The first section describes the development of the Java class libraries that will serve as building blocks when you construct your applications. These libraries include a portable user interface class, flexible frame data structures, and neural-network and genetic-algorithm simulation classes. Chapters on natural language processing and AI agents show you how to use these techniques to automate tasks such as e-mail processing and gathering information from the Web.
Once you've created these basic tools, Watson shows you how to use them to build applications. His examples include a scrolling arcade game, a real-time handwriting recognition program, a distributed natural language processing system that can answer questions about history, and a Java-based data collection agent for the Internet. The author assumes that you know Java programming basics, although he provides a short tutorial in an appendix that will be helpful if you're coming to Java from C or C++. The bundled CD-ROM contains the source code for all projects in the book.