Direct from the creators of the Java(tm) programming language, this Third Edition of The Java(tm) Programming Language is a valuable resource for both novice and advanced programmers. More than 100,000 developers who programmed with C, C++, Smalltalk, or other high-level languages have used this book to get a concise, intelligent, and deep understanding of the Java programming language. This book is what you need to understand the basic design goals of the language and the application of the language in real-world development. It provides unique insights into why and how the language was designed and intended to be used. The authors describe the latest version of the language, as defined in the Java(tm) Language Specification, Second Edition and implemented in version 1.3 of the Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition. This third edition has been structured to give more in-depth treatment of the newer language features, as well as informative examples on using some of the new APIs. New and/or revised in this edition: more details on language features, including an expanded section on nested classes more comprehensive treatment of garbage collection and related programming issues coverage of new APIs, such as collections and internationalization Thoroughly revised from start to finish, this edition fully covers the features of the current release of the Java programming language and class libraries. The book serves as a tutorial introduction to the language and essential libraries as well as a reference. Experienced programmers will find this new edition to be a valuable reference, and will gain new insights into the subtleties of the language. Novice and intermediate programmers will benefit from the valuable examples and clear explanations of language and library features. Make sure you understand the contents of this book before you begin any serious development for the Java platform.

Ken Arnold 曾任 Sun 公司研究中心的高级工程师，是面向对象设计与实现方面首屈一指的专家。他曾经是 Jini 技术的架构师之一、 Sun 公司 JavaSpaces 技术的首席工程师。

James Gosling 是 Sun 公司院士和该公司开发平台组（ Developer Platform Group ）的 CTO 。他设计了 Java 程序设计语言，实现了最初的 Java 编译器和虚拟机，最近他正致力于 Java 实时规范（ Real-Time Specification for Java ）的相关工作。他是计算机界最受尊敬的程序员之一，曾荣获 Software Development 杂志评选的“程序设计杰出大奖”（1996 年）。

David Holmes 是澳大利亚布里斯班的 DLTech 公司的董事。他专攻同步与并发问题，是开发了最新的 Java 并发工具的 JSR-166 专家组的成员。他还参与了 Java 实时规范的修订工作，在过去的几年中他一直致力于该规范的实现工作。