I'm doing some reading and have found the following links useful: 1. Link to a free chapter on the final keyword in Robert Simmons 'Hardcore Java' (O'Reilly) together with a useful summary.
http://hoskinator.blogspot.com/2006/04/hardcore-java-final-story.html 2. Brian Goetz comments on the 'final' performance myths: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-jtp1029.html
