Computer Science

Raves for the First Edition!

 

“I sure wish I had this book ten years ago. Some might think that I don’t need any Java books, but I need this one.”

–James Gosling, fellow and vice president, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

 

“An excellent book, crammed with good advice on using the Java programming language and object-oriented programming in general.”

–Gilad Bracha, coauthor of The Java™ Language Specification, Third Edition

 

“10/10–anyone aspiring to write good Java code that others will appreciate reading and maintaining should be required to own a copy of this book. This is one of those rare books where the information won’t become obsolete with subsequent releases of the JDK library.”
–Peter Tran, bartender, JavaRanch.com

 

“The best Java book yet written.... Really great; very readable and eminently useful. I can’t say enough good things about this book. At JavaOne 2001, James Gosling said, ‘Go buy this book!’ I’m glad I did, and I couldn’t agree more.”
–Keith Edwards, senior member of research staff, Computer Science Lab at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and author of Core JINI (Prentice Hall, 2000)

 

“This is a truly excellent book done by the guy who designed several of the better recent Java platform APIs (including the Collections API).”
–James Clark, technical lead of the XML Working Group during the creation of the XML 1.0 Recommendation, editor of the XPath and XSLT Recommendations

 

“Great content. Analogous to Scott Meyers’ classic Effective C++. If you know the basics of Java, this has to be your next book.”
–Gary K. Evans, OO mentor and consultant, Evanetics, Inc

 

“Josh Bloch gives great insight into best practices that really can only be discovered after years of study and experience.”
–Mark Mascolino, software engineer

 

“This is a superb book. It clearly covers many of the language/platform subtleties and trickery you need to learn to become a real Java master.”
–Victor Wiewiorowski, vice president development and code quality manager, ValueCommerce Co., Tokyo, Japan

 

“I like books that under-promise in their titles and over-deliver in their contents. This book has 57 items of programming advice that are well chosen. Each item reveals a clear, deep grasp of the language. Each one illustrates in simple, practical terms the limits of programming on intuition alone, or taking the most direct path to a solution without fully understanding what the language offers.”

–Michael Ernest, Inkling Research, Inc.

 

“I don’t find many programming books that make me want to read every page–this is one of them.”
–Matt Tucker, chief technical officer, Jive Software

 

“Great how-to resource for the experienced developer.”
–John Zukowski, author of numerous Java technology books

 

“I picked this book up two weeks ago and can safely say I learned more about the Java language in three days of reading than I did in three months of study! An excellent book and a welcome addition to my Java library.”
–Jane Griscti, I/T advisory specialist

Are you looking for a deeper understanding of the Java™ programming language so that you can write code that is clearer, more correct, more robust, and more reusable? Look no further! Effective Java™, Second Edition, brings together seventy-eight indispensable programmer’s rules of thumb: working, best-practice solutions for the programming challenges you encounter every day.

 

This highly anticipated new edition of the classic, Jolt Award-winning work has been thoroughly updated to cover Java SE 5 and Java SE 6 features introduced since the first edition. Bloch explores new design patterns and language idioms, showing you how to make the most of features ranging from generics to enums, annotations to autoboxing.

 

Each chapter in the book consists of several “items” presented in the form of a short, standalone essay that provides specific advice, insight into Java platform subtleties, and outstanding code examples. The comprehensive descriptions and explanations for each item illuminate what to do, what not to do, and why.

 

Highlights include:

• New coverage of generics, enums, annotations, autoboxing, the for-each loop, varargs, concurrency utilities, and much more
• Updated techniques and best practices on classic topics, including objects, classes, libraries, methods, and serialization
• How to avoid the traps and pitfalls of commonly misunderstood subtleties of the language
• Focus on the language and its most fundamental libraries: java.lang, java.util, and, to a lesser extent, java.util.concurrent and java.io

Simply put, Effective Java™, Second Edition, presents the most practical, authoritative guidelines available for writing efficient, well-designed programs.

Complete revision of one of the most popular Java books of all time

• Over 58K gross copies of first edition sold
• Presents the most practical, authoritative guidelines available for writing efficient, well-designed programs for the Java platform
• Completely updated for Java 6

Foreword xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

 

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

 

Chapter 2: Creating and Destroying Objects 5

Item 1: Consider static factory methods instead of constructors 5

Item 2: Consider a builder when faced with many constructor

parameters 11

Item 3: Enforce the singleton property with a private constructor 17

Item 4: Enforce noninstantiability with a private constructor 19

Item 5: Avoid creating unnecessary objects 20

Item 6: Eliminate obsolete object references 24

Item 7: Avoid finalizers 27

 

Chapter 3: Methods Common to All Objects 33

Item 8: Obey the general contract when overriding equals 33

Item 9: Always override hashCode when you override equals 45

Item 10: Always override toString 51

Item 11: Override clone judiciously 54

Item 12: Consider implementing Comparable 62

 

Chapter 4: Classes and Interfaces 67

Item 13: Minimize the accessibility of classes and members 67

Item 14: In public classes, use accessor methods, not public fields 71

Item 15: Minimize mutability 73

Item 16: Favor composition over inheritance 81

Item 17: Design and document for inheritance or else prohibit it 87

Item 18: Prefer interfaces to abstract classes 93

Item 19: Use interfaces only to define types 98

Item 20: Prefer class hierarchies to tagged classes 100

Item 21: Use function objects to represent strategies 103

Item 22: Favor static member classes over nonstatic 106

 

Chapter 5: Generics 109

Item 23: Don't use raw types in new code 109

Item 24: Eliminate unchecked warnings 116

Item 25: Prefer lists to arrays 119

Item 26: Favor generic types 124

Item 27: Favor generic methods 129

Item 28: Use bounded wildcards to increase API flexibility 134

Item 29: Consider typesafe heterogeneous containers 142

 

Chapter 6: Enums and Annotations 147

Item 30: Use enums instead of int constants 147

Item 31: Use instance fields instead of ordinals 158

Item 32: Use EnumSet instead of bit fields 159

Item 33: Use EnumMap instead of ordinal indexing 161

Item 34: Emulate extensible enums with interfaces 165

Item 35: Prefer annotations to naming patterns 169

Item 36: Consistently use the Override annotation 176

Item 37: Use marker interfaces to define types 179

 

Chapter 7: Methods 181

Item 38: Check parameters for validity 181

Item 39: Make defensive copies when needed 184

Item 40: Design method signatures carefully 189

Item 41: Use overloading judiciously 191

Item 42: Use varargs judiciously 197

Item 43: Return empty arrays or collections, not nulls 201

Item 44: Write doc comments for all exposed API elements 203

 

Chapter 8: General Programming 209

Item 45: Minimize the scope of local variables 209

Item 46: Prefer for-each loops to traditional for loops 212

Item 47: Know and use the libraries 215

Item 48: Avoid float and double if exact answers are required 218

Item 49: Prefer primitive types to boxed primitives 221

Item 50: Avoid strings where other types are more appropriate 224

Item 51: Beware the performance of string concatenation 227

Item 52: Refer to objects by their interfaces 228

Item 53: Prefer interfaces to reflection 230

Item 54: Use native methods judiciously 233

Item 55: Optimize judiciously 234

Item 56: Adhere to generally accepted naming conventions 237

 

Chapter 9: Exceptions 241

Item 57: Use exceptions only for exceptional conditions 241

Item 58: Use checked exceptions for recoverable conditions and runtime exceptions for programming errors 244

Item 59: Avoid unnecessary use of checked exceptions 246

Item 60: Favor the use of standard exceptions 248

Item 61: Throw exceptions appropriate to the abstraction 250

Item 62: Document all exceptions thrown by each method 252

Item 63: Include failure-capture information in detail messages 254

Item 64: Strive for failure atomicity 256

Item 65: Don’t ignore exceptions 258

 

Chapter 10: Concurrency 259

Item 66: Synchronize access to shared mutable data 259

Item 67: Avoid excessive synchronization 265

Item 68: Prefer executors and tasks to threads 271

Item 69: Prefer concurrency utilities to wait and notify 273

Item 70: Document thread safety 278

Item 71: Use lazy initialization judiciously 282

Item 72: Don’t depend on the thread scheduler 286

Item 73: Avoid thread groups 288

 

Chapter 11: Serialization 289

Item 74: Implement Serializable judiciously 289

Item 75: Consider using a custom serialized form 295

Item 76: Write readObject methods defensively 302

Item 77: For instance control, prefer enum types to readResolve 309

Item 78: Consider serialization proxies instead of serialized instances 313

 

Appendix: Items Corresponding to First Edition 317

 

References 321

Index of Patterns and Idioms 327

Index 331

Java -- Intermediate / Advanced Programming [PTG: NEW RIDERS] (Computer Science)

Effective Java is an explicit (and acknowledged) homage to Scott Meyer's Effective C++. Josh Bloch shares the programming practices of the most expert Java programmers with the rest of the programming community. Distilling the habits of experienced programmers into 50 short stand-alone essays, Bloch has laid out the most essential and effective Java rules, providing comprehensive descriptions of techniques. The essays address practical problems that all Java programmers encounter, presents specific ways to improve programs and designs, and also shows how to avoid traps in Java programming. An enormously useful book, each essay contains top notch code examples and insightful "war stories" that help capture the students' attention.

• Effective Java™ Programming Language Guide
  Bloch
  © 2001 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 272 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0201310058 | ISBN-13: 9780201310054
  Brief Description | Buy from myPearsonStore
  

 

Joshua Bloch is chief Java architect at Google and a Jolt Award winner. He was previously a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems and a senior systems designer at Transarc. Bloch led the design and implementation of numerous Java platform features, including JDK 5.0 language enhancements and the award-winning Java Collections Framework. He coauthored Java™ Puzzlers (Addison-Wesley, 2005) and Java™ Concurrency in Practice (Addison-Wesley, 2006).

Raves for the First Edition!

 

“I sure wish I had this book ten years ago. Some might think that I don’t need any Java books, but I need this one.”

–James Gosling, fellow and vice president, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

 

“An excellent book, crammed with good advice on using the Java programming language and object-oriented programming in general.”

–Gilad Bracha, coauthor of The Java™ Language Specification, Third Edition

 

“10/10–anyone aspiring to write good Java code that others will appreciate reading and maintaining should be required to own a copy of this book. This is one of those rare books where the information won’t become obsolete with subsequent releases of the JDK library.”
–Peter Tran, bartender, JavaRanch.com

 

“The best Java book yet written.... Really great; very readable and eminently useful. I can’t say enough good things about this book. At JavaOne 2001, James Gosling said, ‘Go buy this book!’ I’m glad I did, and I couldn’t agree more.”
–Keith Edwards, senior member of research staff, Computer Science Lab at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and author of Core JINI (Prentice Hall, 2000)

 

“This is a truly excellent book done by the guy who designed several of the better recent Java platform APIs (including the Collections API).”
–James Clark, technical lead of the XML Working Group during the creation of the XML 1.0 Recommendation, editor of the XPath and XSLT Recommendations

 

“Great content. Analogous to Scott Meyers’ classic Effective C++. If you know the basics of Java, this has to be your next book.”
–Gary K. Evans, OO mentor and consultant, Evanetics, Inc

 

“Josh Bloch gives great insight into best practices that really can only be discovered after years of study and experience.”
–Mark Mascolino, software engineer

 

“This is a superb book. It clearly covers many of the language/platform subtleties and trickery you need to learn to become a real Java master.”
–Victor Wiewiorowski, vice president development and code quality manager, ValueCommerce Co., Tokyo, Japan

 

“I like books that under-promise in their titles and over-deliver in their contents. This book has 57 items of programming advice that are well chosen. Each item reveals a clear, deep grasp of the language. Each one illustrates in simple, practical terms the limits of programming on intuition alone, or taking the most direct path to a solution without fully understanding what the language offers.”

–Michael Ernest, Inkling Research, Inc.

 

“I don’t find many programming books that make me want to read every page–this is one of them.”
–Matt Tucker, chief technical officer, Jive Software

 

“Great how-to resource for the experienced developer.”
–John Zukowski, author of numerous Java technology books

 

“I picked this book up two weeks ago and can safely say I learned more about the Java language in three days of reading than I did in three months of study! An excellent book and a welcome addition to my Java library.”
–Jane Griscti, I/T advisory specialist

Are you looking for a deeper understanding of the Java™ programming language so that you can write code that is clearer, more correct, more robust, and more reusable? Look no further! Effective Java™, Second Edition, brings together seventy-eight indispensable programmer’s rules of thumb: working, best-practice solutions for the programming challenges you encounter every day.

 

This highly anticipated new edition of the classic, Jolt Award-winning work has been thoroughly updated to cover Java SE 5 and Java SE 6 features introduced since the first edition. Bloch explores new design patterns and language idioms, showing you how to make the most of features ranging from generics to enums, annotations to autoboxing.

 

Each chapter in the book consists of several “items” presented in the form of a short, standalone essay that provides specific advice, insight into Java platform subtleties, and outstanding code examples. The comprehensive descriptions and explanations for each item illuminate what to do, what not to do, and why.

 

Highlights include:

• New coverage of generics, enums, annotations, autoboxing, the for-each loop, varargs, concurrency utilities, and much more
• Updated techniques and best practices on classic topics, including objects, classes, libraries, methods, and serialization
• How to avoid the traps and pitfalls of commonly misunderstood subtleties of the language
• Focus on the language and its most fundamental libraries: java.lang, java.util, and, to a lesser extent, java.util.concurrent and java.io

Simply put, Effective Java™, Second Edition, presents the most practical, authoritative guidelines available for writing efficient, well-designed programs.

View a Sample Chapter PDF:

  

Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students, contact your Pearson Higher Education representative for pricing and ordering information.

This title is a member of the Java Series, which also contains the titles below . You can also visit the Java Series page.

• One of Java's most powerful capabilities is its built-in support for concurrent programming, a design technique in which multiple concurrent activities-threads take place inside a single Java program. Thread programming enables developers to design applications that are more responsive to user demands, faster, and more easily controlled.
• This book offers comprehensive coverage of this vital aspect of the Java language. The book is completely up-to-date with the new thread model that is now incorporated into the most recent version of the Java Virtual Machine. All Java programmers interested in doing concurrent programming must understand these new concepts. The book approaches the topic from a design pattern point of view. It introduces and summarizes Java's concurrency support, shows readers how to initiate, control, and coordinate concurrent activities, and offers numerous recipe-like techniques for designing and implementing Java structures that solve common concurrent programming challenges. Specifically, the book presents important strategies for avoiding the inconsistencies that can crop up in multi-threaded programs, addresses the concept of "liveness"-how to ensure that all threads in use are kept active simultaneously, examines state-dependent action, and demonstrates effective methods for handling user requests in a multi-threaded environment.

• Concurrent Programming in Java™: Design Principles and Pattern, 2/E
  Lea
  © 2000 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 432 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0201310090 | ISBN-13: 9780201310092
  Brief Description | Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• Designing Web Services with the J2EE™ 1.4 Platform: JAX-RPC, SOAP, and XML Technologies
  Singh, Brydon, Murray, Ramachandran, Violleau & Stearns
  © 2004 | Prentice Hall | Paper Bound w/CD-ROM; 464 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0321205219 | ISBN-13: 9780321205216
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• Effective Java, 2/E
  Bloch
  © 2008 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 384 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0321356683 | ISBN-13: 9780321356680
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  



Effective Java is an explicit (and acknowledged) homage to Scott Meyer's Effective C++. Josh Bloch shares the programming practices of the most expert Java programmers with the rest of the programming community. Distilling the habits of experienced programmers into 50 short stand-alone essays, Bloch has laid out the most essential and effective Java rules, providing comprehensive descriptions of techniques. The essays address practical problems that all Java programmers encounter, presents specific ways to improve programs and designs, and also shows how to avoid traps in Java programming. An enormously useful book, each essay contains top notch code examples and insightful "war stories" that help capture the students' attention.

• Effective Java™ Programming Language Guide
  Bloch
  © 2001 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 272 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0201310058 | ISBN-13: 9780201310054
  Brief Description | Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• Effective Java, Safari, 2/E
  Bloch
  © 2008 | Prentice Hall | On-line Supplement; 384 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0137150024 | ISBN-13: 9780137150021
  URL: http://www.safari.informit.com
  
  
  



Series: The Java Series

Security is an integral part of the Java platform; all Java APIs are built on a solid security model. That model has always been stronger than the security of other platforms, never allowing for the proliferation of a large virus such as “Melissa” or “I Love You.” Now improved security and robust performance peacefully coexist.

This book provides a detailed look into the central workings of the Java security architecture, including coverage of the many v1.4 enhancements. This book reviews multiple security threats, such as Trojan horses and denial of service attacks, and the strategies used to combat them. Students will find a practical guide to the deployment of Java security, as well as tips on how to customize, extend, and refine the core security architecture. In addition, it touches on the evolution of Java security, from the restrictive days of the JDK 1.0 sandbox to the sophisticated security features available in Java 2. The book even includes a list of 11 security bugs found in early versions of Java.

• Inside Java™ 2 Platform Security: Architecture, API Design, and Implementation, 2/E
  Gong, Ellison & Dageforde
  © 2003 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 384 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0201787911 | ISBN-13: 9780201787917
  Brief Description | Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• The Java™ Class Libraries Poster, Enterprise Edition, v1.2
  Chan & Lee
  © 2000 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 2 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0201716232 | ISBN-13: 9780201716238
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• The Java™ Class Libraries Poster, Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition, Version 1.4, 2/E
  Chan & Lee
  © 2003 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 2 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0321213823 | ISBN-13: 9780321213822
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  



PLEASE PROVIDE SUMMARY

• Java™ Developers Almanac 1.4, Volume 2, The: Examples and Quick Reference, 4/E
  Chan
  © 2003 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 1040 pages | Out of Stock
  ISBN-10: 0201768100 | ISBN-13: 9780201768107
  Brief Description
  
  
• The Java™ EE 5 Tutorial, 3/E
  Jendrock, Ball, Carson, Evans, Fordin & Haase
  © 2007 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 1360 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0321490290 | ISBN-13: 9780321490292
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• Java™ Language Specification, 2/E
  Gosling, Joy, Steele & Bracha
  © 2000 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 544 pages | Out of Stock
  ISBN-10: 0201310082 | ISBN-13: 9780201310085
  
  
  
• Java™ Message Service API Tutorial and Reference: Messaging for the J2EE™ Platform
  Hapner, Burridge, Sharma, Fialli & Haase
  © 2002 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 544 pages | Estimated Availability: 02/26/2002
  ISBN-10: 0201784726 | ISBN-13: 9780201784725
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  



The new edition of this popular book is updated to reflect v1.3 of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition as well as preceding versions as early as JDK 1.1, and includes Solaris, Linux and Win32. This new version is also streamlined—to cover the topics most needed—and includes questions and exercises at the end of each chapter (with answers on the CD). The authors' top-notch instruction is still present. Through a task-oriented, example-driven approach, the authors introduce students to fundamental concepts and applications. The book's unique, theme-based structure allows the flexibility to customize your own path through the specific information. To help beginners avoid many common mistakes, an entire chapter is devoted to programming problems and their solutions. The CD-ROM comes packed full of useful resources: a complete online tutorial of this book and the 2 other tutorial books, all major versions of the Java platform, versions 1.0.2 through 1.3 for the Solaris and Win32 platforms. The CD also includes the latest Java platform for Linux (Standard Edition v1.3) API documentation for the Java platform and source code for all examples.

• Java™ Tutorial, The: A Short Course on the Basics, 3/E
  Campione, Walrath & Huml
  © 2001 | Prentice Hall | Paper Bound w/CD-ROM; 592 pages | Out of Stock
  ISBN-10: 0201703939 | ISBN-13: 9780201703931
  Brief Description
  
  
• Kicking Butt with MIDP and MSA: Creating Great Mobile Applications
  Knudsen
  © 2008 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 432 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0321463420 | ISBN-13: 9780321463425
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• Programming Open Service Gateways with Java Embedded Server™ Technology
  Chen & Gong
  © 2002 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 480 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0201711028 | ISBN-13: 9780201711028
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  
• Programming Wireless Devices with the Java™2 Platform, Micro Edition, 2/E
  Riggs, Taivalsaari, Van Peursem, Huopaniemi, Patel & Uotila
  © 2003 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 464 pages | Instock
  ISBN-10: 0321197984 | ISBN-13: 9780321197986
  Buy from myPearsonStore
  
  

Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students contact your Pearson Higher Education representative.