Acknowledgements

The production of any book involves valid contributions from a number of persons. I would like to thank my publishers Pearson Education for their encouragement, insight and strong support. I thank Pradeep Banerjee and Jennifer Sargunar for the editing and production of this project.

I am indebted to Prof. Dr Savita Gandhi, Head of Department, Department of Computer Science, Gujarat University, for writing the foreword for this book and also for her keen interest in this project, right from its inception.

I would like to thank, Prof. Dr S. Rama Mohan, Department of Applied Mathematics, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, who introduced me to the world of Java technologies, right back in the year 1998 since when I have been constantly working in the technology, teaching and consulting services to corporates.

I would like to thank my beloved teacher and friend, Shri Arvind Vaish of ORG Systems, who during the foundation years of my school and college, provided me with the vision and the direction and made me whatever I am today. He helped me with my academic subjects and was instrumental in developing my logical and analytical abilities. Thank you sir, for your guidance and I am extremely happy with my career today.

I am thankful to Shri Hitesh Dalal and Shri Devang Dalal of Info Education Services, Baroda, for providing me with the first teaching platform in Java. Before this teaching assignment, I had been involved mainly in the development of softwares, and it was this assignment that proved my excellence at teaching young university students. Till today this has been my main involvement.

I would further like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr A. K. Aggarwal, Director, School of Computer Science, Windsor University, Canada and Prof. Amit Johri of IEEE Inc., USA, who under the aegis of IEEE Computer Society, Gujarat, formed the Java User Group, Baroda, which was convened by me with the presence of almost all the industries as members of Baroda.

I also remember my days and work experience at CMC Limited, which provided me with an excellent experience of technology issues in the corporate sector, and I would like to thank all my seniors and colleagues at CMC. My special thanks are due to Shri A. V. Veerkar, Shri Vinayak Pandit and Late Shri Dinesh Gupta.

I would like to thank Sreejit Purushothaman of Zen Softech and Saket Jain of Credit Suisse, who right from the beginning took personal interest in this project and helped me in all aspects of the book.

I would also like to thank Prof. Dr V. A. Kalamkar, Head of Department, Department of Computer Applications, Faculty of Science, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, who gave valuable suggestions regarding the sequencing of chapters in the book.

The final tribute and appreciation, however, is reserved for my parents, Shri Madan Kumar Jain and Shrimati Meena Kumari Jain, and sister Dr Medha Jain, who during the rough times reminded me that there is likely to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Their inspiration and love have been instrumental in providing me with the necessary support while writing this book.

I sincerely hope that this book The class of JAVA will meet the needs of all my valued readers.

Pravin Jain