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Summary: This is a great book for first year programming students
Review: I have chosen this book as the main text for a first year programming course which uses Java as the language. The main reasons that this book was selected from the other excellent texts out there were: 1) Very complete coverage the basics of programming. This makes it very approachable to students new to programming. 2) Lots of exercises to reinforce/test mastery of the material. 3) Although sometimes verbose, very complete coverage of most topics. This book provides an excellent reference for students between classes.
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Summary: Learning from scratch, this book is definitely at the top
Review: I cut my teeth on programming using Deitel and Associates' C-How-To-Program. Plenty of code examples, a good index and decent to good explanations of material made the book an excellent buy for me. I learned C++ a couple years later outside of the classroom from their C++-How-To-Program. I picked up java from a poorly written book authored by the teacher of a course I was taking. The course left me with a lot of holes which I conveniently filled with chapters from this book.
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Summary: The best Java reference book I have ever read!
Review: This book contains all you need to know about Java and more! The book contains information on every aspect of Java that you will ever need when programming. A true masterpiece!
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Summary: Don't go to work without it
Review: I especially like this book because the code examples are complete, fully explained and not just snippets of code that need to be pieced together into some coherent whole. I'm in a working environment where I need to learn and use JAVA at the same time and don't have the luxury of asking what a particular line of code does, and why it's there. The examples are robust enough so that they come pretty close to what needs to get done. For those of use who think stealing code is ok, and want to jump start their project this is book to use and steal code from. I expect, that Deitel will reach the lofty status of my dogeared, falling apart and generally abused K& R.
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Summary: Excellent book for a fundamental understanding of Java/OOP
Review: I was looking for a book that gave a clear and concise explanation of Java and Object Oriented Programming, and that's exactly what I got! Unlike many other books, the examples are complete Java programs, which makes them easy to follow. As I read the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not a struggle to understand the concepts. Recently, I did not buy an Apache Web Server book on amazon.com because of the negative reviews. I've now decided I have to make a trip to the bookstore this weekend in order to make up my own mind. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in obtaining a good solid foundation in Java and not just tips and tricks!!!
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Summary: You won't want to keep this one
Review: I had to buy this book for a class. What a waste of money! I won't repeat all the accurate criticisms below. After reviewing this book, my confidence in the professor's knowledge of Java and OO has taken a big dive.
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Summary: For a student, not as bad as they say
Review: To me, the Deitel & Deitel books always have been for instructors as much as for students. They have a fairly complete instructor's edition with answers to problems, pdf verisons of diagrams, etc. This is truly a textbook, and good for students without prior experience. Every Java book I've ever read has had problems in one area or another, and this is no exception. (See all the reviews above.) But this third edition is also fairly comprehensive, and its shortcomings are made up for by its benefits.
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Summary: New event model - WHAT??
Review: These authors can't even get their own back cover promo correct: New event model? The "new" event model was new 2 years ago in JDK 1.1. "New Abstract Windows Toolkit"? There is no 'new AWT'. What they appear to be referring to is called Swing (and AWT stands for Abstract Windowing Toolkit). The book's content is filled with misinformation and poorly worded explanations. These authors do not understand Java; they obfuscate concepts with simple-minded verbose explanations. How could anyone consider this a "classic"? Maybe classically bad.
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Summary: Unsound for CS1 courses
Review: I have taught CS1 with this book in its C, C++ and Java incantations. The examples and ogainization are all quite similar. People either love the book or hate it. For myself, I think waiting 6 chapters to cover object oriented issues, like how to write a class, is a serious error. Students tend to get "Procedural Brain damage" when object oriented programming is not introduced ealier.The book is not a good reference and becomes shelf-ware after a first read. CS1 topic coverage is OK, but not great. Too much AWT and not enough data structures. If you are looking for a good CS1 book, look elsewhere.
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Summary: Want to be a bad programmer? Use this book.
Review: This book should be in the 'How NOT to Program Series'. Don't be fooled by the high price and the claim of being revised for 1.2. The 2nd edition was bad and the authors didn't make any improvements here.
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