Java 2 Performance and Idiom Guide (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Rhett Guthrie (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written for the working Java programmer, the Java 2 Performance and Idiom Guide provides many tips for improving the efficiency (and readability) of your Java code. It provides a useful reference that will benefit any serious Java developer.

The most notable thing about this book is that it provides a real-world perspective on what does and doesn't work for optimizing Java. (The authors' advice is sometimes counterintuitive, and as Java compilers and environments have improved, outguessing the compiler has become a tricky business.) This book is organized into sections based on the likely effect of the suggested optimizations (from "major-moderate" to "minor" improvements). The authors test their code (and provide benchmark numbers) to back up what they say.

Advice on limiting object creation and remote calls, as well as proper class design for custom classes (especially the implementation custom equals() methods and using object factories) are absolutely invaluable here. The authors also look at how to choose the correct Java 2 collection class for your needs. Included in the discussion are several software patterns and "idioms" (language-specific tips), which can lead to more efficient and reusable designs. With a section on naming conventions, this book also promotes good programming style as well as more efficient code.

As a grab bag of hints for writing better code, the Java 2 Performance and Idiom Guide offers something for almost any Java developer. It demonstrates the authors' considerable experience in real-world projects to show some workarounds for problems that you will sometimes encounter when putting Java into the field for the first time, as well as some leading-edge thinking about efficient class design. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Java performance and optimization overview; hardware and memory performance hints; Sun HotSpot JVM; server-side performance issues; optimization hints for algorithms, collections, strings, and object creation; patterns; idioms for designing custom classes; dynamic classloading; constructors and object factories; concurrency hints; resource bundling and internationalization tips; exceptions; interfaces; inner classes and constructors; packaging; testing hints (white-box and unit testing); Java naming conventions; and Java coding style.

Product Description

Designed to document the common idioms and optimization techniques that experienced Java developers should know. Topics are presented specifically for Java 2, including coverage of features; the Collections Framework and the HotSpot JVM.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 299 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1st edition (September 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130142603
• ISBN-13: 978-0130142603
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,811,825 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to know more than the syntax, buy this book., October 14, 1999

By	Erik Huddleston ([e-mail]) (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This book was very reminiscent of Effective C++. It allows a developer who is experienced, but just moving to Java, to get a jump start on how to effectively use the language. Even though most of the information was familiar to me, I wish I would have had a book like this when I began using Java. A great distillation of experience!

Erik

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moderately useful, January 21, 2000

By A Customer

This book is moderately useful if you are relatively new to Java -- with two months of active work in a Java environment most everything in it should seem like common sense. For a beginner just after learning the language syntax, I would recommend it. For someone with, say, a years experience -- given the price -- this book would be a waste of money. Since that's pretty much a match with the authors' claims, I don't fault the book for that. My only real complaint is that the performance section is just plain weak.

One word of warning: this book should not under any circumstances be compared to the Scott Meyers C++ books. Those books are really indispensible no matter what your level of experience and deal in depth with language issues that are not obvious and often new features of the language standard.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good quick read, June 23, 2000

By	Christopher Janicki (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is not highly organized, reading more like an almanac than a textbook, but I think that is a plus here. I bought the book for the performance section, and picked up a couple things that only a guru would pick up on their own (e.g. the fact that Strings recalc their hash key every time). By cruising through all the points it helps reinforce your existing knowlege of to-do's and not to-do's, as well as comparing tradeoffs of similar choices. I ended up with some added confidence for my "common sense" programming practices, and some very valuable insight in some unfamiliar areas.

The downside is that this hardcover book is expensive for it quantity of content, and doesn't lend itself well to revisions. I actually like the brevity and white space, but I was able to browse the entire performance section is about 90-min. A perfect handbook! A pricy textbook.

I would have preferred to buy a cheap paperback version that might benefit from yearly revisions (like The Java Developer's Almanac), especially since I'm sure new revelations of performance tuning will materialize as the Java language matures and grows. Also, the book only covers general Java performance, touching on RMI, AWT, and Collections, but really staying close to the java.lang package... I'm sure there is a lot that could have been covered in specific API's (Java 2D, 3D, JDBC, etc.)

Overall this book is a keeper! Strong praise since even after being very picky about spending my book money I still end up trashing 50% of the books I buy.

I look forward to future expanded (and cheaper) editions.