Over the past few years,the Java TM programming language has enjoyed unprecedented success.This sucess has brought a challenge:along with explosive growth in popularity ,there has been explosive growth in the demands made on the language and its libraries.To meet this challenge,the language has grown as well(fortunately,not explosively)and so have the libraries.
总结一下子： 在过去的几年间，Java编程语言感受了前所未有的成功。但必须意识到，这同时也给Java带来了新的挑战：随着Java开发者数目爆炸式的成长，Java语言以及它的支持库也急于需要进行爆炸性的增长。为了应对这个挑战，Java语言也确实有所成长，不过幸运的是，不是爆炸式的成长。包括Java的支持库也发生了巨大的扩增。
以应对实际应用的需求。
The Second Edition of The Java TM Language Specification reflects these developments.It integrates all the changes made to the Java programming language since the publication of the First Edition in 1996.The bulk of these changes were made in the 1.1 release of the Java platform in 1997,and revolve around the addition of nested type declarations.Later modifications pertained to floating-point operations.In addtion,this edition incorporates important clarifications and amendments involving method lookup and binary compatibility.
总结一下子：这个版本，就是第二版的JLS，反映了这些发展和变化，表现在，它整合了自1996年第一版JLS以来Java语言的所有变化。 这些变化大部分被应用在1997发布的Java 1.1版本,考虑增加了嵌套类型声明。 随后的一些修改关于到了浮点数的操作 （因为这本第二版书籍的编写是在2000年） 。此外，这个版本添加了重要的概念阐明和一些包括对于方法定位和二进制文件兼容性的改进。
This specification defines the language as it exists today.The Java programming language is likely to continue to evolve.At this writing,there are ongoing initiatives through the Java Community Process to extend the language with generic types and assertions,refine the memory mode,etc.However,it would be inappropriate to delay the publication of the Second Edition until these efforts are concluded.
总结一下子：注意， 这本说明书只是描述了现在的Java语言。因为Java语言本身很可能继续发展变化。而就在编写这本书的过程中，Java Community Process（JCP)正在首次提出来要在泛型，断言，和内存模式的优化改进上面进行Java语言的扩展和优化。然而，这些因素并不能延迟本书籍的发行，因为我们不会等到这些努力都成功完成和结束后才去发行第二版的JLS。
The specifications of the libraries are now far too large to fit into this volume,and they continue to evolve.Consequently,API specifications have been removed from this book.The library specifications can be found on the Web;this specification now concentrates solely on the Java programming language proper.
总结一下子： Java语言的类库现在非常大，所以无法把它们都写进本说明文档中去，而且它们还在不断地继续扩展。所以，API 说明已经从本书籍当中删除了。但是，你还是可以到网上去查看关于类库的使用方法。现在这本说明书专注于Java语言了。（?这里最后一句话如何恰当理解，尤其是对于solely和proper单词的理解。）
下面的都是一些参与人物的列举以及感谢等。所以，略去。本preface就如此ok啦吧。
Many people contributed to this book ,directly and indirectly.Tim Lindholm brought extraordinary dedication to his role as technical editor of the Java Series.He also made invaluable technical contributions,especially on floating-point issues.The book would likely not see the light of day without hime.Lisa Friendly,the Series editor,provided encouragement and advice for which i am very thankful.
David Bowen first suggested that i get involved in the specifications of the Java platform.I am grateful to him for introducing me to this uncommonly rich area.
John Rose,the father of nested types in the Java programming language,has been unfailingly gracious and supportive of my attempts to specify them accurately.
Many people have provided valuable comments on this edition.Special thanks go to Roly Perera at Ergosis and to Leonid Arbouzoov and his colleagues on Sun's Java platform conformance team in Novosibirsk:xxx,xxxxx,xxxx,……。
Their thorough reading of earlier drafts has greatly improved the accuracy of his specification.
I am indebted to Martin Odersky and to Andrew Bennett and the members of Sun's javac compiler team,past and present:Iris Garcia,Bill Maddox,David Stoutamire,and Todd Turnidge.They all worked hard to make sure the reference implementation conformed to the specification.For many enjoyable technical exchanges,i thank them and my other colleagues at Sun:xx,xxx,xxxx,……
Tricia Jordan,my manager,has been a model of patience ,consideration and understanding.Thanks are also due to Larry Abrahasms,director of Java 2 Standard Editon,for supporting this work.
The following individuals all provided useful comments that have contributed to this specification:xx,xxxx,xxxxxx,xxxx,xxxx,…….
Suzette Pelouch provided invaluable assistance with the index and ,together with Doug Kramer and Atul Dambalkar,assisted with FrameMaker expertisse;Mike and Julie at Addison-Wesley were gracious,helpful and ultimately made this book a reality.
On a personal note,i thank my wife Weihong for her love and support.
Finally , i'd like to thank my coauthors,James Gosling,Bill Joy,and Guy Steele for inviting me to participate in this work.It has been a pleasure and a privilege.
April,2000
