The Java(TM) Developers Almanac 2000 (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Patrick Chan (Author), Rosanna Lee (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201432994 | ISBN-13: 978-0201432992 | Publication Date: June 2, 2000 | Edition: 3

Thousands of expert Java developers rely on The JavaaA A Developers Almanac series for the fast answers they need to save time -- and the authoritative guidance they need to build great Java applications. The latest book in the series, The JavaaA A Developers Almanac 2000, offers up-to-the-minute, thorough quick-reference information for four major versions of the core JavaaA A Class Libraries: JDKs 1.0/1.1 and J2SE versions 1.2 and 1.3! The latest edition covers 2,100 classes and 24,000 members, all formatted, organized, and cross-referenced for easy lookup! It includes complete member listings of every class; detailed analyses of API changes for each release, coverage of the Java virtual machine, JNI, PersonalJava TM, and 300+ "examplets TM" succinctly demonstrating each package's key operations. Also available: The JavaaA A Class Libraries Poster, 5/E. Covering the JavaaA A 2 Platfor, Standard Edition v1.3. Chan/Lee 0-201-43297-8, $9.95x.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While Java started out simply enough with relatively few objects and APIs, today's Java 2, Standard Edition (J2SE), bundles over 2,100 classes. The Java Developers Almanac provides a truly valuable reference to nearly all the classes and APIs in standard Java. This "white pages" for Java puts all classes and APIs at your fingertips, along with short samples that illustrate essential programming tasks.

It's a compliment to say that this title resembles a telephone book. With over 1,000 pages (and printed on similar paper stock), The Java Developers Almanac, like a phone book, is organized alphabetically. Early sections look at Java 2 classes by package, such as graphics (including Java 2D), file I/O, network programming, and AWT and Swing. Early sections include several hundred short code excerpts, which provide key programming solutions.

The heart of this text is an A-to-Z compendium of over 2,100 Java classes, and a whopping 24,000 methods and properties. Readers get a listing of what's in each class, along with prototype and arguments. As an "almanac," the book contains no room for explaining what each method does--by using a clever set of symbols, however, each listing provides the details of each method (such as which ones are "final," "static," and the like), plus the version of Java in which each method first appeared (JDK 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3). These reference sections set a new standard of clarity for documenting classes. (Method and property names are aligned in the middle of the page, regardless of return type; a typographic convention that makes it easy to find what you need quickly.)

Later sections provide useful references that list the changes from Java 1.0 through 1.3, as well as PersonalJava, the Java Native Interface (JNI), plus some of the details of the Java Virtual Machine (with a listing of byte codes). An innovative index cross-references all methods and classes (including where objects are used as parameters and return values). Truly encyclopedic and remarkably well organized, this book is a virtual must-have for any serious Java developer. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Comprehensive reference to Java 2, Standard Edition (J2SE) packages, classes and APIs (including 2,100 classes and 24,000 methods), sample code for common programming tasks, working with graphics and images (including Java 2D), playing audio and MIDI files, Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) and Swing components, JDBC database basics, directory programming with JNDI/LDAP, file system and file I/O, using the Java reflection APIs, basic socket, URL and networking in Java; RMI working with Strings, arrays and collections; Unicode, locale and internationalization support; documented changes in JDK 1.0 through JDK 1.3, the Java Native Interface (JNI), classes included in PersonalJava, and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) byte codes.

From the Inside Flap

Welcome to the third edition of The Java™ Developers Almanac.

There was a time, not long ago, when I intimately knew all of the Java class libraries. I knew how it all worked and exactly how everything fit together. I knew what subclassed what, what overrode what, and so on (of course, it helped that I was one of the original developers :-). But aside from the occasional inability to remember which argument of Vector.insertElementAt() is the index, I rarely had to refer to any reference documentation.

With version 1.1, my mastery of the Java class libraries was reduced to half. This left me feeling a little disoriented since I no longer knew my way around, and the increased size of the libraries exceeded my ability to recall the details of the signatures. When I took a peek at version 1.2, I was initially thrilled by all the new functionality I would now have at my fingertips. But as I browsed the new classes, I began to realize that my expertise was being reduced further to just a tiny fraction. I felt lost in this wonderful but vast sea of classes.

Since I make my living writing Java code, it was important that I find an efficient way of "navigating" the new libraries. What I wanted was a quick overview of all of the libraries; something that covered every class and briefly showed their relationships; something that would allow me to explore and quickly learn about new packages. This need led to this book.

The Java™ Developers Almanac is like a map of the Java class libraries. It's a compact and portable tool that covers almost all of the libraries, if only from a bird's-eye view. It's great for reminding you of things like method names and parameters. It's great for discovering the relationships between the classes, such as determining all methods that return an image. It's also great for quickly exploring a new package.

While this book is comprehensive, the libraries are so vast that there simply isn't enough room to provide equally comprehensive documentation.

The book is divided into four parts, briefly described next. Part 1: Packages

This part covers each package in alphabetical order: a brief description of the package, a description of each class and interface in the package, and a hierarchy diagram showing the relationship between the classes and interfaces in the package. This part is useful when you need an overview of a package or want to see what other related classes are available in a package. Most packages provide a number of "examplets" demonstrating common usage of classes in the package. The examplets are designed to demonstrate a particular task using the smallest amount of code possible. Their main purpose is to show you which classes are involved in the described task and generally how they interact with each other. Part 2: Classes

This part contains 500 pages of class tables, one for each class in all the covered packages. Each class table includes a class tree that shows the ancestry of the class and a list of every member in the class. Also included in the member lists are inherited members from superclasses. Thus you have a complete view of all members made available by a class. This part is useful when you're already working with a particular class and want a quick reference to all of the members in the class. Part 3: Topics

This part is a set of quick-reference tables on miscellaneous topics. For example, the topic title "Java 1.2" contains a detailed analysis of the API differences between Java 1.1 and Java 1.2. Other useful tables cover documentation comment tags and available system properties, among other topics. Part 4: Cross-Reference This part is a cross-reference of all of the Java classes and interfaces covered in this book. It includes classes from both core and extension packages. This part is useful when you have questions such as What methods return an Image object? or What are all the descendents of java.io.InputStream? Updates

As the title suggests, this book is intended to be updated whenever a new major version of the Java class libraries is released. Since it is designed for you to use in your everyday programming-related work, I would love to hear how I could improve it for the next version or simply what you thought about it. For example, are there any more useful tables you'd like to see in Part 3? Although I'm afraid I probably won't be able to reply, I promise to read and consider each suggestion I receive. You can reach me at the following e-mail address:

almanac@xeo
Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I thank Mike Hendrickson, who spent a great deal of time collaborating with me on this project. He helped me hone the ideas in this book and then supported me all of the way. It's been tremendous fun working with him.

Arthur Ogawa (ogawa@teleport), TeX master extraordinaire, provided me with TeX macros without which this book would have been impossible. Thanks for working with me in the wee hours of the morning trying to get everything just right.

I want to thank Lisa Friendly, the series editor, for all sorts of help getting this book off the ground and for getting me all of the support I needed. Special thanks to Rosanna, my wife, who helped me with writing examplets and many other parts of the book.

Many people gave me feedback or provided some other assistance in the making of this book. Thanks to Jens Alfke, Ken Arnold, Josh Bloch, Paul Bommarito, David Brownell, Michael Bundschuh, Bartley Calder, Casey Cameron, Norman Chin, Mark Drumm, Robert Field, Janice Heiss, Jeff Jackson, Doug Kramer, Sheng Liang, Tim Lindholm, Hans Muller, John Pampuch, Rob Posadas, Mark Reinhold, Dan Rudman, Georges Saab, Bill Shannon, Ann Sunhachawee, Joanne Stewart-Taylor, Laurence Vanhelsuwe, Bruce Wallace, Kathy Walrath, and Tony Welch.

Finally, I want to thank the wonderful people at Addison-Wesley who made this project a lot of fun: Sarah Weaver and Tracy Russ. Patrick Chan
April 2000
0201432994P04062001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1072 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 3 edition (June 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201432994
• ISBN-13: 978-0201432992
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,191,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete resource for class names and interfaces, January 11, 2000

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Java(TM) Developers Almanac: 1998 (Paperback)

Given the large size of the current class libraries in Java, the quality of your references is now more critical than ever. In my work as a technical editor of Java books, I have found this book invaluable. The content consists almost entirely of the class names, what they are derived from and the interfaces. The remainder is a collection of "examplets", small snippets of code that show how some of the methods are used. Alphabetized based on the class names, it is adequate when your only interest is in the name of a class or the characteristics of a method. Of course, it is only my first avenue, for more detailed information it is necessary to consult another resource. However, in many of those instances, consulting this book first saved time in examining the other documentation. Covering versions, 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 of the JDK, this is one shelf reference that you should not be without. I listed it as one of the best books of the year in my On Books column that appeared in the September,1999 issue of Journal of Object-Oriented Programming.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just like its predecessor, June 4, 2000

By 

nee "nee" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Java(TM) Developers Almanac 2000 (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

The Java Developers ALMANAC 2000 is one the best reference books that I've every seen. It clearly goes through the class libraries. Clever use of <B>bold</B> text formatting and a terse set of symbols representing modifiers and OO concepts make this a very "dense" reference in a relatively small volume.

The printing and paper quality is good too. The book should be printed every quarter !

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential reference, December 3, 2002

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Java™ Developers Almanac 1.4, Volume 2: Examples and Quick Reference (4th Edition) (Paperback)

For some time, the Java Developers Almanac version 1.3 has been my constant companion when I taught my courses in Java. With it at my side, I was always able to answer questions of the form, "What class(method) do you use for . . . ?" It is one of that small of number of indispensable references that occupy my special shelf of books that stay within reach of my main workstation.
However, now it has been superceded by this version, the second volume of which covers 45 packages used in GUI development. It is a quick, yet thorough reference to the classes. Each description of a class in part 2 has the name and package it is found in, the inheritance tree describing how it is derived and the prototypes of all data and methods. Part 1 has small segments of code that illustrate the basics of how a class is used. The code examples are organized according to packages, where the packages are listed alphabetically. This makes it very easy to find the basic information about any class and method of the class. There is also a list of newly deprecated members, a complete list of all possible exceptions, a list of the modifications from 1.3 and the default values of the swing UI elements.
This book is rarely more than two feet from my body when I am writing Java and when it gets too far away, I correct the problem very quickly. I included it in my best books of the year list for the online Journal of Object Technology.