Rating: 
Summary: Needs Redesign and Reformatting
Review: I'd like to add my comments about "Java How to Program" 3rdEd. I just started reading it, and I believe some of the poor reviews are due not so much to the content, but to the poor editing and bad visual design of the book.For example, in the preface, there starts a many paged "A Tour of the Book", then on page 20 of chapter 1, starts a many paged, but slightly different "A Tour of the Book". During one of the rewrites, I imagine some cut and pasting occurred, and not caught. (Maybe that should be programming tip?) Each chapter starts with an outline, and quite a few quotes from various sources. The quotes are not relevant and they are distracting. They should not be present. The graphics that indicate performance, tip, etc., are too small and too complex. In fact all those things should be removed from the text and put as separate sections at the end of each chapter. Putting them "inline" ruins the cohesiveness of both the text and the tips. I should think Java How to Program would be improved by removing the "coding tips" completely. Maybe this book was rushed to print, but $65 book should not exhibit these types of editing and visual design mistakes. Further I feel more time and attention was spent on the introduction, to entice instructors to choose the text, rather than the content of the book. I feel the whole book could use a redesign and reformatting.
Rating: 
Summary: Java How To Program
Review: there is too much confusing and disorganized information in this book. It might be a reference book for well experienced java programmers but definitely it is not a book for an introduction to Programming class.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent tutorial for Java and general development
Review: I am now 1/3 of the way thru the book and, for me, it has been the best programming tutorial I have ever used. As I said in a previous review, I am a former self-taught VB/ASP developer who wants to break into Unix/Linux web development. I picked this up as a general programming tutorial (since my degree is not in CS I missed alot) and to learn Java for eventual JSP development. If you have the time, and the motivation to work thru this book you WILL learn general development AND the Java 2 platform. I think the negative reviews may be a result of skewed expectations. This isn't a 'Teach Yourself in XX Hours/Days' tutorial (which are also occasionally very good) but a hardcore programming manual. Again, if you have the time and are sufficiently motivated to learn Java development this book will serve as an excellent guide up to the intermediate level.
Rating:
Summary: Good as a textbook - GREAT as a reference
Review: I took a college course on data structures and was forced to pick up programming in Java in one week. I wish I would have had this book then to learn the language. I have it now and am writing professional level client-server programs using this book as one of my main references. Good job. I recommend this for the student and professional alike.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent First Java Book
Review: This is an excellent first book for Java. However, if anyone expects to be proficient in Java after reading this book, you will be disappointed. Java is composed of many different and sometimes complicated topics. This book attempts to give you an overview of all of them. In some cases, the details you need to write your own code are lacking. Understand you will need other Java books to effectively program in Java. Having said this, I would recommend this book for those people with programming experience and wanting to learn Java. I would not recommend this book to someone with no programming experience.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely great!
Review: I have tried to learn Java for a long time now, with several different approaches. Wish I had found this book before - it's great! It covers nearly everything having to do with Java, I love the layout, and it has LOTS of good code examples with output results included. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: The best Java programming book
Review: This is the best book to teach you how to program in Java. Every example is designed for special purpose. I almost read all the chapters now. Before I read the explaination, I almost can identified why the author use the example, what he wants to tell. The most impressive thing is the code used in the book is unparalled, neat, efficient...If you grasp the programming techinique in this book, I guarantee you that you can recognize which code is good or not. Good luck for every one who use this book. Learn by heart and learn the essense of Java programming.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of Illustrative Examples & Programming Techiques
Review: I don't know how it will turn out for those who never had at least one programming course and use this book as a beginner. But if you have some programming concepts/experience, you will find that this book can bring you up to speed in learning Java. I have only read a few chapters so far. Here are what stands out (and not so stands out) about this book: (1) Lots of illustrative examples. The best thing is that these examples all come with output screen shots. You don't have to execute each example to see the result. You can learn many things right from the book -- very helpful for beginners and convenient for fast learners. Because of this you can read this book anywhere without depending on access to a personal computer or Java compiler. (2) The author explains every single line of codes to you. There is no guessing or wonderring. But sometimes the author repeats his explainations over simple codes too much. (3) You not only learn Java, but also programming techniques and/or basic software engineering concepts. Some of the tips in the book could be annoyant, but you don't have to read them if you don't want. Note that this book does not seem to have a good organization of the order the topics coverred. But this organization probably does speed up learning experience for intermediate learners. (4) The plus thing is that it comes with tons of exercises and a very comprehensive summary (truly a plus for re-enforcing your previous readings). (5) Last but not least, another plus is that it comes with 3 different Java compilers/environments. This book may still be too expensive to some of you though (I paid a lot less than that with a $20 coupon :-) lucky me!). That is it for now. I will probably come back for another review a few months from now. Hope my review will work for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Java How to program
Review: I bought this book because it was recommended. Well I will tell you now don't bother with it. It is hard to understand, and throws everything to your face.If you are a beginner try Ivor Horton's Beginning Java2. Dietel and Dietel please do us all a favour, don't publish another Java book just for the sake of doing so.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful
Review: You don't have to know c , or c++ to read this book. The author takes nothing for granted and explains everything in detail with lots of examples. A book for building a strong foundation in JAVA with ease.
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