With the arrival of Sun's Swing/JFC classes, Java developers can create user

interfaces that look great and perform just as well as "native" interfaces. The

JFC Swing Tutorial: A Guide to Constructing GUIs provides a hard copy of

Sun's popular online tutorial for Swing/JFC development. Its numerous code

examples and clear presentation style make this title a fine choice for mastering

the ins and outs of today's Swing. Owing to its Web heritage, digestibility is

perhaps this book's most notable feature. Short sections on virtually every topic

in Swing programming help bring the reader up to speed with this UI library.

Early sections look at getting started and the organization of classes in both

applets and applications, as well as useful high-level classes like frames and

scroll panes. When it comes to such basic Swing components as text, label, and

image controls, Swing beginners will appreciate the concise description of each

component along with necessary APIs. More advanced material, such as

optimizing repainting of Swing controls and techniques for more efficient

tables, will be useful to any Swing developer.