Rating: 
Summary: Thoughts
Review: I was sort of suckered into buying this book - because it was for a course on introductory Java programming. First some short introductor details:Unfortunately, what the administration didn't realize is that most of us have very little programming experience. The instructor is a very advanced Java programmer, but a bad teacher. Furthermore our class is taught via distance learning. The instructor never answers emails, etc. It is impossible to learn programming for beginners with this book. The book states that it is a book for people who already know how to program and that statement should be taken literally. Having said that the cover and pages are attractive and it is a nice book as far as books go (binding, etc). But do NOT try to learn Java, without having prior programming experience, from this book. It absolutedly will not work. Objectively it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to give this book only 3 stars (that is, simply because I didn't understand it). I also do not like the author's writing style. I admit it is a personal distaste, and I have nothing against the author, who I have never met. I did like the chapters on JDBC and Java Beans. I don't like that the author uses very few examples of real Java code to illustrate his points. More illustrations and examples/screen shots, etc. would have been valuable for me. Despite all of the above, if one was an experienced programmer in another programming language, this book might be just what you need to get up to speed on Java, I don't know. For my money I would go with Java: An introduction to computer science and programming by Walter Savitch. Great introductory book!
Rating: 
Summary: Just Awfull
Review: I wonder where exactly this book begins since it looks more like a stand up (another Jerry Seinfeld on the computer books market) and a relentless blabber than tutorial. Not for the beginners nor for experienced. After reading Marty Hall's "Core Web Programming" where I found 25 pages of blabber without substance I thought that was a record. Not so, this guy beats everybody. This book goes to garbage together with Holzer's "Learn Java Now."
Rating: 
Summary: My Java programming companion
Review: I've bought 4th edition ob it and 5th, too, because it's easy to read and explain a lot of important programming tips with straightforward words. I'm not a beginner for Java programming, but I still feel this book is useful. We tend to fall into programming syntax and specification pitfalls... this book shows how to solve them! Sometime I refer oher Java books like "Practical Java" or "The java programming language", but mostly, I can find what I want to know in "Jast Java", with simple code examples. 5th ed. has lots of update and additing new topicsfrom 4th! that's why I bought 5th, too.
Rating: 
Summary: OK as a language overview, NO value as a reference
Review: If you are looking for a book to provide an introduction to the Java language and you have no specific programming goals then this book will serve your purpose. Once you begin to create software and move past creating basic class instances and try to make them do what you want, this book is no help.
Rating:
Summary: Learn Java from this great book
Review: If you know what a "for loop" is in any programming language, you can learn Java from this great book. If you don't know what a "for loop" is, you'll find this text a "hard slog". This isn't a book for *programming* novices.
It's a book for *Java* novices.
Rating:
Summary: JUST the information you need
Review: If you've been programming for a while, and want a book that'll cut through some of the basics without forgetting to tell you what object oriented programming is about, how to use it, and most importantly why to use it, this book will be a worthy investment. Covers everything you'll need to know. When you get really advanced, move on to Core Java, 2nd Edition
Rating:
Summary: Good book, it covers lots of things
Review: In general, this is a good book. Other people who commented have said that it's not a beginners book. Of course not. If you need to be tought the if/the/else and while/for instructions, there are other books for that. Now back to this book: Mr. Van Der Linden trashes other programming languages, specially C++, very often. He could have compared other languages to Java in a professional and technical manner but he prefered to trash them instead. Eg, he finds Java a better language than C++ because Java does not have an explicit destructor. I still don't understand his point of Java being a better language because of that. He also uses terminologies that are sometimes incorrect in the context of the discussion. Other than that, this book is one of the better Java books and covers a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, concise, well coordinated Java Presentation
Review: Mastery of a new language like JAVA under the constraints of "Internet Time" can be a daunting excercise. This book was an invaluble resource to have while learning and mastering the Java language. Compared to other books that my peers are using, this is an exceptionally well organized and practical book. For example, time and again when a question arose in a group of JAVA neophytes like " how is a Java Interface different from a Java sub-class" this book, with its useful index and thorough presentation, was invarible the reference of choice. Regarding the coverage of topics required for Java Certification testing, this book has almost all the study areas covered. For users disposed to an on-line approach, the CD contents installed cleanly and provided a speedy, hands-on introduction to Java development and to the JDK 1.02 environment.
More experienced developers may opt for native tools available on the WEB (Sun JDK and generic source editors like WinEdit).
My only criticism of the book might be that it implicitly presents some of the object oriented material in a dialect of and for a C, C++ audience. I felt certain sections would benefit from a Smalltalk like approach to the concept.
Rating: 
Summary: Still good but has PvdL lost some of his edge?
Review: Maybe I'm guilty of holding van der Linden to a higher standard than most authors. After all, I consider "Deep C Secrets" to be one of the five best programming books of all time. Furthemore, since I have the first edition of "Just Java" and enjoyed it completely, I was hoping for more in the 5th edition. In my opinion, some of the "fire has gone out of his belly" in this edition. In the earlier volume, PvdL was an unabased Java advocate and his out-and-out thrill for the language contributed to the passionate style throughout that made reading the technical material a joy. Perhaps because Java didn't live up to expectations on the client side, he's taken a far more subdued tone. The technical detail is still there (and the humor at end of each chapter is still delightful). But this 5th edition leaves the impression that van der Linden was less than enthused about writing another edition. Also troubling is the Windows-centricity in this edition. Virtually all of the screenshots are shown using Java on Windows and much of the text presumes that is the environment the user has (unlike the earlier edition). Maybe van der Linden is getting pressured by his publisher to tone it down a bit and become more Windows-oriented...from "Sun Microsystems Press". (?) Still, it doesn't seem like the Peter van der Linden of a few years ago actually penned this version.
Rating:
Summary: Great For Intermediate Level But Not For Beginners
Review: OK, for starters I am not a professional programmer. I do know the rudiments of a few programming languages (VB, C++, Java, Tcl, Linux Shell Script, JavaScript, etc.) and enjoy writing automated test scripts at work. I also like the process of learning new languages and writing short programs with them in my spare time. "Just Java 2" is a great read and one of my favorite programming books (and I have stacks of them, some good, some bad, many so-so). However, if you are completely new to programming "Just Java 2" is (probably) not the book for you. Instead, get a beginner level book (or two) on learning Java and programming basics and work your way through them. Then, when you know the basics, sit down with "Just Java 2" in a bookstore and re-read Peter Van Der Linden's explanations of a few of the subjects that your beginner-level Java programming books tried to teach you ...especially subjects that you "kind of know" but wish you understood better. Chances are that this book's short yet lucid explanations will periodically set off little light bulbs of sudden understanding over your head and bring new clarity to your grasp of the Java language. It did for me. I think this is a great intermediate level Java text and a clearly understandable introduction to more advanced subjects like the JDBC, Servlets and Java Beans. As for other Java books, we all have our own learning styles and likes/dislikes but here's some of what I've found in my quest to teach myself Java. 1) I have personally found many of the O'Reilly books (on a range of subjects, not only Java) to be unsatisfyingly terse. 2) Ivor Horton's "Beginning Java 2" provides a lot of detail but in a long-winded, scattershot, myopic, stream-of-consciousness style that make it difficult to separate key kernels of knowledge from what amounts to background noise. In other words, the cloudy writing, apparent lack of coherent editing and poor formatting (e.g many unlabelled tables) tended to confuse me as much as educate me and turned attempts to later go back and locate and quickly reread key topics into long "Where's Waldo"-like wadings through "deep text". 3) Dietel & Dietel's "Java: How To Program" at the outset offers the Java novice clear and explicit line by line explanations of sample Java programs. However, about half way through the book that style really bogs way down in wordy detail and becomes tiresome as topics become more advanced. Still, it's not a bad book for an absolute beginner. Anyway, that's my two cents.
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