Herbert Schildt has been writing about programming since 1984 and is the author of several books on Java, C++, C, and C#. His programming books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been widely translated. Although he is interested in all facets of computing, his primary focus is computer languages, including the standardization of languages. Schildt holds BA and MCS degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. He provided the initial drafts for most of the chapters in this book.

Dale Skrien has been teaching mathematics and computer science at Colby College since 1980 and has been teaching Java since 1996. His interest in teaching students not just how to program, but how to program well, led to the publication of his textbook Object-Oriented Design using Java by McGraw-Hill. He holds a BA degree from St. Olaf College, MS degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Washington, and a PhD degree from the University of Washington. In addition to contributions throughout the book, he provided Chapter 16, which introduces object-oriented design. He also provided the online supplements for this book.