Rating: 
Summary: Impressive
Review: Deitel & Deitel books are impressive. They are impressive in size and scope (not to mention weight). How can one describe a book that starts with "What is a computer?" and ends with a discussion of the Java Media Framework? The book is as complete as you would want in an introduction to Java. It is more than 1500 pages plus bonus chapters on the included CD. The book covers virtually everything in J2SE, gives a good primer on object oriented programming, and covers design patterns and UML. There's enough information in this book for two semesters of Java. Perhaps this is the problem with this book. All this scope, all this information is just too overwhelming. Trying to use this book to self-teach Java would probably be too much. This is the kind of book that needs a steady guiding hand to point out the important information. The book even starts out hard, throwing the reader right into Swing which is used throughout the book. But this book is good. Code examples are everywhere and they are very well explained. The publisher even uses multi-color syntax highlighting to make it easier to read the code. Virtually every line of code is explained. It is almost impossible to turn a page and not find either code samples or a diagram. If you are planning on teaching a Java course and you are looking for a textbook this is one book that would make a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for beginners
Review: I took a C++ class about a year ago along with a one-week Programming with Java class at Sun...(they expect me to learn Java in a week?!?!). Anyways, coming from a CIS point of view where programming isn't the main focus......this book made Java easy to learn. It thoroughly explains everything. It explained the core + more java things that sometimes teachers overlook. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Well above average
Review: I actually liked the style of this book. I don't like books that teach you syntax-only for the first several chapters. Java syntax isn't entirely new especially if you are a C/C++ programmer. I think introducing Swing from the beginning kept me interested. I've had it with books that use System.out.println() for most of the chapters and then expect you to digest Swing compressed in 1 or 2 chapters near the end of the book.
I didn't expect to be reading every single line in the book. I skip over what I already know. But the general flow of the book suits me.
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly organized, disappointing compare to other Deitel's
Review: I am a student and I bought this book for my first Java class. however, this book is really disappointing and didn't help me out at all except the examples are sometimes useful for my programs. It is also poorly organized and it's like the only way you can learn is to learn from the example code not the author's explanations.... Compare to the Deitels C++(not all Deitels books are good!!!), this is really not recommended and of course not worth the money
(what 75 bucks?!) I recommend reading the official sun java tutorial site. it's free and it's much more organized and informative.
Rating:
Summary: An easy way to learn Java programming
Review: I have been trying on and off for the last two and a half years to learn to programme in Java, I found this book in our local Ottakars and have been 'glued' to it ever since. The book is easy to follow and the concepts are clearly laid out. Hopefully I can keep the learning curve going to finish the book and try some projects of my own.!
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: I have been reading Deitel & Deitel series for some time. This book carries the Deitel & Deitel tradition of clear and get to the point of what you need in Java. The material is carefully chosen so it will not lose you. This is defintely the bible of programming. It is not a copying and pasting book. A++++ for Deitel & Deitel...!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor coding practices and poor coverage of advanced topics
Review: I am an experience java programmer and I have just completed teaching a university sponsored Intro to Java programming course where this book was used as the textbook. If I teach the class again I will not use this book.
1. Almost every coding example uses horrible coding practices
2. Obsolete and nearly-obsolete classes are discussed and used instead of the newer classes in the latest Java 2 SDK (which the book comes with).
3. The coverage of intermediate/advanced topics like Threads, I/O Streams, Collections and Multimedia is so bad its confusing or grossly incomplete. Granted basic Java concepts are covered OK, but once you get past chapter 13 just dump this thing in the garbage.
Rating:
Summary: Very good for learning to program Java. Bad for Reference.
Review: If you are buying a book you need to ensure you choose the appropriate one. This is not a Java reference book. This is not a learn java in 24 hours or 21 days type [thing]. If you are an experienced programmer, and want to learn Java, or have hacked around with Java and want to get a really good introduction to lots of the core aspects of java then this book is really good. The book teaches not just the syntax of Java instructions, it does more. It introduces the reader to OO style programming from a Java perspective. It encourages the reader to understand UML and the common notation used by OO designers. It also encourages readers to take advantage of experienced people by referring to Patterns. The bad. It is not a reference book. Don't buy this if you want to look up a snippet of code around a specific instruction or Java concept. There are better books for reference use. Overall this is an excellent book for learning to program with Java and doing so with an OO perspective and using common OO design notation. All the exercises run without bugs, and are meaningful for what they are trying to demonstrate.
Rating:
Summary: Good ... but where is JNDI?
Review: Very meaty ... which leaves me scratching my head on why they decided to leave out JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface - is it less important than Jiro or JCP? Other than that, it looks like a winner - more bang than the comparable Sun Core books (and more up-to-date). I am getting it with Kurniawan's "Java for the Web with Servlets, JSP, and EJB".
Rating:
Summary: The best book on java programming i have ever seen
Review: Sometimes It is painful to be a bigenner in this fast and rapidly changing world where you never look back. The people are always in such a hurry. Where we are so close though we have hundreds of thousands of distances between us. The behaviour of this world has made me ignore everyone...but i owe something to few. One of them is the author of this great book. I love it as i always love to have good base (foundation). This book is no doubt for beginners. But many of us who think to be at advanced level are even not beginners, only and only because they haven't read the book. Some people change the times when it is aweful to be a bigenner in this fast and .....I owe to Deitel.
| 
