Rating: 
Summary: "A Reader" is wrong
Review: "A reader" from Philadelphia, PA United States wrote:>First off, does it have to be so fat? I don't think so.
>I am tired of the bloated technical books. Our time is too
>valuable. I tried Java In A Nutshell, but that is better
>as a reference book. >Second, the examples are bad and explanations are horrible
> Blah Blah Blah Do you work for Microsoft? Did you read the same book as the rest of us? Enquiring minds want to know!
Rating:
Summary: No, they don't dislike Java
Review: Another reviewer stated: "Somehow you get the impression that they don't really like Java." It's not a case of them not liking Java. It's that they realize
that Java is a good language, but it is better suited for some
tasks than others. They realize that every language has it's
pluses and minuses, and that Java is no different. They are not afraid to say, "Java is great for this, but it
isn't great for that". OR "Java implemented this right, but
they didn't do as good of a job implementing this other
feature". They are not Java cheerleaders who gloss over the
bad points and only push the good points. They are just being
realistic. Personally, I like their style and I like this book.
It's a great, well thought out book.
Rating: 
Summary: I want my time back
Review: Anyone who thinks this book is ideal for a beginning student better think again. My school inflicted this book upon my class and I and it caused most of the class to give up on Java for VB! Maybe this book is good for people who are intermediate or advanced. I wasted months pouring over this book when I could have bought Just Java or some other beginner book and gotten it right away. I don't think this book will make a good reference later either as there are no clear, simple exampes in it for later use. So all in all this book did nothing for me but waste my time.
Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction
Review: Being a Java programmer, I would definitely recommend this book. It gives enough info to get you on your way but doesn't drown you in details or useless babble. Often times the authors give you enough info to start on an excercise but expect you to do a little research on your own to complete it. There's a nice intro into more in-depth topics such as Swing, Corba, and JDBC. These topics, being as broad as they are, aren't included in this book. (With the exception of basic Swing.) They are discussed in vol 2. Overall, a good reference for beginners. And judging from the number of copies I see in cubicles throughout this company, I can see others agree.
Rating:
Summary: Good book if you have the time to read!
Review: besides the fact that this book is bulky and that you also have to buy volume II to learn the advance features, i would say this is a good book for a beginner. All the topics are covered in detail, with good examples. if you can find the time to go through the entire book, than you should not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: One Book Is All You Need!
Review: Definitely the best Java book in the market place. It lacks good example on Java Applets but does cover Swing well. Read the Java 2 Advanced book to get many topics including XML. I have taught "Java" and "Advanced Java" classes in six companies in New York area to 300+ people since 1997. These two Java books can get anyone started from Ground Zero! No prior programming experience is needed.
Rating: 
Summary: Must have for Java developers
Review: Don't listen to the goof from PA, the 'Core' series are great books, the examples are excellent as well. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Great book.... Clearly defines complicated concepts
Review: First of all, this book covers how to install the JDK1.3 and goes on to tell how to set up your path and CLASSPATH. That is something that a lot of other java books fail to discuss in detail. The chapter on Interfaces and Inner Classes really gave me a new perspective on their potential. It explains when and how inner classes should be used. I never used inner classes before because of the fact that they aren't reuseable, but that is the whole point of an inner class. It also goes on to explain the complex subjects of reflection and cloning in great detail. This book is one of the best I have read and I have read a few java books. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to get a quick start in the java language and explore some of the more advanced techniques that the expert programmers use.
Rating:
Summary: Just Written Poorly
Review: First off, does it have to be so fat? I don't think so. I am tired of the bloated technical books. Our time is too valuable. I tried Java In A Nutshell, but that is better as a reference book. Second, the examples are bad and explanations are horrible. Note how the authors explain how local anonymous inner classes should be avoided and then use them in every example afterwards. Notice how OO principles are disregarded in the first big example. Notice how the chapter on inheritance talks extensively about reflectivity which has only tangential bearing. Also, there is a lot of "This doesn't work here, but don't worry about that now" and "I know we didn't bring this up yet, but you will see this 5 chapters on". It's called forethought - try it! Third, too much time spent on GUI topics. This takes up nearly half the book. I have to buy the equally bloated Volume 2 to learn enterprise programming. Forth, no diagrams. Perhaps a sprinkling of UML would help understand what is going on. Fifth, the authors do not concentrate on the basics. The authors rather give you some code so you can say "Look what I can do!". In a book so large, I would expect to gather a sound understanding of how everything fits together. Where are the examples of Linked Lists, Stacks, and Queues? Juxtapose this with a typical C++ book. Sixth, there should be a reference to programming style. Instead I have to get the official short document from Sun's site. I expected a lot more from a book from Sun.
Rating: 
Summary: Mostly Good... But Lacking in some Areas
Review: For the most part, the key concepts are covered but other books are more effective in providing depth of the ideas. Chapter 12: File Streams is an example of this. Although the examples are very well done, I didn't find some very helpful in demonstrating the point of the lesson. More organization could have been used in the chapter on GUIs. These chapters could have been simplified greatly. I have found this to be a good reference book as it has many good ideas and covers a wide variety of concepts, however, there are better books on the market for learning Java.
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