Beginning Java 2

This book has now been updated to cover JDK 1.3. This updated book is Beginning Java 2- JDK 1.3 edition, by Ivor Horton. The Java 2 platform, which is the release name for JDK 1.2, was released in December 1998. Java 2 is an important stage in the evolution of Java as a serious programming language. There are no substantial changes to the language - instead JavaSoft have focussed on extending class library support for common programming tasks. This includes an improved, device independent set of graphics libraries, the Java Foundation Classes (JFC), which includes Swing, Java2D and improved printing. These answer many of the criticisms of the original AWT graphics packages, and are both very flexible and very complete. There's also a new Collections API, a set of classes to help you look after collections of related objects. There are also substantial changes in threading, serialization and JDBC 2.0.