What is this book about? The Java language has been growing from strength to strength since its inception in 1995. It has since proved to be both powerful and extraordinarily easy to learn and use. This is what makes it ideal for the beginner. With dramatic changes to the handling of files, and the introduction of native support for XML, Java has been updated to work faster and to be current with the incredible rise of XML as a medium for communicating data. This edition of the Beginning Java books outlines everything the beginning programmer needs to know to program with the Java programming language and the 1.4 Java Developer Kit (JDK). With the release of JDK 1.4, programmers can look forward to the most stable edition yet, and even better performance than was available previously. Over the course of the book, you will build an example application called Sketcher ? a simple drawing tool ? that teaches you how to build an interactive user interface with Java, how to save and open files, how to use color, and how to respond to user input. What does this book cover? Teaches the Java language from scratch Object-oriented Programming in Java Handling errors and exceptions in applications Manipulating data and files Concurrent programming and threads A comprehensive introduction to Swing, the graphical user interface API for Java Printing in Java An introduction to XML Who is this book for? Ivor's inimitable style has proved to be a hit with nearly half a million people with its easy to learn approach and the many useful examples. Regularly voted the most popular Java programming book, this book teaches Java from scratch and assumes no previous knowledge. It is also suitable for those who have got some programming experience, especially C or C++, which will make learning easier.