Getting Started

To use this book, you need a computer and an operating system that support the Java 2 platform. Many operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Solaris, support the Java 2 platform. Ports of the Java 2 platform to many other operating systems are in the works. The examples used in this book were developed using J2SE 1.4 running on Windows 2000 Professional. However, the code samples will run on any Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that is implemented according to specifications on the Java 2 platform. Although the wording of the certification instructions is vague, I recommend using J2SE 1.4 (see http://java.sun.com for more on this edition).