The book opens with a tour of some of the features of the new Java 2 platform, including its Swing classes. It also provides background on the Java 2-D and Java 3-D APIs for multimedia. (Though the Java 3-D API is still under construction, the authors create a virtual world using a Moving Pictures Experts Group [MPEG] viewer instead.)
For developers, one of the best sections here shows how easy it is to load URLs using Java's networking classes. For IS managers, the authors use their mainframe expertise to show that Java is ready for the enterprise with key technologies such as Remote Invocation Method (RMI), Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) and CORBA, Java Database Connection (JDBC), servlets, and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs). Short examples are used to show off many of these APIs, but it's the background material on multitiered architectures and enterprise computing that is the strongest here. The authors do a fine job of comparing the advantages of each approach for using Java in distributed systems.
Later the book presents the new policy-based security mechanism in Java 2 and offers some worthwhile material on using advanced features of Java threads. Final sections argue for the superiority of network computers, including lowered total cost of ownership. Spinning a distinctively pro-Java future, this guide to today's latest Sun technologies will serve any IS manager or developer with an interest in Java in the enterprise. --Richard Dragan