Beginning Java 2: SDK 1.4 Edition

The java language has been growing from strength to strength since its inception in 1995. It has since proved to be both powerful and extraordinarily easy to learn and use. This is what makes it ideal for the beginner. With dramatic changes to it's handling of files, and the introduction of native support for XML, java has been updated to work faster and to be current with the incredible rise of XML as a medium for communicating data.

This edition of the Beginning Java books outlines everything the beginning programmer needs to know to program with the Java programming language and the 1.4 Java Developer Kit. With the release of JDK 1.4, programmers can look forward to the most stable edition yet, and even better performance than was available previously.

Ivor's inimitable style has proved to be a hit with nearly half a million people with its easy to learn approach and the many useful examples. Regularly voted the most popular java programming book, this book teaches java from scratch and assumes no previous knowledge. It is also suitable for those who have got some programming experience, especially C or C++, which will make learning easier. Either way you will soon become expert in creating your own programs.

It includes a full explanation of Object Oriented programming. A comprehensive introduction to swing is accompanied by a significant application that you will develop through the last half of the book, and which demonstrates all of the necessary skills for creating fully features java applications.

To add to this, help from your peers and from the author are available through the unique programmer to programmer mailing lists, forums, and newsgroups all in addition to our one-to-one email support helping you to overcomes any difficulties, and work through the exercises with programmers just like yourself.

The following new subjects are also covered in this book:

New and Improved Utility class in the Collections Framework
lar Expressions
IO APIs
XML Processing

Ivor Horton has extensive experience of programming and large-scale systems implementation in a wide range of industrial environments. He has in-depth knowledge and experience of production scheduling and online control systems, computer-aided design and manufacturing systems, as well diverse engineering and scientific applications. He's also taught programming in a variety of languages to engineering and scientific personnel primarily in aerospace and automotive companies. After countless years in the computer industry both doing and managing, Ivor now writes on programming topics for relaxation. When not relaxing, he takes an interest in cosmology, cacti, chaos, and cameras, and does a little editing and criticising of other peoples' efforts on the side.