Book excerpt: For nearly five years, one book has served as the definitive reference to Java for all serious developers: The Java Language Specification, by James Gosling, Bill Joy, and Guy Steele. Now, these world-renowned Java authorities (along with new co-author Gilad Bracha) have delivered a monumental update. This completely revised Second Edition covers the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Version 1.3 with unprecedented depth and precision, offering the invaluable insights of Java's creators to every developer. There is no better source for learning everything about the Syntax and Semantics of the Java programming language. Developers will turn to this book again and again.