Fundamentals of Java: Comprehensive Course, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: I thought you were supposed to learn real Java
Review: It is too bad that this is required reading for a Java course, I think this book would be more effective lighting a fire than teaching you Java. It screams at you about keywords then fails to correctly use them itself.

My biggest problem with this book is the packages it uses. It doesn't bother actually using any standard java package, it uses a couple of third-party tools to try to teach you everything. Something called TerminalIO for the command line, and BreezySwing for gui. I'm surprised they didn't try to create their own System.out object for use especially with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Java - Slow, steady, and fun
Review: Lambert and Osborne really did a nice job with this book. It is interesting, clever, and presents quite useful case studies and example problems.

Yes, this book uses some custom java packages to teach people Java. However, BreezySwing and TerminalIO are good beginner steps, and once you have a fairly good understanding of java it is not difficult to wean yourself off of them. Plus, in the back of the book are some additional chapters that help you learn the java behind these two packages. For one, there is an AWT/Swing/GUI chapter (I think it is chapter 22) that is very helpful.

The java concepts presented in this book are well explained, and come with lots of diagrams and pictures to help people understand them. Anything that isn't in the book (servlets, for one) is very well documented on the Java website www.java.sun.com.

All in all, this book is extremely well-written and very useful for the java beginner. Any questions you might have as you learn are either in this book or on the java website. Coming from a C++ background myself, this book has been a godsend.