The author first looks at some of the performance issues when using Java for image processing and then covers user interfaces, such as menu and shortcut key processing and events in Java. Several classes from the author's class library (named Kahindu) come next, including his powerful ImageFrame class, which manages the details of storing and displaying.
After presenting image fundamentals, the book provides a variety of contrast and brightening/dimming algorithms. You learn how to work with file streams (which the author has encapsulated in his own classes for both the GZIP and PPM file formats) and about blurring, smoothing, image erosion, and dilation. More advanced sections cover topics such as edge detection while working with color images and rotating and shearing images.
Throughout this text, Lyon presents the theory and mathematics behind all these 2-D image processing topics, along with their implementation in his custom Java class library. This approach makes this book useful for the classroom or for self-study because the reader can see these image tools at work through the accompanying Java demonstrations. Certainly this book assumes some math background, but the code itself can be used by anyone seeking to get control of 2-D image processing in Java. --Richard Dragan