Core Java 1.1: Advanced Features v. 2 (SunSoft Press Java) Book

There is certainly no shortage of books on Java, but here is one that stands out from the pack. This tome, the second volume of Core Java 1.1, Sun Microsystems' endorsed guide to Java programming, provides coverage of advanced Java topics that you won't find discussed anywhere else, including excellent material on Java network programming. The excellent excerpts of working code will also help you solve a wide variety of real-world problems that turn up in everyday development.The authors open with a presentation of Java streams, a topic that often gets short shrift because Java security normally preempts file access within browsers. Yet streams are important to Java and are used throughout many of its classes. Serialization of objects is presented in detail so that you can create persistent objects. The internals of object serialization are discussed, including the problems of reloading objects at a later time.Threading and multitasking are, of course, familiar to all competent Java programmers, but Core Java 1.1: Volume II goes further and discusses some of the pitfalls of synchronizing threads. The authors explain how monitors work in Java to allow threads to synchronize access to memory and other resources. They also show how to use timers, which make use of threads, to provide extra help with threading.Perhaps the most important material is the discussion of Java's networking abilities, from its built-in support for sockets and URLs to its ability to access higher-level Internet services like HTTP and Gopher. The explosion in Java networking software makes more sense when you see that Java's powerful classes make basic Internet development quite simple--far simpler than if you are using C++. (Java networking also gives you a chance to make use of Java streams in another context.) The authors even show how to invoke Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts from within Java using a nifty code excerpt that's remarkably simple but not at all obvious.The introductions to Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and CORBA are well-crafted. More unusual is the material on working with images in the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT). This section includes coverage of the creation of image filters, how to work in memory buffers instead of on-screen, and how to copy image data to the system clipboard for use by other programs.Core Java 1.1: Volume II also includes an immense chapter on the details of the JavaBeans component model. Because today's Java tools still don't support automatic bean creation, it definitely pays to look at this material. Final chapters on security (including Java code signing), internationalization, and native code (with simple examples that use the Java Native Interface [JNI] to invoke C/C++ code) make this tutorial even more comprehensive. In short, it's a book filled with useful information for any working Java programmer that, depending on the project, could save you hours and hours of trial-and-error experimentation.Read More