What if you could condense Java down to its very best features and build better applications with that simpler version? In this book, veteran Sun Labs engineer Jim Waldo reveals which parts of Java are most useful, and why those features make Java among the best programming languages available.

Every language eventually builds up crud, Java included. The core language has become increasingly large and complex, and the libraries associated with it have grown even more. Learn how to take advantage of Java's best features by working with an example application throughout the book. You may not like some of the features Jim Waldo considers good, but they'll actually help you write better code.

• Learn how the type system and packages help you build large-scale software
• Use exceptions to make code more reliable and easier to maintain
• Manage memory automatically with garbage collection
• Discover how the JVM provides portability, security, and nearly bug-free code
• Use Javadoc to embed documentation within the code
• Take advantage of reusable data structures in the collections library
• Use Java RMI to move code and data in a distributed network
• Learn how Java concurrency constructs let you exploit multicore processors