The Java Tutorial: Updated at Last!

Almost a year since its last revision, The Java Tutorial has been updated again. Most of the changes are in the basic trails — the ones all new programmers might need. But even if you're not a beginner (actually, especially if you're not) the Tutorial team would like your feedback on the new stuff.

The history page says what's changed. Most of the differences aren't terribly noticeable — minor updates from 1.3 to 5.0, new figures, etc. However, there are some new pages the team would like you to check out. They include:

Working with Manifest Files: The Basics

A series of pages telling you how to specify a main class in a JAR file, seal a JAR file, and perform other tasks that require modifying a JAR file's manifest.

The "Static Import" Construct

Covers the 5.0 feature that lets you refer to static members of other classes without using prefixes. (This can be a dangerous feature, so use it wisely!)

Chained Exceptions

Shows you how to use chained exceptions (a 1.4 feature) to avoid losing exception data when rethrowing an exception.

Thread Pools

Describes how to use this feature, which is part of the concurrency utilities added in 5.0. (Most of the concurrency utilities are for "rocket scientists", but thread pools are more generally useful.)

Generics

The new home of Gilad Bracha's Generics tutorial.

Expect more updates soon. They'll add coverage of other post-1.3 features such as for-each, enums, and so on. Also, Getting Started will cover Mac OS X. And finally, the writers are working on something readers have requested for a long time: a completely new deployment section, which will include information on Java Web Start (for applications) and Java Plug-in (for applets).

To give your feedback to the Tutorial team, use the Feedback Form link that's at the upper right of most pages. Thanks for your support!