July 1998

In the two months since my last message we have finished a Java semester course as well as our seventh short course to industry. The first edition of Java Gently is sold out and the second reprinted. The Italian one is on the way and a Spanish translation in the pipeline.

The book has become a worldwide phenomenon, far outstripping our original ideas. Much of the credit for its acceptance around the globe must go to its website, which has been described as being in a class of its own. So thanks again to Alwyn for his hard work and dedication, and to Louis, Tony and Graeme who keep a watchful eye on things.

Louis recently ran a hit analysis program on the site and the results are fascinating. You can view them yourself on
www.cs.up.ac.za/stats/javagently/

In particular, look at the top sites and the by Country analysis. 38 countries have come in to the site.

Off to have some coffee. Enjoy your Java.

Judith Bishop

May 1998

Welcome to the all new Java Gently Web page for the 2nd edition of the book. I hope that you will find it both refreshing and familiar. The main change is that the examples and error list now refer to the 2nd edition which came out in March. If you need to get back to the numbering system of the first edition, click on the icon that shows the first edition cover. In addiiton, we now have answers to the exercises, but these are only available to lecturers and instructors (see the FAQ for instructions on how to get them).

Many thanks to Alwyn Moolman who has put so much into the design and implementation of this web page; to Graham Pyle who designed the answers system (which is available from Addison Wesley) and to Louis Botha who continues to interact with users all over the world and answer their questions.