Book excerpt: This book presents the best articles and columns published in Java Report between 1997 and 1999. Each article is independent of any specific version of Java and relies mainly on those classes that are now part of the standard Java class library and APIs. Also, each article and column discusses Java topics and implementations that are not readily available in a single book. The book serves as an excellent reference to anyone involved with Java. The reader can learn more about the language, perform analysis, design and modeling, work on specific implementations, check performance, and perform testing. This book presents the good ideas of people who have used Java for "Real" applications.