"Java Platform Performance: Strategies and Tactics" (Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0-201-70969-4) by Wilson and Kesselman is yet another book on Java performance. In general, I've been disappointed by most of the performance books out there. They tend to be a little too focused in microoptimizations that were in many cases Java version specific.

The advantage the authors of this book have is that they work on the Java Performance Team inside of Sun. If anyone should know, these are the guys.

This book starts off talking about the different definitions of performance. It then outlines a process for dealing with performance. The authors round out the strategy discussion by talking about benchmarks and profiling.

What is great about the whole strategy section is that it is dead on right. It covers many of the issues glossed over by other Java Performance Books.

The book now moves over the tactics you can use to get better performance. Many of the tactics covered in this book I've seen in other books such as I/O and String tips. However, they cover a lot of topics I've never seen in any of the other books.

The unusual, but important topics they cover include RAM Footprint, Class Loading, Swing Models and Renderers, and Deployment. No other book I'm aware of covers all of these things.

The writing in the book mixes prose, performance graphs and code. It is extremely readable and accurate. A nice combination.

In conclusion, this is hands down the best book on Java Performance Issues on the market. I strongly recommend this book.