Due for release in quarter 4 of 2001, version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform, 
Standard Edition, is set to be the biggest upgrade to the functionality of 
the basic Java platform since the release of Java 2 over two years ago. 
The latest version, until recently known by the codename Merlin, 
represents a true commitment by Sun and the Java community to turn Java 
into a viable client platform, after several years of concentrating on the 
server. 

Early Adopter J2SE 1.4 presents assesses the significance of the changes 
to the Java 2 platform that Merlin introduces. We will be looking at 
functions that have been added or modified, and see how they impact on the 
Java application developer's life. Throughout this book, we will use the 
public beta version of the J2SE 1.4 SDK to demonstrate the platform's new 
capabilities. 

Who is this book for? 

This book is for professional Java developers who are keen to keep up to 
date with the new features and functionality offered by the latest version 
of the J2SE. This is done via discussions and illustrations of the new 
features, together with practical code examples with plenty of 
opportunities for experimentation and exploration. This methodology will 
make the changes and upgrades to the latest version of the Java 2 Platform 
easily apparent and understandable. 

This book was written using the Sun J2SDK 1.4.0b2 release of the J2SE 1.4 
platform. While we can't guarantee that the final version will be 
identical, you can be sure that all the concepts, examples, and 
explanations will still be valid for the final 1.4.0 release, scheduled 
for late quarter 4 of 2001. 

What does this book cover? 


Installation and working with the J2SE 1.4 public beta 

The new I/O framework 

Improvements for client and GUI applications including JNLP 

Java's new built-in XML capabilities 

New utility functions including preferences and regular expressions 

Additional features to the Java language, such as assertions 

A look to the additional features in the future of the Java 2 platform