Learning Java, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time or money
Review: Learning Java by Patrick Niemeyer & Jonathan Knudsen is one of the best Java books I've read. Most aspects of Java are covered chapter by chapter in chronological order. This is a good book for beginning programmers trying to learn Java or more experienced programmers learning a second language. Everything you need to write
Programs and run your code is included with the book. A complete version of J2SE SDK
1.4 is on the CD in the back of this book. I would certainly recommend Learning Java

to beginning as well as intermediate programmers.

Rating:
Summary: The best book to learn Java
Review: Review
It's usually a good sign of a book's popularity and usefulness when it goes into a second (or higher) edition. This is actually the fourth edition (title notwithstanding) of the book that started out as Exploring Java. The authors have done a good job in keeping the content current and relevant to how Java is being used in the real world.

The progression of information presented here is logical and laid out very well. You start with a quick tutorial that covers the obligatory Hello World application. From there, you get into the core Java language syntax followed by information on threads and strings. Chapter 10 and 11 wrap up the basic info by covering the core utilities (like collections) along with I/O features.

Chapters 12 through 14 move into more web-based application development using network programming, servlet, and web services concepts. Chapters 15 through 20 will cover what you need to know for designing graphical interfaces using AWT and Swing, while the rest of the book picks up a variety of other topics not covered earlier, like JavaBeans and XML.

A few things I really like about this book... They do not try to cover absolutely everything, thereby swamping the new developer with concepts they are not ready for. The idea is to cover the basics in such a way that you can competently start to use those features. From there, you can move on to other Java titles that explore specific areas in a more comprehensive manner. I like this approach in that you may not be looking to develop graphical interfaces. You may be more interested in servlet-style programming.

Another positive feature of this book is the de-emphasis on applet programming. For a long time, it seemed that Java and applets were synonymous with each other. All Java programming books had that as a main theme. Over time, the use of applets has diminished, and the authors have appropriately altered their text to place that in the right context.

For the typical Lotus Notes/Domino developer, this is a good source of information on learning Java. While you won't see information on how to manipulate the Domino Object Model, you will learn the core aspects of the language, which will enable you to start writing Domino agents in Java as well as LotusScript.

Conclusion
I think that everyone learning Java should have at least two basic "how to" books on their desk. You can compare information if one doesn't make sense. While this book doesn't have the off-beat approach of "Head First Java", it does a great job in covering all the information you need to know to become competent in Java. I would recommend you get a copy of this book if you are starting down the Java path.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, but knowledge of C/C++ is very essential.
Review: The first book I bought from O'reilly publications was "Programming Perl", by Larry Wall and I was very impressed with it. I not only learnt to program in Perl, but also used it as my only reference. So, I bought the book "Learning Java" from O'reilly, a couple of days ago. This book did not disappoint me. It is a great book for quickly learning Java. However, having experience in C/C++ is very essential to grasp the material in this book. (If you don't have any knowledge of C/C++ or don't know programming altogether, you may want to consider a book such as, "Object-oriented programming in Java", by Stephen Gilbert and Bill McCarty.) I have read through the first 4 chapters of "Learning Java", and I am impressed by the way the authors explained the concepts in a terse and lucid manner with short examples. (Well, I hate books that are too verbose and repetitive.) I am giving this 4 stars, for now, but if the said style continues for the rest of the book, I will come back and give it 5 stars.

In short, I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn Java, and has experience in C/C++.

Rating:
Summary: NOT A Learning Book
Review: This book would have been better had it not included "Learning" in the title. This is not a book for learning how to program in Java. Instead, this book plays a lot more like an overview of core concepts in Java for practicing programmers. This book would probably have been better suited in the "Nutshell" series, but even as a reference, it's a rather weak text because it keeps pretending to be instructional. This book is pointless.

This book is absolutely not for novice programmers. You have to have some experience with the C/C++ language and OOP concepts to really get the meat of this book.

This book does include a *few* things that are nice for novices to know, but it's nothing you won't find in any other book on the topic.