Rating: 
Summary: Kinda funny....
Review: Although some reviewer said the I/O coverage is too much for a networking book, I think it is good to cover that because networking is based on I/O stream, and the coverage of I/O in this book makes you able to write advance java network program with the lowest-level programming technique, i.e. I/O stream (though Java itself is high-level oriented) that makes your application more powerful and your coding smarter. Though not explored deep enough, other broad-ranged topics in this book, with all the excellent real-world examples, will assist you to choose a best method in Java Network API for you implementation.
Rating:
Summary: Cover more good stuffs than your expectation!
Review: Although some reviewer said the I/O coverage is too much for a networking book, I think it is good to cover that because networking is based on I/O stream, and the coverage of I/O in this book makes you able to write advance java network program with the lowest-level programming technique, i.e. I/O stream (though Java itself is high-level oriented) that makes your application more powerful and your coding smarter. Though not explored deep enough, other broad-ranged topics in this book, with all the excellent real-world examples, will assist you to choose a best method in Java Network API for you implementation.
Rating:
Summary: The best Java networking book I've read.
Review: Awesome coverage of networking and streams. I love their *real* examples. Its different to the other network books i've read. Where else do you learn how to write a real Webserver with CGI support and stuff like that. CORBA coverage was fairly brief but I guess that's not their focus. Can't wait for their crypto book!!
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of good info but poorly organized
Review: Covers all the Stream classes but is poorly organized. Requires a lot of digging to come up with the information to put a real program together.
Rating:
Summary: Kinda funny....
Review: how some people can read and purchase AND review a book that hasn't even been published by a date two months prior to it's release....
Rating:
Summary: Superb writing - Writers are experts in java programming
Review: I bought this book after reading some of the reviews; mostly they are accurate depending on your expectations. The book contains solid examples on many basic network topics such as Multicast, UDP and TCP/IP, etc.This book will most likely improve your Java Network programming skills, if not, it is a solid reference. I have glanced through a few other networking books, but I thought this book provided more global coverage. There may be better books for specific networking topics, but this book covered a variety of topics well. I found the book to be very helpful in providing the groundwork for I/O based programming. In my opinion, it is really what you need to learn first (on the basic leve, network I/O is just a different medium). It is not going to make you into an advanced, low-level network programmer, but it is unlikely for a Java book to cover networking to that depth. It will provide a strong resource for most of your networking needs. I would definitely recommend it to someone who has a good understanding of Java wanting to learn network-I/O programming.
Rating:
Summary: provides great ground work
Review: I bought this book after reading some of the reviews; mostly they are accurate depending on your expectations. The book contains solid examples on many basic network topics such as Multicast, UDP and TCP/IP, etc. This book will most likely improve your Java Network programming skills, if not, it is a solid reference. I have glanced through a few other networking books, but I thought this book provided more global coverage. There may be better books for specific networking topics, but this book covered a variety of topics well. I found the book to be very helpful in providing the groundwork for I/O based programming. In my opinion, it is really what you need to learn first (on the basic leve, network I/O is just a different medium). It is not going to make you into an advanced, low-level network programmer, but it is unlikely for a Java book to cover networking to that depth. It will provide a strong resource for most of your networking needs. I would definitely recommend it to someone who has a good understanding of Java wanting to learn network-I/O programming.
Rating: 
Summary: A very good book
Review: I have not much to add to all the great reviews, but someone there wondered how come people have reviewed this title even before it has been published. Just FYI: Manning publishes most if not all of it's titles as e-book editions long before they come out as paperbacks. Just check out their website and you can already buy the JSP Taglibs books that has not been printed yet. It's available as an e-book.
Rating:
Summary: Good book and great Java coverage with your money
Review: I have surveyed a number of Java Networking, distributed computing books. I decided to buy and read this book because it get a great coverage of topics, such as Java Threads, I/O, Socket, HTTP, RMI, CORBA, Messages. If you are developer from C++ or OO background, the topics can be understood in lightspeed. The source code of the book can be easily downloaded and run. The code is clear and reusable in your next Java networking project immediately. In particular, I like the chapter describing how to write a full-feature HTTP server, including serving web pages, executing CGI programs with multi-threading backend. After reading this chapter, all the mystery about web server is dissolved because you can write one by yourselves. This improved the learning curve for great variety of web server. In summary, the book encourage reader to learn and play with the sample codes. You can become a Java networking expert in a week with this book. No one can scare you with another Java networking jargon.
Rating: 
Summary: Does not cover NIO for networking
Review: I will agree with the other reviewers that this is a really well written book. However, it does not cover using the NIO (java 1.4) networking API which is much faster and more efficient. So this book is very useful if you are still having to write for java 1.3. But if you are writing for java 1.4 (or 1.5), then it has some useful stuff - but does not cover anything about how to handle the actual network communication.
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