Java Network Programming 2nd Ed

Organization of the Book
This book begins with three chapters that outline how networks and network
programs work. Chapter 1, is a gentle introduction to network programming in Java
and the applications that it makes possible. All readers should find something of
interest in this chapter. It explores some of the unique programs that become feasible
when networking is combined with Java. Chapter 2, and Chapter 3, explain in detail
what a programmer needs to know about how the Internet and the Web work. Chapter
2 describes the protocols that underlie the Internet, such as TCP/IP and UDP/IP.
Chapter 3 describes the standards that underlie the Web such, as HTTP, HTML, and
CGI. If you've done a lot of network programming in other languages on other
platforms, you may be able to skip these two chapters.
The next two chapters throw some light on two parts of Java that are critical to almost
all network programs but are often misunderstood and misused: I/O and threading.
Chapter 4 explores Java's unique way of handling input and output. Understanding
how Java handles I/O in the general case is a prerequisite for understanding the
special case of how Java handles network I/O. Chapter 5 explores multithreading and
synchronization, with a special emphasis on how they can be used for asynchronous
I/O and network servers. Experienced Java programmers may be able to skim or skip
these two chapters. However, Chapter 6, is essential reading for everyone. It shows
how Java programs interact with the Domain Name System through the InetAddress
class, the one class that's needed by essentially all network programs. Once you've
finished this chapter, it's possible to jump around in the book as your interests and
needs dictate. There are, however, some interdependencies between specific chapters.
Figure P.1 should allow you to map out possible paths through the book.
Chapter 7, explores Java's URL class, a powerful abstraction for downloading
information and files from network servers of many kinds. The URL class enables you
to connect to and download files and documents from a network server without
concerning yourself with the details of the protocol that the server speaks. It lets you
connect to an FTP server using the same code you use to talk to an HTTP server or to
read a file on the local hard disk.
Once you've retrieved an HTML file from a server, you're going to want to do
something with it. Parsing and rendering HTML is one of the most difficult
challenges network programmers face. Indeed, the Mozilla project has been struggling
with that exact problem for more than two years. Chapter 8, introduces some littleknown
classes for parsing and rendering HTML documents that take this burden off
your shoulders and put it on Sun's.
Chapter 9, investigates the network methods of one the first classes every Java
programmer learns about, Applet. You'll see how to load images and audio files from
network servers and track their progress. Without using undocumented classes, this is
the only way to handle audio in Java 1.2 and earlier.
Chapter 10 through Chapter 14 discuss Java's low-level socket classes for network
access. Chapter 10, introduces the Java sockets API and the Socket class in particular.
It shows you how to write network clients that interact with TCP servers of all kinds,
including whois, finger, and HTTP. Chapter 11, shows you how to use the
ServerSocket class to write servers for these and other protocols in Java. Chapter 12,
shows you how to protect your client/server communications using the Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL) and the Java Secure Sockets Extension ( JSSE). Chapter 13, introduces
the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and the associated classes DatagramPacket and
DatagramSocket for fast, reliable communication. Finally, Chapter 14, shows you
how to use UDP to communicate with multiple hosts at the same time. All the other
classes that access the network from Java rely on the classes described in these five
chapters.
Chapter 15 through Chapter 17 look more deeply at the infrastructure supporting the
URL class. These chapters introduce protocol and content handlers, concepts unique to
Java that make it possible to write dynamically-extensible software that automatically
understands new protocols and media types. Chapter 15, describes the
URLConnection class that serves as the engine for the URL class of Chapter 7. It shows
you how to take advantage of this class through its public API. Chapter 16, also
focuses on the URLConnection class but from a different direction; it shows you how
to subclass this class to create handlers for new protocols and URLs. Finally, Chapter
17 explores Java's somewhat moribund mechanism for supporting new media types.
Chapter 18 and Chapter 19 introduce two unique higher-level APIs for network
programs, Remote Method Invocation (RMI) and the JavaMail API. Chapter 18,
introduces this powerful mechanism for writing distributed Java applications that run
across multiple heterogeneous systems at the same time while communicating with
straightforward method calls just like a nondistributed program. Chapter 19, acquaints
you with this standard extension to Java that offers an alternative to low-level sockets
for talking to SMTP, POP, IMAP, and other email servers. Both of these APIs provide
distributed applications with less cumbersome alternatives to lower-level protocols.

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