This book is the perfect starting point for anyone wanting to learn from scratch about Java. Although it's helpful to have previous programming experience (especially with C or C++), this book includes a complete tutorial on the Java language and how to build applets with it. The Java tools, such as the compiler and interpreter, that you'll need to create your own applets are described in detail. Moreover, you'll learn the Java language starting from the very basics and working your way toward writing full-featured applets and applications.

Although this book is suitable for programming novices, more experienced programmers will find a great deal of interest here, as well. If you're already familiar with languages such as C and C++, you'll be able to skim over the Java language introduction and dive right into the business of creating applets. Although the Java language is very much like C++, the way it's used is unique. Up until Java, you've never seen anything quite like applets.

This tutorial opens with three introductory chapters, which you should read before proceeding to any specific technology area. Chapter 1 covers the J2EE 1.4 platform architecture and APIs along with the Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8.1 2005Q1. Chapters 2 and 3 cover XML basics and getting started with web applications.

When you have digested the basics, you can delve into one or more of the four main technology areas listed next. Because there are dependencies between some of the chapters, Figure 1 contains a roadmap for navigating through the tutorial.