This book offers Java developers short, focused pieces of code that are easy to incorporate into other programs. The idea is to focus on things that are useful, tricky, or both. The book's code segments cover all of the dominant APIs and should serve as a great "jumpingoff place" for Java developers who want to get started in areas outside their specialization.

Peter Coad's Java Design (PTR-PH/Yourdon Press) discusses the issues of object-oriented analysis and design specifically for Java. Coad is somewhat critical of Java's implementation of the observable-observer paradigm and offers his own replacement for it. One of the most famous books on object-oriented design in recent years is Design Patterns, by Gamma, Helm, Johnson, and Vlissides (Addison Wesley). These authors are often collectively called "the gang of four," resulting in their book sometimes being referred to as "the GOF book." One of my colleagues called it "the best book on object-oriented design ever," and I think he's probably not far off the mark. Another group of important books on object-oriented design is the UML series by "the Three Amigos" (Booch, Jacobson, and Rumbaugh). Their major works are the UML User Guide, UML Process, and others. A smaller and more approachable book in the same series is Martin Fowler's UML Distilled.