Rating: 
Summary: A very good book
Review: I am a c++ programmer that was suddenly given a very large java assignment out of the blue. I saw this book on sale for $5 at the local borders and am very glad that I bought it.The book uses a running dialog between a novice programmer and you(an experienced programmer) as the start of each section. While it is kind of corny, it does work out well. I didn't bother with the first couple of chapters as they cover basic programming, but instead I went striaght to the AWT and Swing sections. Each chapter covered it's stated area well enough that I could start working after looking over the code examples and skimming the text. When the auther modifies previous code, it is highlighted which makes life a lot easier. The book is over 1100 pages and includes two bonus chaperts on the companion cdrom. All in all, this is a great book for someone who is new to java.
Rating:
Summary: A very good book
Review: I am a c++ programmer that was suddenly given a very large java assignment out of the blue. I saw this book on sale for $5 at the local borders and am very glad that I bought it. The book uses a running dialog between a novice programmer and you(an experienced programmer) as the start of each section. While it is kind of corny, it does work out well. I didn't bother with the first couple of chapters as they cover basic programming, but instead I went striaght to the AWT and Swing sections. Each chapter covered it's stated area well enough that I could start working after looking over the code examples and skimming the text. When the auther modifies previous code, it is highlighted which makes life a lot easier. The book is over 1100 pages and includes two bonus chaperts on the companion cdrom. All in all, this is a great book for someone who is new to java.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for beginners!!
Review: I found the book excellent for beginners. Also, the JFC Swing part was very useful.
Rating:
Summary: Java 2 Black Book
Review: I have only one basis for comparison for this book, but what I do know is that it is easy to read and comprehend, and written for people who have or haven't had experience with Java programming before. I compared its ease-of-reading to Sun Microsystems' Course Technology "Java Programming" book by Joyce Farrell, which assumes too much knowledge from its readers and is much less referencable. This book is a great way to get started learning Java 2 as well as learn how to solve advanced programming problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of info inefficiently organized and explained
Review: I have to agree with a reviewer of the earlier edition. The author uses a construct in which he simulates an artificially easy problem posed by "the boss" that's solved by "the novice programmer" at the beginning of every chapter. The conceit becomes annoying VERY quickly. I've learned programming for: * Macintosh Toolbox in Pascal
* Macintosh Toolbox in straight C and C++
* native Windows API in straight C
* Borland's Object Windows Library for Windows in C++
* web programming with HTML and CGI and am now trying to master Java's approach to GUIs. This book does a fairly mediocre job of explaining the mechanics of a basic GUI program with a simple window frame, menu bar, pull-down menus, and the ability to display a simple dialog box on top of the application frame. Instead, you get program examples of one component in a vacuum which fails to fully explain how the example overrides the basic class to provide the function being explained. It just "works." If you haven't written for other GUI APIs to know the real concepts (window managers, outer event loops, dialog event loops, etc.) you'll be LOST trying to understand the concepts with these examples. As a side note, I wish more technical writers would dig up copies of the original Inside Macintosh series (I thru VI) before formulating the structure and narrative tone of a technical reference like this. Those volumes did an EXCELLENT job of concisely explaining the user interface guidelines the GUI API was designed to address and the complete functionality provided by each API subroutine without being cute or wasting your time while you're trying to learn or use it as a reference. For those starting out, I would suggest making sure you download and install the Java Language Reference in HTML format on the PC you will be programming on so you can have that window open at all times to look for classes and methods without thumbing through something that will require more searching when you need very specific info. This book is probably better than most of the print volumes available on Java but in hindsight, I rely more on the "on-line" HTML reference info you can get from the Sun web site with the SDK. One very positive note. The CD-ROM bundled with the book contains a VERY good integrated editor & project management tool called JCreator. You still need to install the Java SDK but JCreator makes it easier to group code files together in a project, quickly find subroutines within a file, etc. All the things you might be used to in something like Visual C/C++.
Rating:
Summary: Help
Review: i NEEED the email of
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Rating:
Summary: Java 2 Black Book
Review: I would have given this book five stars, if it hadn't been for the fact that I had difficulty setting up the software that the author had me download from Sun Microsystems. In this task the author provided little detail. Another factor preventing me from assigning five stars is the fact that the book lacks any practical exercises for the beginner to train himself or herself in coding and designing. Other than those two deficiencies the book is a very good coverage on Java. I recommend it for purchase for the patient programmer of any other language.
Rating:
Summary: BEST JAVA BOOK ON EARTH!!!!
Review: It has everything that you need to know in Java.. Great for beginners to experts.. has lots of code that u can reuse... it's just amazing!
Rating:
Summary: Good focus on practical solutions
Review: Target Audience
Beginner/intermediate Java developers who are looking for practical examples of code while learning about a specific concept. Contents
This guide to learning Java is focused more on solving problems than an exhaustive teaching of each Java concept. The book is divided into the following chapters: Essential Java; Variables, Arrays, and Strings; Operators, Conditionals, and Loops; Object-Oriented Programming; Inheritance, Inner Classes, and Interfaces; AWT: Applets, Applications, and Event Handling; AWT: Text Fields, Buttons, Checkboxes, Radio Buttons, and Layouts; AWT: Lists, Choices, Text Areas, Scrollbars, and Scroll Panes; AWT: Graphics, Images, Text, and Fonts; AWT: Windows, Menus, and Dialog Boxes; Working With Streams: File and I/O Handling; Working With Multiple Threads; Swing: Applets, Applications, and Pluggable Look And Feel; Swing: Text Fields, Buttons, Toggle Buttons, Checkboxes, and Radio Buttons; Swing: Viewports, Scrolling, Sliders, and Lists; Swing: Combo Boxes, Progress Bars, Tooltips, Separators, and Choosers; Swing: Layered Panes, Tabbed Panes, Split Panes, and Layouts; Swing: Menus and Toolbars; Swing: Windows, Desktop Panes, Inner Frames, and Dialog Boxes; Java And XML: Using The Document Object Model; Java And XML: Using The Simple API for XML; Collections; Creating Packages, Interfaces, JAR Files, and Java Beans; Exception Handling, Debugging, and Advanced Topics Review
It's getting harder and harder to find a unique niche when it comes to Java learning guides. There are humor-based guides and academic-based guides, reference guides and basic information guides, exhaustive volumes and "For Dummies" level material. So how do you find something different? Holzner finds it in Java 2 Black Book... a guide oriented towards practical solutions. Each chapter has a brief explanation of the material to be covered. From there, the rest of the material is covered within the "immediate solution" sections. The first section is an outline of each class to be covered, along with the properties and methods. The rest of the immediate solutions follow a conversational tone with a series of fictional problems that need to be solved by a java programmer. In many ways, this approach makes it easier to place the new information in context. You see how someone might need to use a text box in an applet instead of just learning what a text box is. This particular edition of the book covers Java through version 1.3, so if you want the most up to date information, you'll need to look elsewhere. Also, by looking at the chapters, you'll see there is a lot of coverage given to AWT and Swing programming. If you're more interested in server-side Java programming, this may not be your best choice. I would think this book would appeal to someone who has already gone through one learning guide and is now starting to use Java on a regular basis. Conclusion
This book is more conversational and practical in nature than many other Java guides, and will appeal to readers who appreciate a less academic approach to learning new concepts. In my opinion, this would be a good "second Java book" for someone learning the language.
Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: This book covers the most important aspects of JAVA... I can tell already I will be using this book for reference as I become more fluent in the language. Simply outstanding, and I am purchasing the C++ black book because if its anything like this one, its gotta be great.
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