(Chapter 4), numbers (Chapter 5) and so on. The archive also contains the index by name and
index by chapter files from the download site, so you can easily find the files you need.
Downloading individual files is easy too: simply follow the links either by the file/subdirectory
name or by chapter. Once you see the file you want in your browser, use File->Save or the
equivalent, or just copy and paste it from the browser into an editor or IDE.
The files will be updated periodically, so if there are differences between what's printed in the
book and what you get, be glad, for you'll have received the benefit of hindsight.
Acknowledgments
My life has been touched many times by the flow of the fates bringing me into contact with the
right person to show me the right thing at the right time. Steve Munroe, with whom I've long since
lost touch, introduced me to computers -- in particular an IBM 360/30 at the Toronto Board of
Education that was bigger than a living room, had 32 or 64K of memory, and had perhaps the
power of a PC/XT -- in 1970. (Are you out there somewhere, Steve?) Herb Kugel took me under
his wing at the University of Toronto while I was learning about the larger IBM mainframes that
came later. Terry Wood and Dennis Smith at the University of Toronto introduced me to mini- and
micro-computers before there was an IBM PC. On evenings and weekends, the Toronto Business
Club of Toastmasters International (http://www.toastmasters.org) and Al Lambert's Canada
SCUBA School allowed me to develop my public speaking and instructional abilities. Several
people at the University of Toronto, but especially Geoffrey Collyer, taught me the features and
benefits of the Unix operating system at a time when I was ready to learn it.
Greg Davidson of UCSD taught the first Learning Tree course I attended, and welcomed me as a
Learning Tree instructor. Years later, when the Oak language was about to be released on Sun's
web site, Greg encouraged me to write to James Gosling and find out about it. James's reply of
March 29th, 1995, that the lawyers had made them rename the language to Java and that it was
"just now" available for download, is the prized first entry in my saved Java mailbox. Mike Rozek
took me on as a Learning Tree course author for a Unix course and two Java courses. After
Mike's departure from the company, Francesco Zamboni, Julane Marx, and Jennifer Urick in turn
provided product management of these courses. Jennifer also arranged permission for me to
"reuse some code" in this book that had previously been used in my Java course notes. Finally,
thanks to the many Learning Tree instructors and students who showed me ways of improving
my presentations. I still teach for "The Tree" and recommend their courses for the busy developer
who wants to zero in on one topic in detail over four days. Their web site is
http://www.learningtree.com.
Closer to this project, Tim O'Reilly believed in "the little Lint book" when it was just a sample
chapter, enabling my early entry into the circle of O'Reilly authors. Years later, Mike Loukides
encouraged me to keep trying to find a Java book idea that both he and I could work with. And he
stuck by me when I kept falling behind the deadlines. Mike also read the entire manuscript and
made many sensible comments, some of which brought flights of fancy down to earth. Jessamyn
Read turned many faxed and emailed scratchings of dubious legibility into the quality illustrations
you see in this book. And many, many other talented people at O'Reilly & Associates helped put
this book into the form in which you now see it.
I also must thank my reviewers, first and foremost my dear wife Betty Cerar, who may still think
Java is some kind of caffeinated beverage that I drink while programming, but whose passion for
clear expression and correct grammar has benefited much of my writing. Jonathan Knudsen,
Andy Oram, and David Flanagan commented on the outline when it was little more than a list of
chapters and recipes, and yet were able to see the kind of book it could become, and to suggest
ways to make it better. Learning Tree instructor Jim Burgess read most of the book with a very