This book is divided into five parts. The first part starts with a detailed discussion of polymorphism. It then shows you how to make proper use of abstract classes and interfaces, and teaches you to discern which technique to use for a specific scenario. Discussions on code comments teach you how to use them effectively, and why you need to be careful with code comments. In the second part you will learn six design principles, including SOLID and DRY principles. These are the foundation of well-known design patterns, and they establish practices for developing software with considerations for maintaining and extending as a project grows. The third part walks you through methods to make efficient applications. You will learn the common use of factories to separate code from its opposite and the alternative of inheritance using object composition and wrappers. This part also demonstrates the use of template methods, hooks, and facades in programming.Hints show you how professional coders develop an enterprise application. Better handling of exceptions and null values is another integral part of professional programming, which the fourth part explores in detail. This will help you become a more professional programmer. In the final part of the book, you will learn about effective memory management techniques and the use and misuse of design patterns. This part also briefly discusses how to decide between a static method and an instance method and other techniques. After reading this book, you will be able to implement best practices to make your programs more effective and reliable.