Practical Java : programming language guide

Preface. Acknowledgments. GENERAL TECHNIQUES. Praxis 1: Understand that parameters are passed by value, not by reference. Praxis 2: Use final for constant data and constant object references. Praxis 3: Understand that all non-static methods can be overridden by default. Praxis 4: Choose carefully between arrays and Vectors. Praxis 5: Prefer polymorphism to instance of. Praxis 6: Use instance of only when you must. Praxis 7: Set object references to null when they are no longer needed. OBJECTS AND EQUALITY. Praxis 8: Differentiate between reference and primitive types. Praxis 9: Differentiate between == and equals. Praxis 10: Do not rely on the default implementation of equals. Praxis 11: Implement the equals method judiciously. Praxis 12: Prefer get Class in equals method implementations. Praxis 13: Call super. equals of base classes. Praxis 14: Consider carefully instance of in equals method implementations. Praxis 15: Follow these rules when implementing an equals method. EXCEPTION HANDLING. Praxis 16: Know the mechanics of exception control flow. Praxis 17: Never ignore an exception. Praxis 18: Never hide an exception. Praxis 19: Consider the drawback to the throws clause. Praxis 20: Be specific and comprehensive with the throws clause. Praxis 21: Use finally to avoid resource leaks. Praxis 22: Do not return from a try block. Praxis 23: Place try/catch blocks outside of loops. Praxis 24: Do not use exceptions for control flow. Praxis 25: Do not use exceptions for every error condition. Praxis 26: Throw exceptions from constructors. Praxis 27: Return objects to a valid state before throwing an exception. PERFORMANCE. Praxis 28: Focus initially on design, data structures, and algorithms. Praxis 29: Do not rely on compile-time code optimization. Praxis 30: Understand runtime code optimization. Praxis 31: Use String Buffer, rather than String, for concatenation. Praxis 32: Minimize the cost of object creation. Praxis 33: Guard against unused objects. Praxis 34: Minimize synchronization. Praxis 35: Use stack variables whenever possible. Praxis 36: Use static, final, and private methods to allow in lining. Praxis 37: Initialize instance variables only once. Praxis 38: Use primitive types for faster and smaller code. Praxis 39: Do not use an Enumeration or an Iterator to traverse a Vector. Praxis 40: Use System array copy for copying arrays. Praxis 41: Prefer an array to a Vector or Array List. Praxis 42: Reuse objects whenever possible. Praxis 43: Use lazy evaluation. Praxis 44: Optimize source code by hand. Praxis 45: Compile to native code. MULTITHREADING. Praxis 46: Understand that for instance methods, synchronized locks objects, not methods or code. Praxis 47: Distinguish between synchronized statics and synchronized instance methods. Praxis 48: Use private data with an accessor method instead of public or protected data. Praxis 49: Avoid unnecessary synchronization. Praxis 50: Use synchronized or volatile when accessing shared variables. Praxis 51: Lock all objects involved in a single operation. Praxis 52: Acquire multiple locks in a fixed, global order to avoid deadlock. Praxis 53: Prefer notify All to notify. Praxis 54: Use spin locks for wait and notify All. Praxis 55: Use wait and notify All instead of polling loops. Praxis 56: Do not reassign the object reference of a locked object. Praxis 57: Do not invoke the stop or suspend methods. Praxis 58: Terminate threads through thread cooperation. Classes and Interfaces. Praxis 59: Use interfaces to support multiple inheritance. Praxis 60: Avoid method clashes in interfaces. Praxis 61: Use abstract classes when it makes sense to provide a partial implementation. Praxis 62: Differentiate between an interface, abstract class, and concrete class. Praxis 63: Define and implement immutable classes judiciously. Praxis 64: Use clone for immutable objects when passing or receiving object references to mutable objects. Praxis 65: Use inheritance or delegation to define immutable classes. Praxis 66: Call super. clone when implementing a clone method. Praxis 67: Do not rely on finalize methods for non-memory resource cleanup. Praxis 68: Use care when calling non-final methods from constructors. Appendix: Learning Java. Further Reading. Index. Colophon. 0201616467T04062001