The book uses Java — an exciting, relatively new computer programming lan-

guage. But Java’s subtleties and eccentricities aren’t the book’s main focus.

Instead, this book emphasizes a process — the process of creating instructions

for a computer to follow. Many highfalutin’ books describe the mechanics of this process — the rules, the conventions, and the formalisms. But those other books aren’t written for real people. Those books don’t take you from where

you are to where you want to be.