Since its release in 1996. the Java language has established itself as one of the leading languages for object-oriented programming. Today, despite competition from Microsoft's .NET Platform, Java continues to be one of the leading languages for application development, especially for web applications. And that's going to continue for many years to come, for several reasons.

First, developers can obtain Java and a wide variety of tools for working with Java for free. Second, Java code can run on any modern operating system. Third, Java's development has been guided largely by the Java community, and Sun has committed to releasing Java as open source software. As a result, the Java platform is able to evolve according to the needs of the programmers who use the language.

This book teaches how to develop Java applications at the professional level. It starts by showing how to code, test, and debug everyday business applications that won t crash. It presents object-oriented features like classes, inheritance, interfaces, and polymorphism in a way that s both understandable and useful in the real world...perspective that s often missing in Java training. It presents essential Java skills such as working with data types, control statements, arrays, collections, generics, enumerations, exceptions, threads, Swing components, applets, and text and binary files. It covers new Java SE 6 features such as new JDBC features, the StAX XML API, and the built-in Derby database. And it s all done in the distinctive Murach style that has been training professional programmers for more than 30 years.