Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and thorough introduction
Review: I am a Java instructor, and I can tell you - I spent a LOT of time looking for a decent introductory book to Java that didn't assume the reader (a) already knew C++, (b) was an idiot, or (c) was clairvoyant. This is simply the best and most thorough introduction to the Java programming language I've found, with practical examples, and intriguing commentary on what is good and bad about the Java language. Easy to read. The best book to get you started.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I have ever got on Java
Review: I am new to Java. My nature of learning something new is not to skip anything. I always read line by line, without ignoring anything. I know this process of learning is slow, but, I can say "What I know is I really know" .I have bought a lot of books on java and started reading them but for almost each book I dicovered that before I reached to the 100th page, I lost the interest. But this is the only book for which I felt completely different. I have completed more than 200 pages in a week, It made me feel like, I am going to be the most confident java programmer in the universe. I am still reading this book (almost half done) and I still think that this is the best Java book ever published. If you want to learn java thoroughly, then I think this would be a wonderful selection. But do not rely on me completely, read other reviews and then get the idea by yourself.
Rating:
Summary: For serious developers -- Not a recipe book
Review: I bought this book while in college as a supplement to my course textbook and years later while working in the industry I find it an invaluable reference. Highly recommend!
Rating:
Summary: The Java Bible
Review: I call my Core Java 2 book, The Java Bible, and recommend it as one of the best introductions to the language. Although I have found other books on the subject are more concise, I appreciate the verbosity - expecially when using concepts that I have not used for a while. I also find the examples to be rock solid.
Rating:
Summary: Best Java Book out there bar none
Review: I have plenty of JAVA books and I use this and vol 2 so much more than all my other ones combined. The explanations, examples, coverage of topics are great. I initially was pointed to this book by a professor in a graduate beginning JAVA class. Everyone in my class liked the book. The books have so much depth that I find I still learn from it even two years latter. In my opinion it is a must have for any JAVA programmer.
Rating:
Summary: Best Java Book out there bar none
Review: I have plenty of JAVA books and I use this and vol 2 so much more than all my other ones combined. The explanations, examples, coverage of topics are great. I initially was pointed to this book by a professor in a graduate beginning JAVA class. Everyone in my class liked the book. The books have so much depth that I find I still learn from it even two years latter. In my opinion it is a must have for any JAVA programmer.
Rating:
Summary: SOLID & ELEGANT
Review: I have read and browsed through quite some Java books and I found this one particularly impressive. The style is a bit academic but very clear, concise but understandable. It just makes you feel that the authors should relax a bit, their only defect is they fail to convey the idea that Java is a beautiful language and programming can be fun.(Somehow you get the imprssion that they don't really like Java..). Anyways the material presented is great, the examples are solid but simple enough for you not get lost, and it is full of interesting complex points like reflection and inner classes that get finally explained in a clear and non pretentious way. It also has a lot of examples on Swing components, applets and file I/O. The second volume seems to be even better! This is one of the TWO best Java book. The other one is Beginning Java Programming by Ivor Horton. Buy Core Java if your priority is on style. Buy Ivor's book for a more pleasurable and more "tutorial-like" (but still solid) experience. If possible, buy them both!
Rating:
Summary: best book for java
Review: I have read more than 10 books on Java . This is the best book i have read on java
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I learned JAVA with the 2 CORE JAVA books (1 & 2) The reader form PA who rated it a 1 star book is nuts. >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. Its comprehensive, well written, full of examples, and actually FUN to read. Very rare for a technical work. >Second, the examples are bad and explanations are horrible. No the examples are comprehensive and excellent. Very helpful for some of the Swing/AWT classes. >Note how the authors explain how local anonymous inner classes should be avoided and then use them in every example afterwards. In general Anonymous inner classes should be avoided, but small ones are ok, and the authors give an example. If you dont want to make the class anonymos then dont. Its just an example, and they explain all you need. >Notice how OO principles are disregarded in the first big example. No I didnt notice, they do an excellent job explaining OO principles. > 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! No its called complesity. Rather than assuming the readers have extensive OO experience they provide some background. To throw in everything would be too complex at the start. >Third, too much time spent on GUI topics. I disagree. Its an important subject and complex. To spend less time would be worthless. I found the GUI coverage to be good, and bought the 4 volume set to get complete coverage. >This takes up nearly half the book. I have to buy the equally bloated Volume 2 to learn enterprise programming. The combined books are 1500 pages. GUI takes up a chunk, several hundered pages. Skip it if you dont care. >Forth, no diagrams. Perhaps a sprinkling of UML would help understand what is going on. I had no problem understanting what was going on. Well written, lots of examples, and screen shots. Far more useful than some diagrams. Not everyone knows UML either. Spend a few minutes reading the code examples and its easy to follow. >Fifth, the authors do not concentrate on the basics. Sure they do. After reading the book I had an indepth understanding of many aspects of Java. They cover all the Basics, but in depth. > 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? They cant give examples of everything, use some of the classes they give you, don't reinvent the wheel. Look at Suns website for examples of code. >Juxtapose this with a typical C++ book. This is more interesting and fun. >Sixth, there should be a reference to programming style. Just observe how the authors code. The book cant cover everything. They do explain about writing good code. The dont mention indenting with spaces rather than tabs, who cares. >Instead I have to get the official short document from Sun's site. An excellent source. >I expected a lot more from a book from Sun. This guy must work for Microsoft. Its one of the best technical books Ive read. Anything I need to do is covered.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I learned JAVA with the 2 CORE JAVA books (1 & 2) The reader form PA who rated it a 1 star book is nuts. >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. Its comprehensive, well written, full of examples, and actually FUN to read. Very rare for a technical work. >Second, the examples are bad and explanations are horrible. No the examples are comprehensive and excellent. Very helpful for some of the Swing/AWT classes. >Note how the authors explain how local anonymous inner classes should be avoided and then use them in every example afterwards. In general Anonymous inner classes should be avoided, but small ones are ok, and the authors give an example. If you dont want to make the class anonymos then dont. Its just an example, and they explain all you need. >Notice how OO principles are disregarded in the first big example. No I didnt notice, they do an excellent job explaining OO principles. > 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! No its called complesity. Rather than assuming the readers have extensive OO experience they provide some background. To throw in everything would be too complex at the start. >Third, too much time spent on GUI topics. I disagree. Its an important subject and complex. To spend less time would be worthless. I found the GUI coverage to be good, and bought the 4 volume set to get complete coverage. >This takes up nearly half the book. I have to buy the equally bloated Volume 2 to learn enterprise programming. The combined books are 1500 pages. GUI takes up a chunk, several hundered pages. Skip it if you dont care. >Forth, no diagrams. Perhaps a sprinkling of UML would help understand what is going on. I had no problem understanting what was going on. Well written, lots of examples, and screen shots. Far more useful than some diagrams. Not everyone knows UML either. Spend a few minutes reading the code examples and its easy to follow. >Fifth, the authors do not concentrate on the basics. Sure they do. After reading the book I had an indepth understanding of many aspects of Java. They cover all the Basics, but in depth. > 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? They cant give examples of everything, use some of the classes they give you, don't reinvent the wheel. Look at Suns website for examples of code. >Juxtapose this with a typical C++ book. This is more interesting and fun. >Sixth, there should be a reference to programming style. Just observe how the authors code. The book cant cover everything. They do explain about writing good code. The dont mention indenting with spaces rather than tabs, who cares. >Instead I have to get the official short document from Sun's site. An excellent source. >I expected a lot more from a book from Sun. This guy must work for Microsoft. Its one of the best technical books Ive read. Anything I need to do is covered.
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