Special Edition Using Java 2 Standard Edition specifically covers only the Standard Edition of version 1.3 of the Java Software Development Kit (SDK). It begins with a series of quick refreshers for Object-oriented programming and Java fundamentals, including applet programming and threads, to ensure that readers are up to speed. The book then moves to intermediate Java features including user interface design with Java Foundation Classes (JFC) and Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT), data structures and Java utilities, containers and layout managers, and creating images. Later chapters cover advanced topics including Internationalization & creating JAR archive files. Useful appendices offer further Java resources & SDK tool information. Throughout the book, the authors focus on Java 2 Standard Edition SDK version 1.3 changes, including the newest “HotSpot” compiler, which offers increased performance, faster start-up and smaller memory usage, among other improvements.