Review by Billy Barron

Second Edition

"The Java Language Specification: Second Edition" by Gosling, et al (Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0-201-31008-2) is a book I have waited a long time for because the first edition only covered Java 1.0. The specification of inner classes, strict fp and a few other things I have long waited for so this is a welcome edition.

First Edition

"The Java Language Specification" by Gosling, Joy, and Steele (Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0-201-63451-1) is more or less the official specification for the Java programming language. This book includes the language, the grammar, and the core API. It is not exciting reading (to say the least), but if you want the official word on the nitty-gritty of the Java language, this is the place to go.