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The Java Language Specification


The Java Language Specification, Third Edition - Written by the inventors of the technology, The Java Language Specification, Third Edition is the definitive technical reference for the Java programming language. If you want to know the precise meaning of the language's constructs, this is the source for you.

The book provides complete, accurate, and detailed coverage of the Java programming language. It provides full coverage of all new features added in since the previous edition including generics, annotations, asserts, autoboxing, enums, for each loops, variable arity methods and static import clauses.

You may print this book once. The printed version of this draft book may not be photocopied without the express written permission of Sun. For the complete copyright notice, see Copyright. The online version differs from the print version in minor ways, primarily the absence of quotations due to copyright issues.

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Maintenance information for The Java Language Specification (Third Edition).

Please send comments and errata to the authors using our feedback form.

James Gosling is a Fellow and Chief Technology Officer of Sun's Developer Products group, the creator of the Java programming language, and one of the computer industry's most noted programmers. He is the 1996 recipient of Software Development's "Programming Excellence Award." He previously developed NeWS, Sun's network-extensible window system, and was a principal in the Andrew project at Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

Bill Joy is a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, where he led the company's technical strategy until September 2003, working on both hardware and software architecture. He is well known as the creator of the Berkeley version of the UNIX operating system, for which he received a lifetime achievement award from the USENIX Association in 1993. He received the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1986. Joy has had a central role in shaping the Java programming language. He joined KPCB as Partner in January 2005.

Guy L. Steele Jr. is a Sun Fellow at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, where he is responsible for research in language design and implementation strategies, parallel algorithms, and computer arithmetic. He is well known as the co-creator of the Scheme programming language and for his reference books for the C programming language (with Samuel Harbison) and for the Common Lisp programming language. Steele received the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1988 and was named an ACM Fellow in 1994, a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2001, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science in 2002. He also received the 1996 ACM SIGPLAN Programming Languages Achievement Award and the 2005 Dr Dobb's Journal Excellence In Programming Award.

Gilad Bracha is Computational Theologist at Sun Microsystems, and a researcher in the area of object-oriented programming languages. Prior to joining Sun, he worked on Strongtalk, the Animorphic Smalltalk System. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Ben Gurion University in Israel and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Utah.

The Java Language Specification, Second Edition - Written by the inventors of the technology, this book is the definitive technical reference for the Java programming language. If you want to know the precise meaning of the language's constructs, this is the source for you.

The book provides complete, accurate, and detailed coverage of the syntax and semantics of the Java programming language. It describes all aspects of the language, including the semantics of all types, statements, and expressions, as well as threads and binary compatibility.



You may print this book once. The printed version of this draft book may not be photocopied without the express written permission of Sun. For the complete copyright notice, see Copyright.

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Clarifications and Amendments to The Java Language Specification (Second Edition).

The Java Language Specification (First Edition) - With the publication of this book, James Gosling, Bill Joy, and Guy Steele provide the definitive technical reference for the Java programming language. It provides complete, accurate, and detailed coverage of the entire language and its syntax. If you want to know the precise meaning of Java's constructs, this is the source. Published in 1996 by Addison-Wesley.

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You may print this book once. The printed version of this draft book may not be photocopied without the express written permission of Sun. For the complete copyright notice, see Copyright.

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Changes for Java 1.1 - Originally published as Appendix D from The Java Programming Language by Ken�Arnold.

Clarifications and Amendments to The Java Language Specification (First Edition).

Oracle is reviewing the Sun product roadmap and will provide guidance to customers in accordance with Oracle's standard product communication policies. Any resulting features and timing of release of such features as determined by Oracle's review of roadmaps, are at the sole discretion of Oracle. All product roadmap information, whether communicated by Sun Microsystems or by Oracle, does not represent a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract.