Since its first version was released in January 1996, Java has evolved from a few hundred classes to more than 3,000 in Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0. The popularity of the language has contributed to its expansion, particularly since version 1.4; proposals for additions and enhancements to the platform can now be formulated in the form of Java Specification Requests (JSRs). Each new version has brought with it a new set of functionalities. In parallel, several existing methods have been deprecated.

The goal of this book is to highlight the new features of the latest version of Java, also known as Mustang, which was officially released on December 11th, 2006. The book is not intended for complete beginners, but rather for professional developers wishing to have first contact with Java SE 6.

The book is divided into nine chapters. Chapter 1 summarizes the new features of Java SE 6, and introduces the later chapters. Core Java library updates and integration are detailed in chapter 2, including input/output (I/O) enhancements, mathematics enhancements, and new collections utility methods.

Chapters 3 and 4 explore the new and improved features brought to Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) and Swing by this Java version. This includes three major new application programming interfaces (APIs): Desktop, Splash Screen, and System Tray. Chapter 5 details this version’s new internationalization support, including new locales and the Japanese Imperial Era calendar.

This version’s improved Java database connectivity and the new Java DB are introduced in chapter 6. Enhancements to the monitoring and management infrastructure are explored in chapter 7. In this new version of Java, new networking features have been added to provide a more usable networking capability. This includes a lightweight hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server useful in testing Web services, along with Microsoft’s Negotiate HTTP authentication scheme (chapter 8). A very interesting new API (Scripting API) has been added to Java to support scripting languages such as JavaScript, PHP, and Ruby. Chapter 9 details the use of this API. Finally, two security APIs for dealing with smart cards and digital signatures are supplied with Java SE 6. They are detailed in chapter 10.

This book contains the most relevant information regarding Java SE 6 specifics. It alleviates the burden of reading Java specification pages, distilling their content into a tutorial-like guide. The book is intended to be read once, to gain familiarity with the new additions in Java SE 6, and to get the benefit of these additions in developing Java projects. A “Test Your Understanding” section concludes every chapter, and insures that the reader learned the most important points.

Finally, don’t be confused by the title: this book it is not suitable for beginners, or for use as a classroom book. It is an informative guide for professional developers.