A second edition Beginning Java title is now required because: In quarter one, 2000, Sun will release version 1.3 of their Java Developers Kit (JDK 1.3). This is significant because: The fastest Java platform performance ever is now available for download, and is coming to your mailbox from America Online (AOL), thanks to an agreement between Sun and AOL to deliver the Java Runtime Environment on the AOL 5.0 CD-ROM. The newest version of J2SE technology, v 1.3, will deliver momentous performance gains and improved Web deployment for enterprise-grade, client-side applications. And just about everything else developers have been asking for: Client-side users now enjoy the speed advantage of the new Java HotSpot compiler which has been tuned for client performance. The result is much faster thread handling, improved scalability and rapid memory allocation for objects, smaller RAM footprint, and the platform has gained a much more efficient garbage collector. All of these enhancements spell speed for the desktop user. For Graphical User Interface (GUI) performance, the Java Foundation Classes and Swing libraries have been super-tuned to enhance scrolling speed. The GUI components that developers use to create tables and frames for their applications have also been improved.