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The animal on the cover of Killer Game Programming in Java is a jungle cat (Felis chaus), a solitary felid known for its marvelous adaptability. Also known in some places as the swamp or reed cat, the jungle cat is found across a wide geographic area, ranging from Egypt to the Middle East to parts of Southern Asia and Western China. The name jungle cat, however, is a misnomer because, while this animal is often found in open grasslands, marshes, swamps, and tropical deciduous and evergreen forests, it is never found in dense tropical rain forests. The jungle cat varies in weight across its range. Cats living in Central Asia weigh up to 36 pounds, about 5 or 6 pounds more than those from Thailand and other neighboring areas.

Jungle cats can be distinguished from other wild cat species by their long legs and uniform coat color, which ranges from sandy yellow to reddish brown. In ancient Egypt, these cats were held in high esteem for their stealth and agility. Etchings found on the walls of ancient temples depict jungle cats hunting beside humans. Their mummified remains can also be found in tombs of the period.

The jungle cat's long survival as a species is attributed in part to its great resourcefulness. These cats often inhabit the disused burrows of other animals, and in India, they are sometimes known to take up residence in abandoned buildings on the outskirts of human settlements, hunting in nearby crop fields for small rodents. They are mostly crepuscular in their hunting habits (active at twilight), but are known to be more active during daylight hours in some regions. Their prey includes rodents, small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and occasionally wild pigs, chital deer, and fish. Keen hearing, a contribution from the cat's large ears, help it locate prey in areas of dense vegetation. It can jump 13 feet to swipe a desert quail from the air, dive into water to capture fish, and even climb trees to hunt when necessary. The jungle cat, some say, can make it anywhere.

Matt Hutchinson was the production editor for Killer Game Programming in Java. GEX, Inc. provided production services. Adam Witwer, Jamie Peppard, and Claire Cloutier provided quality control.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from Royal Natural History. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Keith Fahlgren to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Chris Reilley using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Lydia Onofrei.