Tricks of the Java Programming Gurus

At the start of this project, I began by outlining the book that I wanted to read-the book that I wished was already available. I listed things that I wanted to learn about Java: deep topics which weren\'t being covered by the tutorials or reference books which were coming on the market, and questions about how Java could be used for advanced tasks. Editors, friends, and other authors proposed chapters on topics which I had overlooked, and the result, I think, meets my goal. In writing my chapters, and reading the chapters contributed by the other authors, I\'ve learned the answers to the questions I had at the beginning, and many others besides.

The topics covered by Tricks of the Java Programming Gurus fall into three categories:

• Advanced use and customization of the core Java API: applets, the AWT, I/O, threads and concurrency, and networking
• Building stand-alone applications which use untrusted or partially trusted Java code for dynamic extensibility, just as HotJava does
• Use of new or auxiliary Java class libraries and frameworks which make Java useful for working with VRML, client-server systems, relational databases, and persistent object databases.

If you are interested in any of those things-if you want to take Java beyond animated coffee cups and flashy Web pages-you should read this book. It is filled with tricks on both small and large scales: handy snippets of code, complete sample classes, and high-level design strategies designed to help you make the most of Java\'s unique combination of features.

The authors of this book like Java and think that it has tremendous promise, but you won\'t find much breathless hype here. We assume that readers are already familiar with the basics of the Java language and API, and if you know that much, you\'ve heard the claims already. So instead of asking you to sit through that again, we\'ve tried to concentrate on information that you can actually use to bring some of the promises to reality. We have been frank about deficiencies in Java and its libraries, steering you away from problem areas, and warning you about bugs and misfeatures which may need to change in some future version of the libraries. We\'ve also tried to provide some of the knowledge you\'ll need to work around some of the problems on your own.