The Java Database Connectivity classes (JDBC) sensibly provide an interface between a platform-independent programming language (Java) and a standardized database language (Structured Query Language, or SQL). Pretty much every Java program that's involved in transactions or other business operations connects to a database through JDBC; so, familiarity with the JDBC classes can magnify your other Java skills. Database Programming with JDBC and Java explains how JDBC fits into unitized software applications in which various functional parts communicate over a network. Author George Reese also shows how to write programs that take advantage of the JDBC classes, emphasizing the most commonly used ones (such as those that perform INSERT and SELECT operations), but giving also the more obscure classes their due. This book is essentially an ongoing lecture of increasing complexity. To cite one thread, it begins with clear but academic examples that involve discrete transactions (opening a connection, performing a query, and closing the connection). It then moves on to connection pooling and other JDBC-supported optimizations for the real world. A menagerie of specialized sections on such topics as security and persistence rely heavily on long code examples. A section on Swing programming seems kind of out of place, but it's short. In sum, this slim volume is a great introduction to JDBC for those who are looking to approach Java distributed applications