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 Mac OS X for Java Geeks is a striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena).This nomadic species is native to the arid savanna, thorny bush, and stony deserts of northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East, India, and southern Asia. Striped hyenas have long coarse fur and are sandy gray in color; they feature black spots on their legs, dark stripes running down their backs, and a heavy mane over their neck and shoulders. When threatened, their manes stand up, causing the hyena to appear much larger than their average weight of 100 pounds.Adults grow to nearly four feet long, not including their foot-long tails. These hyenas have pointed ears, a short muzzle, powerful jaws, and sharp teeth. While they resemble dogs both physically and socially (they sniff one another in greeting), hyenas belong to an entirely different animal family. Unlike the larger spotted hyena, striped hyenas do not "laugh"--verbal communication is in the form of short soft growls.

Striped hyenas are primarily nocturnal, preferring to sleep in caves or shaded outcroppings during the hot desert days. Small family groups may exist in these dens, but striped hyenas are not territorial; they rest and eat in the same areas for a short period of time before moving on. At night, they emerge to solitarily scavenge for carrion and other leftovers, even eating the bones from carcasses with no meat remaining on them.They supplement this diet by preying on small animals such as rodents, reptiles, and birds. As humans move into more and more of their habitat, it's become increasingly common for spotted hyenas to rely on garbage dumps and crops (they are particularly fond of fruit) for food. Human hunters are the largest threat to the striped hyena: some people believe that the organs and other parts of the hyena have medicinal value. Striped hyenas are listed as an endangered species, and populations in northern Africa are critically threatened. Emily Quill was the production editor and proofreader for Mac OS X for Java Geeks. Ann Schirmer was the copyeditor. Philip Dangler, Claire Cloutier, and Jane Ellin provided quality control. Philip Dangler and Genevieve d'Entremont provided production assistance. Ellen Troutman-Zaig wrote the index.

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

Bret Kerr designed the interior layout, based on a series design by David Futato. This book was converted to FrameMaker 5.5.6 by Andrew Savikas 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 Philip Dangler.