Scott Oaks and Henry Wong - Java performance: the definitive guide

This book is intended for programmers of all levels who need to learn to use threads within Java programs. This includes developers who have previously used Java and written threaded programs; J2SE 5.0 includes a wealth of new thread-related classes and features. Therefore, even if youve written a threaded program in Java, this book can help you to exploit new features of Java to write even more effective programs.

The first few chapters of the book deal with the issues of threaded programming in Java, starting at a basic level; no assumption is made that the developer has had any experience in threaded programming. As the chapters progress, the material becomes more advanced, in terms of both the information presented and the experience of the developer that the material assumes. For developers who are new to threaded programming, this sequence should provide a natural progression of the topic.

This book is ideally suited to developers targeting the second wave of Java programsmore complex programs that fully exploit the power of Javas threading system. We make the assumption that readers of the book are familiar with Javas syntax and features. In a few areas, we present complex programs that depend on knowledge of other Java features: AWT, Swing, NIO, and so on. However, the basic principles we present should be understandable by anyone with a basic knowledge of Java. Weve found that books that deal with these other APIs tend to give short shrift to how multiple threads can fully utilize these features of Java (though doubtless the reverse is true; we make no attempt to explain nonthread-related Java APIs).

Though the material presented in this book does not assume any prior knowledge of threads, it does assume that the reader has knowledge of other areas of the Java API and can write simple Java programs.