Ivor Horton's Beginning Java™ 2, JDK™ 5th Edition

Introduction

Welcome

Welcome to this edition of Ivor Horton's Beginning Java 2, JDK 5 Edition, a comprehensive and easy-to-use tutorial guide to learning the Java language and the Java 2 platform application program interface (API). This book provides you with the essential know-how for developing programs using the Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 (J2SE 5.0) or later.

In this book, as well as teaching you Java, I'll introduce you to the wide variety of topics that will be relevant to you as a Java programmer. I have structured the book so that you learn Java programming in a carefully designed and logical way, and at each stage you'll be building on what you have learned at the previous stage.

Who Is This Book For?

Java programming is now a vast, well-established area that is still expanding as the capabilities of the language and associated libraries increase. Since its release, the growth of Java as the object-oriented language of choice for Internet programming, cross-platform applications, and teaching has been phenomenal. In my view this is due to three things: the system independent nature of Java, the simplicity and power of the language, and the extraordinary range of programming tasks for which Java is an effective and easy-to-use tool. Java is the language of choice of many programmers for major application development, offering advantages in ease of development and maintenance compared to other languages, as well as built-in capability to run on a variety of computers ...