Rating: 
Summary: Not worth it's price.
Review: This book is not for people that can program. It's very vague and doesn't cover everything.If your a beginner, I'd advise you to still look for a better book. This book is organized poorly. What this book does do, is it explains all the examples VERY well, In fact does this thoughout the whole book, and gets boring reading explainations about trivial stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: too bad there isn't a no star review
Review: No Customer support. If you have any question about the book(including code) you are your own. Not Worth my time for this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good "beginner's" Java Textbook
Review: There have been a lot of negative reviews on this book. Two things to keep in mind, though, is that this is a beginning programming book, and was written as a college-level textbook. That's why I liked it so much. Other Java books I tried were too technical and assumes you already have a programming background. This book gives general and Java-specific programming advice with lots of exercises. It's organized in a manner that eases you into the concept of programming rather than grouping all related Java topics together, so it may seem to lack organization. But it has a good pace and helps build a solid programming foundation without being lightweight, unlike other cursory beginning java books.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time or money
Review: The authors don't use standard Java terminology. As an example, their explanation of reference passing is very confusing. They say things like variables are passed "call-by-value". This is just one of the many C-like terms they use which demonstrate they don't understand object-oriented programming. Reading this book is like reading grossly over commented code. Not only do they clutter valuable information with minutia, their explanations are sophomoric. The book's explanations of object-oriented programming lacks focus: One discussion can mix 3 or 4 metaphors which only serves to confuse readers. Concepts are made to seem complicated with verbose explanations and excessive terminology. In addition, the book is downright boring and poorly organized. If you want a book someone will have to explain to you - this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent book!
Review: If you're looking for a GREAT Java book, this is it! It covers almost the whole language. Anyway, the stuff that isn't covered (and there's a LOT covered) can be read on the JDK documentation. Arm yourself with this book and learn Java FAST. Ignore those complaints about this book, most (and I said most, which means that there are some exclusions) are probably college students failing their Java classes that use this EXCELLENT book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't get this book
Review: If you already have a clue as how to program, skip this book. It won't tell you anything useful in any way, shape, or form. It's coverage of the Java language is useless. It has no explation as to how parts of Java interact with the other parts of Java. The examples are idiotic and have no real application to anything, including academic exercises. Instead of focusing on how to extend the JApplet interface, the authors have chosen to extend the JFrame interface which will only run if you decide to use Java as an application (like MSWord) instead of an internet Applet. This tends to leave out large portions of what would be called useful information. In general if you value your brain, avoid this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough, if not a bit confusing
Review: The book does a good job of explaining what Java is and how to use the various components. It also has a lot of good advice and hints but... it does a poor job of explaining WHEN to use one component over another. That's understandable in a book designed to be a compliment to a real live teacher and a classroom environment. But it's almost unexcusable in a book designed to be read at home a-la "Teach Yourself" style. I've been reading the book for a month now and have choked my way through the section on arrays. I'm learning - but MAN IS IT CONFUSING!
Rating:
Summary: A very solid introduction
Review: I come at programming from an intermediate perspecitive. It was great for me, but a complete novice to programming might get bogged down after a few hundred pages if they didn't have the patience to keep going. Still, Java is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, so I think that no matter what you do, you're going to have to put some time in. I have tried to pick up Java on several occasions throughout the past year or two. I borrowed a couple of other books from friends. I found that the first one didn't cover enough and that the second one had really long code examples with little explanation. This book, on the other hand, was near perfect for me. I found the code in the examples focussed heavily upon learning the specific tasks that were being described in the text. Maybe it was also just time for me to finally click on what OOP is all about after my third try, but I found the section on that topic to be very clear and understandable. All in all, a big thumbs up to the Deitels from me!
Rating:
Summary: This book teaches programming ? in Java ?
Review: I guess you can find a needle in a haystack too. Have these guys ever taken a writing class? Read a book on how to present information clearly? You could write a book on what NOT to do for each of these topics using this book as an example.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Java programming book
Review: Despite all the negative reviews I purchased this book and so far I don't regret it. It is a very practical book about Java and was able to put to use what I read at my job. I like the fact that it compares Java with C++ so that It gives you an idea about which tool is best suited to do a task. By reading the whole book you will know undoubtedly become a serious Java programmer. Now, at my job I act as the Java resource because I always have more than one way to do things in Java.
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