Java is full of different options. It can be very confusing while you are first learning the language if all of the options are placed in front of you at once. This book follows a careful sequence of presenting information. Not all of the options are presented to you at the beginning. The focus is on practical programs that you can quickly learn how to write, modify, and use. In particular, abstract concepts come later, after you have experience with some basic building blocks.

The book includes many exercises that give suggested computer programming applications. The exercises near the beginning of the book ask you to write short programs. Suggested answers to many of these exercises are on the disc accompanying the book.

The disc contains the Java 2 Software Development Kit version 1.2 (Java SDK), which is provided free by Sun Microsystems. The disc also contains the source code for the example programs in this book along with some other examples.