This book does for Java what Scott Meyers' classic Effective C++ did for C++: identifies the key practices and rules that enable good developers to become great developers. IBM Java expert Peter Haggar brings together 68 rules for writing better Java 2 code, complete with insightful discussions and real-world examples. These are the "rules of thumb" expert developers have discovered: guidelines that consistently lead to clear, correct, and efficient code. Haggar focuses on the key issues virtually every Java developer faces, from general techniques (such as when to use polymorphism and when not to use method overloading); to working with objects, exception handling, performance, multithreading, classes, interfaces, and beyond. Haggar has a remarkable talent for crystallizing a problem and solution, and communicating it in words and code. The result: a book that can help any Java developer get dramatically better results -- fast.