| Best-selling authors Patrick Chan, Rosanna Lee, and Doug Kramer provide a timely 1.2 companion book to The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition, Volume 1. Used together, these books provide complete documentation for the Volume 1 set of packages. Important new packages have been added, including: java.lang.reflect, and java.util.jar. The Supplement includes complete documentation for all packages, classes, and members that are new or have been changed. Material that has not been changed from Java 1.1 and Java 1.2 is not covered in the supplement. However, all class descriptions in the supplement include member summaries that indicate which book contains which member desriptions. Moreover, the supplement features an integrated index that covers both books. This definitive reference to the Java 1.2 class libraries is an essential resource for both novice and experienced Java programmers. The information is presented in an easy-to-use, dictionary-like format. The packages covered in this book are: java.io, java.lang, java.lang.reflect, java.math, java.text, java.util, java.util.jar, and java.util.zip. The extensive class and member descriptions contain details crucial for developing robust and professional applets and applications. Each description is supplemented by an example which demonstrates the class or member in a relevant context. Each class description includes: a class hierarchy diagram showing its connection to related classes detailed overview describing its purpose and key concepts a convenient member summary that briefly describes each member and arranges the members into related groups an example demonstrating the class in a "real-world" context comprehensive descriptions and an example for each member
As noted by coauthor Patrick Chan in his interview with Amazon.com, programmers spend much of their time writing little programs that do nothing but explain to them the behavior of certain aspects of a language. Java programmers, working as they do with a relatively new, evolving language, spend more time than most writing experimental programs that help them figure out particular classes. With this book, Chan, Rosanna Lee, and Douglas Kramer attempt to save you the trouble of all that futzing around. Each class in the java.io.*, java.lang.*, java.lang.reflect.*, java.math.*, java.net.*, java.text.*, java.util.*, and java.util.zip.* packages gets explored thoroughly in these pages. In each entry you'll find not only the pedestrian inheritance chart and statement of syntax but a lengthy, lucid discussion of the class (or member), too. Best of all, each entry comes with a working example of how the class or member is used in real life. The authors, all affiliated with Sun Microsystems in Java's earliest days, know their stuff. They have created an omnibus tool that should prove immensely valuable to any Java programmer who wants to get the most out of the language. --David Wall
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