Object-Oriented Software Development Using Java focuses on developing skills in designing software-particularly in writing well-designed, medium-sized object-oriented programs. It provides a broad and coherent coverage of object-oriented technology, including object-oriented modeling using the Unified Modeling Language (UML), object-oriented design using Design Patterns, and object-oriented programming using Java.

With the popularity of C++ and Java, program design has become as important to individual commercial programmers as it has been to programmers developing immense government-sponsored software projects. Designed for a course on object-oriented design at the Junior-, Senior-, and Graduate-level, Object-Oriented Software Development in Java prepares students for the industry's move toward object-oriented languages by introducing design concepts early and then moving on to Java.