The book uses Java  — a powerful, general-purpose computer programming
language. 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.
In this book, I assume very little about your experience with computers. As you
read each section, you get to see inside my mind. You see the problems that I face,
the things that I think, and the solutions that I find. Some problems are the kind
that I remember facing when I was a novice; other problems are the kind that I
face as an expert. I help you understand, I help you visualize, and I help you create
solutions on your own. I even get to tell a few funny stories.