Maven: A Developer's Notebook -- If you're a Java programmer, this book will arm you with all the critical information you need to get up to speed on Maven. It forces you to get hands-on experience by working through a series of poignant exercises that speak to you instead of at you. In the end, you'll find yourself spending less time working on your project's build system and more time working on your project's code. Sample Chapter 1, Maven Jump-Start (PDF) is available free online.

Java City: The Java Enterprise Ecosystem -- Should we worry about promoting a healthy Java community? Or is everything just fine in Java City? Jim Farley asks you to weigh in on these questions, and others, in the Talkbacks. He plans a followup article summarizing what you have to say. Your comments may help to shape content in Jim's upcoming book, Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition, due out in the fall.

How to Talk About Jini, J2EE, and Web Services at a Cocktail Party -- Heard about distributed technologies for Java, but not quite sure what they are or why they're important? Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates show you how to hold your own in conversation with Java geeks with this cocktail-party overview. Kathy and Bert are the authors of Head First Java, 2nd Edition.

Developing for the Web with Ant, Part 2 -- In part one of this two-part excerpt, Steve Holzner covered packaging web applications. In this second installment, Steve covers the tasks for deploying web apps with get, serverdeploy, and scp. Steve is the author of Ant: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition.

Playing Movies in a Java 3D World, Part 1 -- The ability to play a movie clip inside of a Java 3D scene opens up opportunities for richer, more interesting 3D content. Andrew Davison describes how he implemented a Java 3D movie screen, using the Java Media Framework (JMF) Performance Pack for Windows v.2.1.1e, as well as J2SE 5.0 and Java 3D 1.3.2. Andrew is the author of Killer Game Programming in Java.

History of Programming Languages -- For 50 years, computer programmers have been writing code, and now, there are more than 2,500 documented programming languages. O'Reilly has produced a poster called History of Programming Languages, which plots over 50 programming languages on a multi-layered, color-coded timeline. The poster is available online in PDF format, but while supplies last, U.S. residents can also get a hard copy of the poster free when purchasing two books through oreilly.com.

Generic Types, Part 2 -- In part one of this two-part excerpt, David Flanagan described how to use generic types. This week, David details how to write your own generic types and generic methods, and concludes with a tour of important generic types in the core Java API. David is the author of Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition.

Five Things I Love About Spring -- For hardcore enterprise development, Bruce Tate turns to Spring, the topic of his fourth Java book. In this article, Bruce describes five reasons why he is hooked on Spring. Bruce is the coauthor of Spring: A Developer's Notebook.

Developing for the Web with Ant, Part 1 -- Developing for the web is bread and butter for Ant developers. In part one of this two-part excerpt, Steve Holzner covers the tasks specifically designed for packaging web applications, including war, cab, ear, and jspc. Steve is the author of Ant: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition.

Save $200 on a Learning Lab Certificate -- Learning programming languages and development techniques has never been easier. Using your web browser and Useractive's Learning Sandbox technology, the Learning Lab gives you hands-on, online training in a creative environment. And now, when you enroll in any of our four certificate series, you'll receive a $200 instant rebate (and a certificate from the University of Illinois upon course completion). Offer extended through May 31st.

Generic Types, Part 1 -- In part one of this two-part excerpt, David Flanagan explores the basic use of generics in typesafe collections, and then delves into their more complex uses. In addition, he covers type parameter wildcards and bounded wildcards. In part two next week, David tackles how to write your own generic types and generic methods. David is the author of Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition.

New Titles on Safari -- Search, annotate, read, and download chapters from your favorite technical books through Safari Bookshelf. New titles from O'Reilly include: Linux Desktop Hacks, IPv6 Network Administration, Apache Security, Jakarta Struts Cookbook, Firefox Hacks, Hackers & Painters, and Linux in a Windows World. If you haven't gone on Safari yet, get a free trial.

Breaking the Last Dependency -- As Head First Design Patterns was about to go to press, Erich Gamma sent Elisabeth and Eric Freeman a note suggesting that, in the factory pattern chapter, they should break the last dependency and show how to write code that does away with concrete classes completely, a logical next step. While this new approach didn't make the book's deadline, it is the highlight of their java.net feature article. Elisabeth and Eric are coauthors of Head First Design Patterns.

O'Reilly Wins Five Jolt Awards (PDF) -- We are proud to announce that in the General Books category, the top prize was awarded to Head First Design Patterns. In Technical Books, the top prize went to Better, Faster, Lighter Java, and Hibernate: A Developer's Notebook took home a productivity award. And finally, in Websites and Developer Networks, the O'Reilly Network received the Product Excellence Award, and java.net (produced in collaboration with Sun and CollabNet) won a productivity award. The winners will all be featured in the June 2005 issue of Software Development magazine.

Five Favorite Features from 5.0 -- David Flanagan reviews five of his favorite new Java 5.0 features: the Callable and Future interfaces, new APIs for varargs and autoboxing, new ability interfaces, the @Override annotation, and MatchResult. Read to the end, where David reveals a bonus sixth feature, a new language syntax supported by Java 5.0 but known to very few. David is the author of Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition.