Who Should Read This Book?
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 you've 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 programs梞ore complex programs that fully exploit the
power of Java's threading system. We make the
assumption that readers of the book are familiar with
Java's 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. We've 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.
| 
