Java Data Objects

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animal on the cover of Java Data Objects is a bilby (Macrotis lagotis), also known as a ninu, dalgyte, pinky, or rabbit-eared bandicoot. Bilbies are rabbit-sized marsupials with silky, blue-gray fur; long, pointed snouts; large, rabbit-like ears; and long, black tails with white tips. This strange combination of traits may appear awkward, but its delicate and cute features have actually made the bilby one of Australia’s most attractive and celebrated mammals. For many Australians, the Easter Bilby has even replaced the rabbit as the popular Easter icon.

Bilbies have adapted well to the hot, arid climates they now habitate. Their long, slender tongues help them eat a diet of seeds, insects, bulbs, fruit, and fungi. Bilbies have well-developed forearms and long claws, which they use to dig the deep, spiralling burrows in which they live. Bilbies are strictly nocturnal, and during the day they plug the entrances to their holes with soil to protect them from extreme temperatures. Because bilbies are solitary animals, burrows usually have a single opening and a single occupant, though females often live with their young. Like other marsupials, females have a backward-opening pouch with eight teats, used to carry and protect their ...