Preface

``In the beginning, the POTTO project was without form, and void; and emptiness was upon the face of the bits and files. And the Fingers of the Author moved upon the face of the keyboard. And the Author said, Let there be words, and there were words.''

The structure of this book is such that many of the chapters could be usable independently. For example, if you need information about, say, statics' equations, you can read just chapter (4). I hope this makes the book easier to use as a reference manual. However, this manuscript is first and foremost a textbook, and secondly a reference manual only as a lucky coincidence.

I have tried to describe why the theories are the way they are, rather than just listing ``seven easy steps'' for each task. This means that a lot of information is presented which is not necessary for everyone. These explanations have been marked as such and can be skipped.Reading everything will, naturally, increase your understanding of the many aspects of fluid mechanics. Many in the industry, have called and emailed this author with questions since this book is only source in the world of some information. These questions have lead to more information and further explanation that is not found anywhere else.

This book is written and maintained on a volunteer basis. Like all volunteer work, there is a limit on how much effort I was able to put into the book and its organization. Moreover, due to the fact that English is my third language and time limitations, the explanations are not as good as if I had a few years to perfect them. Nevertheless, I believe professionals working in many engineering fields will benefit from this information. This book contains many worked examples, which can be very useful for many. In fact, this book contains material that was not published anywhere else.

I have left some issues which have unsatisfactory explanations in the book, marked with a Mata mark. I hope to improve or to add to these areas in the near future. Furthermore, I hope that many others will participate of this project and will contribute to this book (even small contributions such as providing examples or editing mistakes are needed).

I have tried to make this text of the highest quality possible and am interested in your comments and ideas on how to make it better. Incorrect language, errors, ideas for new areas to cover, rewritten sections, more fundamental material, more mathematics (or less mathematics); I am interested in it all. I am particularly interested in the best arrangement of the book. If you want to be involved in the editing, graphic design, or proofreading, please drop me a line. You may contact me via Email at {genick at potto dot org.

Naturally, this book contains material that never was published before (sorry cannot avoid it). This material never went through a close content review. While close content peer review and publication in a professional publication is excellent idea in theory. In practice, this process leaves a large room to blockage of novel ideas and plagiarism. If you would like be ``peer reviews'' or critic to my new ideas please send me your comment(s). Even reaction/comments from individuals like David Marshall.

Several people have helped me with this book, directly or indirectly. I would like to especially thank to my adviser, Dr. E. R. G. Eckert, whose work was the inspiration for this book. I also would like to thank to Jannie McRotien (Open Channel Flow chapter) and Tousher Yang for their advices, ideas, and assistance.

The symbol META was added to provide typographical conventions to blurb as needed. This is mostly for the author's purposes and also for your amusement. There are also notes in the margin, but those are solely for the author's purposes, ignore them please. They will be removed gradually as the version number advances.

I encourage anyone with a penchant for writing, editing, graphic ability, L^ATEX knowledge, and material knowledge and a desire to provide open content textbooks and to improve them to join me in this project. If you have Internet e-mail access, you can contact me at {genick at potto dot org.

Footnotes

... were words.

... skipped.

At the present, the book is not well organized. You have to remember that this book is a work in progress.

... Marshall

Dr. Marshall wrote to this author that the author should review other people work before he write any thing new (well, literature review is always good, isn't it?). Over ten individuals wrote me about this letter. I am asking from everyone to assume that his reaction was innocent one. While his comment looks like unpleasant reaction, it brought or cause the expansion of the explanation for the oblique shock. However, other email that imply that someone will take care of this author aren't appreciated.