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Summary: A wealth of knowledge in 57 insights
Review: In the preface Mr. Bloch tells us he's been employed by Sun since 1996 as a 'platform libraries architect' and luckily for us he's taken the time to clearly and concisely condense what he's learned about the language into 57 items or guidelines that will lead us into building well designed and effective Java applications.Have you ever wondered whether you should use an abstract class or an interface? Use a static member class or a non-static class? How to implement, in Java, the equivalent of C's enum construct? Provide overloaded methods for every possible situation or just the bare minimum? Use native methods? Limit the number of synchronized methods to improve performance? Wonder no more! 'Effective Java' reveals the strengths and weaknesses inherent in various approaches to designing classes, interfaces, methods and multi-threaded applications; revealing which idioms work and which are to be approached cautiously. I picked this book up two weeks ago and can safely say I learned more about the Java language in three days reading than I did in three months of study! An excellent book and a welcome addition to my Java library.
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Summary: Wonderful reading, very usable
Review: I'm only 1/2 way through this book but I can't remember the last time I have enjoyed reading a Java book more than this one. The straight forward approach, "real life" examples, and candid criticism of the Java libraries really makes this book hit home to me. I look forward to "quiet time" in order to read another chapter. To me, this book is better than the best Stephen King novel because, when your don't reading it, you have gained things you can you in your real life!
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Summary: Perhaps the Best Book on Java I own
Review: Okay, okay, I admit it. I *love* this book. LOVE it. The first taste I had of the book didn't really hit home for me, as it is organized as a long list of tips. However, once I sat down and started to take it tip by tip, I was very pleased with the content. Unlike many computer books, this book is not aimed at the novice programmer; neither is it abstract or theoretical. Rather, it is a collection of lessons learned on the battlefield, which an experienced computer programmer can learn from. This is not a book for the novice java programmer, but if you intend to carry out any serious project in the Java language, I would strongly recommend it. For example, one tip is "Always override HashCode when you override equals" saved me a *lot* of debugging, and paid for the book in seven words. While some of the material is obvious, I cannot think of any Java programmer who would not benefit from adding this book to his collection.
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Summary: Essential Reading
Review: An easy-to-read digest format (a la Scott Myers), but with enough depth to keep even the most advanced Java developers interested. I've been programming in Java for 5.5+ years (as of 6-Jul-2001) and have read 50+ Java books during that time. I can finally say that I've found "THE BEST" general purpose Java book for professional developers (Doug Lea's "Concurrent Programming in Java" is the best "narrow scope" Java book, about multi-threading). I like the "academic" style bibliographic references throughout the book, as well as the great examples taken from the Java APIs that developers are familiar with (instead of useless examples). A timeless work of art!
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Summary: A MUST for Java developers
Review: Joshua Bloch effectively conveys his insight and knowledge through his 50+ Items on design and programming in Java. This book is as great as Scott Meyers Effective C++.
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Summary: Must read for any would be Java Engineer
Review: In our book (Java Platform Performance) we admonish readers to start by writing clear, clean well encapsulated code. Josh's book will help you do just that. I rarely give 5 star reviews, but this book is an exception. Josh Bloch is one of the best Java architects I've ever had the pleasure to meet and I had high expectations for this book. Additionally, by borrowing the "Effective" title from "Effective C++" Josh set himself a high bar to pass. This effort meets and exceeds my expectations. Josh's writing is clear and persuasive and his suggestions are both deep and sensible. If you are a beginning Java programmer, this book may well save you having to unlearn bad habits later. But even if you consider yourself an expert Java programmer this book will likely change some of your habits-- it did mine.
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Summary: A Must Read For All Java Developers
Review: So you've been a Java Developer since Day One. Or you've just decided to become one. Either way this book is a must read. Object Oriented programming takes a certain skill and understanding, and Josh Bloch's book addresses a number of Java programming idioms that most people don't pay enough attention to. I know I've certainly violated a number of the rules or suggestions made in this book. The book is easy to read through, and can be used as a reference book as well as a learning guide. The top Java people around participated in its review, and if James Gosling stands up at a JavaOne keynote and recommends this book (which he did), that's enough to make me sit up and pay attention. Get it. Read it. Use it. You won't regret it.
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Summary: Best Java book I've read for a long time
Review: I don't find many programming books that make me want to read every page -- this is one of them. I consider myself a somewhat advanced Java developer, and as such, am familiar with the concepts in the book. Still, Bloch has a way of distilling and presenting the information that is invaluable. I'm certain that all Java developers will take a lot away from this book and I highly recommend it.
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Summary: You need this book!!
Review: Joshua Bloch has done more than adopt Scott Meyer's "Effective C++" format for his book. He's written a book that is every bit as valuable to Java programmers as Meyer's book is to C++ programmers. In the introduction, Bloch writes, "This book is not intended to be read from cover to cover." Maybe not, but every Java programmer should read every word at least once. This book addresses good Java/OO design, good programming practices, and even some performance optimizations. It is well written and includes examples of good and bad practices. The focus of the book is J2SE, minus the GUI packages. I guess he needed to save some topics for "More Effective Java."
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Summary: Simply Amazing
Review: I read the reviews on this book, but I did not think that it would be as good as everyone says. I was wrong. I develop java applications commercially and I thought that I could read up a bit to make sure that I was still using good habits and making the best code. I could not believe the insight that the author has. The books does not just tell you what to do, it explains when some things should be used and when to choose another route. In many cases he gives many possible ways to solve a problem and gives the pros and cons of each. His writing style is fun to read (for someone who loves programming) and very professional. When reading you can feel his experience and authority on java along with his in depth knowledge of this internal JDK structure and paradigms. I will never sell this book, it is too valuable. Take his advice and save the world from the code you may have written without his guidance.
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