Rating: 
Summary: Attention to examples is lacking
Review: The book is very good at defining different aspects of Java, but it is seriously lacking in examples of how the explanations work in Java code. It is frustrating for a first year student when you are introduced to concepts without examples of how they are used.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Instructor Support
Review: The first four chapters of the book do cover the basics of Java, but the book is a little dry and the examples are often split up and hard to track and place together for students.
The biggest problem is that there is no instructor support - PowerPoints, odd/even numbered solution sets, additional examples - that are or will be provided for this textbook. Thus unless you are an instructor who has numerous extra days free to work on answering book questions and preparing slides I would recommend using another textbook for your class that has this material prepared to help in class planning.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Introduction to Programming/Java
Review: This is a first-rate introduction to computer programming using Java as a focus. The authors' prose is clear and precise and the examples illustrate each feature of the language very well. Helpful exercises are included every few pages and these are nicely coordinated with the examples.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but too much for an introductory text
Review: This is a good book on Java and excellent on OOP, but the title is misleading: the material is too heavy to be used as an "introduction to programming." You'd better have some programming background before reading this book. In that case you'd learn a great deal. Otherwise, newbies should go for something like "Java for Dummies."
Rating: 
Summary: Good overall introduction to Java and OOP
Review: This is my second year participating in the teaching of OOP at the college level. We focus heavily on the modeling aspect of OOP, much more so than other schools. This book is the first that I have personally seen that actually keeps OOP concepts in mind when teaching Java. It does a good job of using small examples that teach both Java and OO Modeling.However, concepts that we deem important like abstraction and polymorphism are not given as much emphasis as I would like to see. They are put in the last chapter, though you can use the book in a modular fashion. Still, for an introduction to Java that also teaches good modelling I would certainly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: top book
Review: this is the best intro java book i've read. it has been invaluble to me it paints such a clear picture, and teaches oo sweetly, buy this and use it in conjunction with bruce eckels book and i promise you will have bulletproof oo fundamentals with which to build on
Rating:
Summary: This book could be better...
Review: We used this book as our textbook in my CS1301 class in college. Although the book had its good points, halfway through the semester, my professor stopped using it because it was difficult for the beginning programmers in this class to follow it. It also still uses some parts of the Java language that have been changed and are now obsolete. Unless you already understand Java, I do not recommend using this book.
| 
