Chapter 1: Introduction to objects

This chapter is an overview of what object-oriented programming is all about,
including the answer to the basic question “What’s an object?”, interface vs.
implementation, abstraction and encapsulation, messages and functions, inheritance
and composition, and the all-important polymorphism. You’ll also be introduced to
issues of object creation such as constructors, where the objects live, where to put
them once they’re created, and the magical garbage collector that cleans up the
objects that are no longer needed. Other issues will be introduced, including error
handling with exceptions, multithreading for responsive user interfaces, and
networking and the Internet. You’ll also learn about what makes Java special, why
it’s been so successful, and about object-oriented analysis and design.