The Object of Data Abstraction and Structures is for readers who are looking for a second computer science course that focuses on a modern object-oriented approach in Java. It covers the traditional data structures topics of a CS2 course, with special attention to sound software engineering practice, and uses an object-oriented approach.

The presentation is divided into two parts to provide instructors maximum flexibility to tailor the material to their particular needs. The main body of the textbook consists of Chapters 1 - 9 with general topics that are common to most CS2 courses, but with a distinctly O-O flavor. The Core Concepts: Review and Reference sections of the book is a collection of foundational material that is assumed within the main body. These topics include an introduction to object-oriented programming, software specifications, inheritance, exceptions and recursion. Most CS2 courses expect some, but not all, of this core material as prerequisite, but there are considerable differences from course-to-course. This core material may be covered whenever the instructor chooses, or omitted altogether.