Rating: 
Summary: It's like drinking water from a fire hose
Review: This book covers a lot of ground, moves through topics quickly, and it's not always easy to absorb. There is no review at the end of the chapters and no exercises to reinforce learning. I noticed that many reviewers here are instructors (not students) and can't see this book from a learner's viewpoint. I'm taking a Java class through a local community college to enhance/upgrade my skills and this book is the instructor's choice.It's best geared for programmers transitioning from C++. I am not one of those people. I have experience in other languages, so I'm not completely new to programming concepts. In the class, we're on Chapter 5 (Inheritance) and our instructor has told us to jump ahead to Chapter 11 (exceptions and debugging). This should have logically been placed earlier in the book. I also can't understand why a chapter on inheritance includes sections on Generic Programming, Array Lists, and Object Wrappers. The transition from inheritance to these other topics is not clear to me. If these items have anything to do with Inheritance, the writers certainly have not presented evidence to support this. There are some good code examples to follow. I'm finding these to be the greatest benefit in trying to understand very specific features of the language. Why didn't the publisher put these examples on CD?? I am grateful that comparisons between C++ and Java are separated from the main text and put in boxes. Those of us who aren't C++ gurus can easily skip these sections. Once I'm finished with this class, I will follow up with another book, such as "Thinking in Java". Hopefully I can find another resource that is better geared for those without an OO background. I feel that this book will *eventually* be a good reference book in my library, but that won't happen in the near future.
Rating: 
Summary: Lean, mean and right on the money!
Review: This book rules! It is lean, terse (but all the more readable for the economy of words that are directed (and funny at times) rather than self-aggrandising verbosity) but is is focused right at that which you need to know. These guys just dish it up: it's like ok, here's what you need to know, and here's how it works...and have a fully functional program to see it in practice and in context. This is without question a highly usable and worthy book. It might be a little too fast for the complete novice, but anybody with some programming should be okay. These guys will guide you and feed you bite sized peices that are relevant and succinct. If you like bloat and prattle...don't buy this book. You need a story book. This is for see the hill- take the hill kind of people who don't have time to wade through pages of drivel. But of course, you still have to earn it: you needs some brains! Covers the basics and should put you in good stead for the the next onslaught: Core Java 2 - Advanced!
Rating:
Summary: The best programming book I've ever read
Review: This is by far the best programming book that I've ever read, it's perfect to beginners and advanced programmers. Core Java volume I and II together teach almost every aspect of the language with a clear syntax and good examples. I'm sure this book will give you the solid base needed to program on such a wonderful language. Cay, thanks for writing such an incredible book and I blame you for making me feel so frustrated when reading other programming books and wondering why they can't be like Core Java :).
Rating:
Summary: Java Book for Experienced Programmer
Review: This is one of the best Java books for experienced programmers. I have bought several editions. The current edition not as thick as the last one, so I can carry it around much easier. It also covers the object oriented language design philosophy very well in a concise way. Definitely should be a book next to every Java programmer.
Rating: 
Summary: Seventh Edition - little change
Review: This is the seventh edition of this book and in some ways it hasn't changed much since the first edition. The first edition was aimed at C++ programmers who were looking to transition to the new language. The seventh edition is still fast-paced and detailed and aimed for the experienced programmer. This is not an easy-to-follow tutorial for the beginner programmer. The authors assume that you already know the basics of programming even if it isn't with an object oriented language. The book might make a fairly good college textbook but not as a first language.
The book covers the main areas that you would expect in an introductory Java book with a few surprises. The book gives a little bit of the history of Java and shows how to install and run Java from the console and Eclipse (but not NetBeans). There is an early introduction to reflection but exception handling isn't covered until well into the book. Swing is covered in a fair level of depth. J2SE 5.0 changes are covered throughout the book with the many examples written to show off the new additions to the language. Threading and Collections are not covered but rather are saved for volume two.
Overall this is a well written book but the target audience is getting small. How many C++ programmers can be left that don't already know Java? If you are looking for an introductory tutorial then this book may be a bit too advanced. Through seven editions, Core Java has changed little other than to reflect language changes. Perhaps it's time to rethink the franchise.
Rating:
Summary: Incremental changes
Review: [A review of the 7th EDITION.]
This is the 7th edition of this long running, successful book. Does this make you pause? There has been roughly one edition per year. Over 7 years of Java, already?! Seems like yesterday when Java burst on the scence.
The current edition is fully caught up with J2SE 5.0 (aka Java 1.5). The cover warns, quite accurately, that this volume is best suited for experienced programmers. Now if you're already comfortable with programming in Java 1.4 or 1.3, then the delta between those versions and this is not so great. Presumably and hopefully, you're already facile in object oriented programming with Java, and with graphics programming using AWT and Swing. If so, the new items in 1.5 should interest you. There has been no fundamental reworking of OO in 1.5. Which is the key thing. So for most of the chapters, you will have easy going. You can skim those, looking for what interests you.
As for the new items in 1.5, varargs should be an old friend to C programmers. While autoboxing is a simple idea that can reduce clutter in some of your source code. While improved Unicode support helps if your application is to deploy globally.
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