities.

\section*{Acknowledgement}

Many thanks are due to the few, the proud, the \textit{``volunteer''}
pre-$\alpha$-testers of the viability of the whole design---especially
the \ngo\ design team,\footnote{Thank you Chritiane Bracchi, Chrisptophe
Gefflot, Fr\'ed\'eric Paulin, and Patrick Viry!\ldots \texttt{;-)}} and
any others having been exposed, willy or nilly, to some of, or the whole
package as its design was unfolding!\ldots

Many thanks also to \ilog\ for their open mind, as well as their keen
acumen making the savvy intellectual investment of trusting their R\&D to
make no compromise in the best quality of their software. I have enjoyed
the challenge of meeting their customers demands with the best possible
scientific environment.\footnote{Thanks, in particular, to
Jean-Fran\c{c}ois Puget, \ilog's VP of Optimization, and
Jean-Fran\c{c}ois Abramatic, \ilog's CTO, for their support, and of
course Pierre Haren, \ilog's CEO for his tireless contagious enthusiasm.}
