About the Author Barry Burd received an M.S. degree in Computer Science at Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Illinois. As a teaching assistant in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, he was elected five times to the university-wide List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students. Since 1980, Dr. Burd has been a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. When he's not lecturing at Drew University, Dr. Burd leads training courses for professional programmers in business and industry. He has lectured at conferences in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. He is the author of several articles and books, including Java For Dummies and Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies, both from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dr. Burd lives in Madison, New Jersey with his wife and two kids (both in their twenties, and mostly on their own). In his spare time, Dr. Burd enjoys being a workaholic.