NOTE:
The fifth major release of Java is called by
two names. It is called either Java 5.0 or
Java 2 SDK 1.5. Official words on this name
change can be found here.
This official renaming did not happen until the updated version
of the book was published. This is unfortunate because it is
a common practice to refer to different versions of Java compilers
as Java 1.3, Java 1.4.2, and so forth, instead of more formal
Java 2 SDK 1.3 or Java 2 SDK 1.4. Following this common practice,
Java 2 SDK 1.5 would be called Java 1.5. So people can be referring
to the same product either by Java 1.5 or Java 5.0. This is
awfully confusing, especially those new to the Java scene. The
new book cover says "Java 1.5 Update," so we will
call this new compiler as Java SDK 1.5 to minimize the confusion.
We will refer to the updated 3rd edition as "3rd Ed SDK
1.5 Update" or "Black cover 3rd Ed."
By
the way, the 2 in Java 2 SDK 1.x represents Platform 2. And
this 2 appeared since SDK 1.2. Also, before 1.2, it wasn't called
SDK 1.0 or SDK 1.1. They were JDK 1.0 and JDK 1.1. Now, with
version 5.0, they're bringing back the JDK moniker. SDK stands
for Software Development Kit and JDK stands for Java Development
Kit.
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Among
the many nice additions and modifications made in Java SDK 1.5,
two of them affect the topics covered in the 3rd book most.
We updated the 3rd edition to incorporate these two new features.
The first is the introduction of the Scanner
class. The use of this class simplifies the standard console
input dramatically. The Scanner class is introduced in Chapter
3. The second is the introduction of the Formatter
class. The use of this class provides the power and flexibility
in formatting the output. The Formatter class is introduced
in Chapter 6.
All
sample programs that are affected by these two classes are modified. |
