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Summary: Updated review
Review: --
addendum 07/2004 - I used this book until it fell apart on me (not the first O'Reilly book to have done that, BTW). This is the source I reach for first when tackling a new problem. I eagerly await the second edition, apparently coming soon.
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addendum 09/2003- you know, I've had this book for a while now and while the java.sun tutorials are OK, there are times when you need just a basic little client to do something and I keep coming back to this book and its code. I don't use his packages but I do use his Q&D examples for things I don't use a lot like JNDI and Native Code.To run with the cookbook metaphor, this book is full of recipes for ten-minute soup while Sun's site is more like "First the seed is planted, then cellular mitosis expresses genetic characteristics...let's stop to look at the details of nucleotides, shall we?" -- My original review was great for beginners but quickly trips over itself. Darwin writes classes to help the beginner, which is nice for running his examples but not much else. The examples are nice but java.sun.com has better and more recent stuff. Not badly written, not a terrible book but I can't recommend it due to the evolution of high quality tutorials and examples on the Javasoft web site.
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Summary: Good, but a CD would be better...
Review: ...since this sort of book exists largely that we might uh "borrow" code from it.
Rating:
Summary: Updated review
Review: addendum 09/2003- you know, I've had this book for a while now and while the java.sun tutorials are OK, there are times when you need just a basic little client to do something and I keep coming back to this book and its code. I don't use his packages but I do use his Q&D examples for things I don't use a lot like JNDI and Native Code. To run with the cookbook metaphor, this book is full of recipes for ten-minute soup while Sun's site is more like "First the seed is planted, then cellular mitosis expresses genetic characteristics...let's stop to look at the details of nucleotides, shall we?" My original review was great for beginners but quickly trips over itself. Darwin writes classes to help the beginner, which is nice for running his examples but not much else. The examples are nice but java.sun.com has better and more recent stuff. Not badly written, not a terrible book but I can't recommend it due to the evolution of high quality tutorials and examples on the Javasoft web site.
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Summary: Great source for how to code specific situations
Review: Anyone who has been involved in programming very long soon comes to realize the value of the various programming cookbooks. The cookbooks are not for the person who wants to learn how to program in a particular language, but are very useful for programmers with a basic knowledge of the language. The idea is simple, take the most common problems people deal with and put the solutions into a book. Simply state the problem and then show the code to resolve it. So, if you need to know how to do something you can look it up, enter the code, and test it.
Some of the chapter subjects include Interacting with the Environment, Strings and Things, Pattern Matching, Numbers, Dates and Times, Object-Oriented Techniques, Directory and Filesystem Operations, Graphics and Sound, Network Clients, Server-Side Java, Database Access, XML, and Threaded Java. Typical of any of the programming cookbooks, it is a quick and easy source for answers. Each item has a short explanation of the problem and then goes straight to the code to demonstrate how it works. A great time saver and required resource for Java programmers, Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition is highly recommended.
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Summary: Good resource
Review: Darwin's book is well organized and I like his approach: clearly state a problem, describe a solution, explain the code written, and then, of course, there's the code itself or 'recipe' (sometimes more than one approach is given). At the end of a recipe he cross-references other recipes to look at and/or recommends other resources. Darwin says his book is geared for people who already know the basics. This is true; these recipes are solutions for real-world problems. Still...I think this would be a great book to have while studying a basic Java text to cement the basics and see the correct way to solve problems with Java. If you're still unsure, ... P>I know this book will be within reach when in code in Java.
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Summary: Can someone pass the butter...
Review: Definately replaces my "Java in a Nutshell" and the "Java Almanac" for quick and easy references/solutions to common problems. Great for those type of situations you don't find yourself in everyday and need a push in the right direction for a fix. I loved the authors courses (I took 3) and I may be a bit biased in my opinon of his book, but, it written exactly as if he's in the room talking to you in simple plain english. Just like in a classroom environment. The explanations are straight forward and to the point with multiple explanations and examples for why he does things the way he does.
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Summary: Perfect book for intermediate Java programmers
Review: First let me say, if you don't know anything about Java this book is probably not your best choice to learn the language (I would recommend O'Reilly's Learning Java for that) as it assumes some standard Java knowledge. However, if you already know the basics of Java and just want to learn how you can harness some of the more complicated and detailed aspects of the language, this book is excellent. The recipe style allows the reader to see clear, concise examples of how to delve into the Java API and learn from seeing and doing rather than just reading. During the course of reading the Java Cookbook, I have found myself commenting on how cool it is to learn these little tidbits that are sprinkled throughout the book, whether the tidbit is related to a topic which I was already familiar with or it relates to a topic that I was unfamiliar, this book has consistently taught me more than all of the other Java books that I've ever read combined. In conclusion, if you want to improve your Java knowledge, get this book!!
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Summary: The most useful java book of them all
Review: Gives code on how to do just about everything. for example why read a 300+ page book on java and xml, when I can learn how to write the same classes in 20 pages. Not much more to say, get the book.
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Summary: Great book for the right audience.
Review: Having owned (and read) a separate (mostly O'Reilly or Sun) book on almost every subject covered here, I didn't find almost anything new or exciting. This is not to say that the book is not good, but just to emphasize one more time that the intended audience have to be taken into consideration. I think this is a great learning book for intermediate Java programmers who already tried writing some Java programs, but don't have much practical experience yet. Beginners may not realize "why" these topics are picked for coverage and what are the important points of each example. Yet reading this book may help "prepare the soil" for reading other, special-topic books and source code. Experienced developers may not find anything eye-opening, as most of what is described in this book they have already learned, usually the hard way. Nevertheless, this book can be used as a good reference book, replacing a whole set of special-topic Java books. This book provides a good collection of advice about programming problems that occur most often during Java development. Explanations are mostly brief but clear. Code examples are very good. Writing style is clear, just enough humor to keep a reader from falling to sleep. Author's dislike for Windows is made a little too apparent throughout the book and is slightly annoying, but doesn't spoil the overall picture. To summ things up: a good buy, but you need to understand your needs/expecations.
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Summary: if you loved The Perl Cookbook, try this one for Java
Review: I absolutely am a fan of the cookbook format! Thank you O'Reilly for bringing me another book in this format. I bought the Perl Cookbook when it first came out. I felt a little disloyal admitting it at the time, but a lot of the stuff in the Camel book went over my head or was just too hard to find. The Perl Cookbook was the answer to all my problems. I think this is because there are three basic types of computer books: reference, tutorial, and example-driven. Of course, most books present elements of all three types. I learn best from examples, but unfortunately a lot of the example-type books are poorly written and too disorganized, or are out of date 3 minutes after you buy them. Now there's the Java Cookbook. What a great book! I love it. It's easy to find all the answers, and the examples are good. Thank you O'Reilly!
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