Book excerpt: Java Programming, From The Ground Up, with its flexible organization, teaches Java in a way that is refreshing, fun, interesting and still has all the appropriate programming pieces for students to learn. The motivation behind this writing is to bring a logical, readable, entertaining approach to keep your students involved. Each chapter has a Bigger Picture section at the end of the chapter to provide a variety of interesting related topics in computer science. The writing style is conversational and not overly technical so it addresses programming concepts appropriately. Because of the flexibile organization of the text, it can be used for a one or two semester introductory Java programming class, as well as using Java as a second language. The text contains a large variety of carefully designed exercises that are more effective than the competition.