Now integrating Java 5 throughout, this reference introduces Java programming fundamentals – including problem-solving, object-oriented programming, GUI programming, data structures, networking, internationalization, advanced GUI programming, and Web programming. Includes many new illustrations. Enhances examples throughout, using small, simple, and stimulating examples to demonstrate concepts and techniques. Offers anearlier introduction to writing programs than the previous edition. Features a new chapter on recursion, expanding treatment from earlier editions. A useful reference for anyone interested in learning more about programming.

Welcome to Introduction to Java Programming, Sixth Edition. This edition is a substantial improvement on the previous edition in respect to clarity, content, presentation, code listings, and exercises, thanks to comments and suggestions by instructors and students. Overall, it is a great leap forward. We invite you to take a close look and be the judge.

Both imperative and OOP are important programming paradigms with distinct advantages for certain applications. Some programs should be developed using the imperative approach and others are better developed using the object-oriented approach. Today's students need to know both paradigms and use them effectively. This book introduces both imperative and OOP paradigms. Students will learn when and how to apply these two paradigms effectively.

There are several strategies in teaching Java. This book adopts the fundamentals-first strategy, proceeding at a steady pace through all the necessary and important basic concepts, then moving to object-oriented programming, and then to the use of the object-oriented approach to build interesting GUI applications and applets with exception handling, and advanced features.

My own experience, confirmed by the experience of many colleagues, demonstrates that learning basic logic and fundamental programming techniques like loops and step-wise refinement is essential for new programmers to succeed. Students who cannot write code in procedural programming are not able to learn object-oriented programming. A good introduction on primitive data types, control statements, methods, and arrays prepares students to learn object-oriented programming.

The fundamentals-first approach reinforces object-oriented programming by first presenting the procedural solutions and demonstrating how they can be improved using the object-oriented approach. Students can learn when and how to apply OOP effectively.

At every SIGCSE (Computer Science Education) conference prior to 2005, the object-early approach was trumpeted and the voice for the fundamentals-first approach was muted. This changed when some former proponents of object-early began to air their frustrations and declared that object-early was a failure. This book is fundamentals-first and object-right. OOP is introduced right after fundamental programming techniques are covered. Many instructors of this book, from research universities to community colleges, have embraced the approach and have succeeded.

Programming isn't just syntax, classes, or objects. It is really problem solving. Loops, methods, and arrays are fundamental techniques for problem solving. From fundamental programming techniques to object-oriented programming, there are many layers of abstraction. Classes are simply a layer of abstraction. Applying the concept of abstraction in the design and implementation of software projects is the key to developing software. The overriding objective of the book, therefore, is to teach students to use many layers of abstraction in solving problems and to see problems in small and in large. The examples and exercises throughout the book center on problem solving and foster the concept of developing reusable methods and classes and using them to create practical projects.