Book excerpt: Programming Finite Elements in JavaTM teaches the reader how to programme the algorithms of the finite element method (FEM) in JavaTM. The compact, simple code helps the student to read the algorithms, to understand them and thus to be able to refine them. All of the main aspects of finite element techniques are considered: finite element solution; generation of finite element meshes; and visualization of finite element models and results with Java 3DTM. The step-by-step presentation includes algorithm programming and code explanation at each point. Problems and exercises are provided for each chapter, with JavaTM source code and problem data sets available from http://extras.springer.com/2010/978-1-84882-971-8.