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 RMI is a European red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). The word squirrel comes from the Greek skia, meaning shadow, and oura, tail.

Squirrel species exist on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. The red squirrel is common throughout central Europe, but in Great Britain, where it was once also abundant, its numbers have been greatly reduced. The grey squirrel, a heartier species, has largely replaced it; there are now about 60 times as many grey squirrels as red in Great Britain.

The red squirrel is light-red to black in color on its head and back. All except those with black fur have white stomachs; the black ones are black all over. They have tufts of fur sticking up from their ears. They spend much of their time up in trees; their sharp claws make them good climbers, and they can survive falls of up to 100 feet. They eat mostly seeds, acorns, and nuts, but they'll also eat mushrooms, flowers, vegetables, and even eggs when their main food source is scarce.

Female red squirrels usually produce two litters of young each year, with five to seven babies in each. They're blind and hairless at birth and weigh only eight to twelve grams, but by eight weeks of age, they are weaned and fully independent--though they have a tendency to darken their mother's doorstep for a while longer, until they're ready to face the world on their own. Matt Hutchinson was the production editor and copyeditor for Java RMI. Maureen Dempsey proofread the book. Claire Cloutier, Tatiana Apandi Diaz, Jane Ellin, and Sue Willing provided quality control. Sarah Sherman, Edie Shapiro, and Derek DiMatteo provided production assistance. Johnna VanHoose Dinse 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 Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

Melanie Wang designed the interior layout. Anne-Marie Vaduva reformatted the files in FrameMaker 5.5.6 using tools created by Mike Sierra. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Lucas-Font's Sans 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.

Whenever possible, our books use a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds this binding's limit, perfect binding is used.