We tried very hard to adhere to many of the most commonly accepted software development practices. These include the use of Design Patterns [Cormen, 2001], coding conventions, quality checks, and fully automated unit tests. We hope that in addition to an understanding of algorithms and their importance in problem-solving, you will come away with a deeper appreciation for how to build robust, extensible, and, of course, functional software. For those of you who are more familiar with the Java language, you may notice a certain overlap between the classes described in this book and those found in the java.util package.

This book is not concerned with the specific implementations found in the Java libraries. Rather, we hope to give you an insight into why the designers of the Java language felt that it was so important to include specific implementations of certain algorithms and data structures, including how they work and when to use them. As already noted, this book is not designed to teach you the basics of computer programming in general or Java programming in particular. It does not explain how to use the standard Java libraries, for that is not the intent. While the code examples may use any classes from the java.lang, and in some cases the java.io, packages, all other Java packages were off limits. Instead, throughout the course of this book, you will build all the necessary classes by hand, which will enable you to experience the satisfaction that comes with discovering algorithms for yourself. Although significant emphasis is placed on unit testing in each chapter, this book is not a study of, or even a guide to, unit testing. Rather, it is hoped that by exposing you directly to unit test code, you will gain an understanding of basic unit testing techniques.

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