"Making those first interpreted programs run fast enough was a huge challenge for many developers," says Jack Shirazi, author of the just-released book Java Performance Tuning (O'Reilly, $34.95). "Since then, Java performance has improved enormously, and any Java program can now be made to run fast enough, provided you avoid the main performance pitfalls."

Especially when writing mission-critical applications, no one wants to be limited by their programming environment. Java Performance Tuning is a guide many Java developers will find indispensable. "There is a perception that Java programs are slow," says Shirazi. "Part of this perception is pure assumption; many people assume that if a program is not compiled, it must be slow. Part of this perception is based in reality. In earlier versions of Java, you had to struggle hard and compromise a lot to make a Java application run quickly. But even now, and even with good design practices, the first version of a program is often slower than expected. Just as the first version of the code is likely to have bugs that need fixing; the first version often needs tuning for speed. Fortunately, if you know where to focus your attention, tuning is usually easier than debugging."

Performance tuning is inherently a messy task. Using many real-life examples to work through the performance process in detail, Java Performance Tuning shows how tricks such as minimizing object creation, replacing strings with arrays, and others can really pay off on improving your code's performance. Equally important, this book offers common-sense advice about what to tune and what to leave alone-crucial to maximizing performance without damaging your program's architecture. It also provides performance tuning checklists that enable developers to make their tuning as comprehensive as possible.

Java Performance Tuning is a book for developers who are ready to "roll up their sleeves" and examine their code in detail in order to apply different tuning techniques to produce code that is robust, maintainable, and fast.

Online Resources:

• Chapter 4, Object Creation, is available free online.

• More information about the book, including Table of Contents, index, author bio, and samples.

• A cover graphic in jpeg format.