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.

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 Performance Tuning is a serval (Leptailarus serval). This long-legged cat is found in most parts of Africa, except for very dry areas of the continent, such as the northern regions around the Sahara Desert. Servals range in color from light brown to a darker reddish brown (some servals are entirely black); their coats are covered with dark spots that merge into stripes along the upper part of their backs. The pattern of their markings varies geographically; servals from wetter areas have smaller, finer spots, while those from drier areas have larger marks. Servals can grow up to 3 feet long and 20 inches tall at the shoulder, making their legs very long in proportion to their bodies. They use this height to their advantage, as they are able to see movement in the tall grass in which they hunt for the hares, rodents, and small birds they like to eat. Their big ears and highly developed auditory systems enable them to hear the high-pitched, ultrasonic sounds made by rodents-they are even able to hear them tunneling underground-and they can also leap up to 10 feet into the air to catch birds.

Emily Quill was the production editor and proofreader for Java Performance Tuning, Second Edition . Ann Schirmer was the copyeditor. Linley Dolby and Philip Dangler provided quality control. Ellen Troutman wrote the index.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Couvier Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted to FrameMaker 5.5.6 by Joe Wizda and Judy Hoer with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Leanne Soylemez.

The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Becki Maisch, and Madeleine Newell) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, and Jeff Liggett.