Addison Wesley - Professional.Java.Puzzlers.Traps.Pitfalls.and.Corner.Cases.Jun.2005.eBook-DDU.chm
"Every programming language has its quirks. This lively book reveals oddities of the Java programming language through entertaining and thought-provoking programming puzzles."

--Guy Steele, Sun Fellow and coauthor of The Java™ Language Specification

"I laughed, I cried, I threw up (my hands in admiration)."

--Tim Peierls, president, Prior Artisans LLC, and member of the JSR 166 Expert Group

How well do you really know Java? Are you a code sleuth? Have you ever spent days chasing a bug caused by a trap or pitfall in Java or its libraries? Do you like brainteasers? Then this is the book for you!

In the tradition of Effective Java™, Bloch and Gafter dive deep into the subtleties of the Java programming language and its core libraries. Illustrated with visually stunning optical illusions, Java™ Puzzlers features 95 diabolical puzzles that educate and entertain. Anyone with a working knowledge of Java will understand the puzzles, but even the most seasoned veteran will find them challenging.

Most of the puzzles take the form of a short program whose behavior isn't what it seems. Can you figure out what it does? Puzzles are grouped loosely according to the features they use, and detailed solutions follow each puzzle. The solutions go well beyond a simple explanation of the program's behavior--they show you how to avoid the underlying traps and pitfalls for good. A handy catalog of traps and pitfalls at the back of the book provides a concise taxonomy for future reference.

Solve these puzzles and you'll never again fall prey to the counterintuitive or obscure behaviors that can fool even the most experienced programmers.

Table of Contents | Index

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Copyright
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Expressive Puzzlers
Puzzle 1: Oddity
Puzzle 2: Time for a Change
Puzzle 3: Long Division
Puzzle 4: It's Elementary
Puzzle 5: The Joy of Hex
Puzzle 6: Multicast
Puzzle 7: Swap Meat
Puzzle 8: Dos Equis
Puzzle 9: Tweedledum
Puzzle 10: Tweedledee
Chapter 3. Puzzlers with Character
Puzzle 11: The Last Laugh
Puzzle 12: ABC
Puzzle 13: Animal Farm
Puzzle 14: Escape Rout
Puzzle 15: Hello Whirled
Puzzle 16: Line Printer
Puzzle 17: Huh?
Puzzle 18: String Cheese
Puzzle 19: Classy Fire
Puzzle 20: What's My Class?
Puzzle 21: What's My Class, Take 2
Puzzle 22: Dupe of URL
Puzzle 23: No Pain, No Gain
Chapter 4. Loopy Puzzlers
Puzzle 24: A Big Delight in Every Byte
Puzzle 25: Inclement Increment
Puzzle 26: In the Loop
Puzzle 27: Shifty i's
Puzzle 28: Looper
Puzzle 29: Bride of Looper
Puzzle 30: Son of Looper
Puzzle 31: Ghost of Looper
Puzzle 32: Curse of Looper
Puzzle 33: Looper Meets the Wolfman
Puzzle 34: Down for the Count
Puzzle 35: Minute by Minute
Chapter 5. Exceptional Puzzlers
Puzzle 36: Indecision
Puzzle 37: Exceptionally Arcane
Puzzle 38: The Unwelcome Guest
Puzzle 39: Hello, Goodbye
Puzzle 40: The Reluctant Constructor
Puzzle 41: Field and Stream
Puzzle 42: Thrown for a Loop
Puzzle 43: Exceptionally Unsafe
Puzzle 44: Cutting Class
Puzzle 45: Exhausting Workout
Chapter 6. Classy Puzzlers
Puzzle 46: The Case of the Confusing Constructor
Puzzle 47: Well, Dog My Cats!
Puzzle 48: All I Get Is Static
Puzzle 49: Larger Than Life
Puzzle 50: Not Your Type
Puzzle 51: What's the Point?
Puzzle 52: Sum Fun
Puzzle 53: Do Your Thing
Puzzle 54: Null and Void
Puzzle 55: Creationism
Chapter 7. Library Puzzlers
Puzzle 56: Big Problem
Puzzle 57: What's in a Name?
Puzzle 58: Making a Hash of It
Puzzle 59: What's the Difference?
Puzzle 60: One-Liners
Puzzle 61: The Dating Game
Puzzle 62: The Name Game
Puzzle 63: More of the Same
Puzzle 64: The Mod Squad
Puzzle 65: A Strange Saga of a Suspicious Sort
Chapter 8. Classier Puzzlers
Puzzle 66: A Private Matter
Puzzle 67: All Strung Out
Puzzle 68: Shades of Gray
Puzzle 69: Fade to Black
Puzzle 70: Package Deal
Puzzle 71: Import Duty
Puzzle 72: Final Jeopardy
Puzzle 73: Your Privates Are Showing
Puzzle 74: Identity Crisis
Puzzle 75: Heads or Tails?
A Glossary of Name Reuse
Chapter 9. More Library Puzzlers
Puzzle 76: Ping Pong
Puzzle 77: The Lock Mess Monster
Puzzle 78: Reflection Infection
Puzzle 79: It's a Dog's Life
Puzzle 80: Further Reflection
Puzzle 81: Charred Beyond Recognition
Puzzle 82: Beer Blast
Puzzle 83: Dyslexic Monotheism
Puzzle 84: Rudely Interrupted
Puzzle 85: Lazy Initialization
Chapter 10. Advanced Puzzlers
Puzzle 86: Poison-Paren Litter
Puzzle 87: Strained Relations
Puzzle 88: Raw Deal
Puzzle 89: Generic Drugs
Puzzle 90: It's Absurd, It's a Pain, It's Superclass!
Puzzle 91: Serial Killer
Puzzle 92: Twisted Pair
Puzzle 93: Class Warfare
Puzzle 94: Lost in the Shuffle
Puzzle 95: Just Desserts
Appendix A. Catalog of Traps and Pitfalls
Section 1. Lexical Issues
Section 2. Integer Arithmetic
Section 3. Floating-Point Arithmetic
Section 4. Expression Evaluation
Section 5. Flow of Control
Section 6. Class Initialization
Section 7. Instance Creation and Destruction
Section 8. Other Class- and Instance-Related Topics
Section 9. Name Reuse
Section 10. Strings
Section 11. I/O
Section 12. Threads
Section 13. Reflection
Section 14. Serialization
Section 15. Other Libraries
Appendix B. Notes on the Illusions
Ambiguous Figures
Impossible Figures
Geometrical Illusions: Size
Geometrical Illusions: Direction
Subjective Contours
Anomalous Motion Illusions
Illusions of Lightness
Compound Illusions
References
Index