Rating: 
Summary: Not for a beginner.Might be okay if you know other languages
Review: Very poorly written and badly organized, but it might make a good reference book because it is comprehensive. Instead of presenting related material together, it throws out bits and pieces for you to organize yourself. I would also bet that they did some cutting and pasting with material from their other programming books like C.It was the required book for a summer class. We covered the first half of the book...a mere 650 pages of poorly written technical material (the book is 1300+ pgs). Nealy everyone in the class was scrambing to find alternative resources, and those who didn't find them were lost. Seems like the people that are saying it is a good book for beginners probably weren't when they read the book. Easily the worst textbook I have ever read in my life, and I have taken about 60-70 college courses (undergraduate and graduate). While designing a book for both the novice and the expert might sound like a good idea, in practice it doesn't work.
Rating: 
Summary: Help is on the way
Review: I am not sure what other Java Books that the other readers have, but I have a collection of 16. Four general books and the rest that specialize. Anyway, I have actually read about 50% of the content of all the books and about 80% of the content of the deitel book and I can tell you that it is the best general book that I own or have seen. I had almost given up on the idea of learning broad java concepts. Most books go from really basic to super tough, or you get stuck with the Microsoft platform. This was the fourth Java book I have purchased. This book allowed my knowledge to grow by leaps and bounds. The authors walk you through all the concepts and naturally progress to more advanced topics using ""EXAMPLES"". This book is a must for anyone wanting to learn Java from the beginning. Thanks Deitels.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Reference Book
Review: I bought this book on Amazon because of it's low price.... This book is really good. It is comprehensive and uses swing to explain Java concepts clearly. It has tons of examples. The reason I bought it is because it is prescribed for my java class but I think it makes an excellent reference book for swing and applets (GUI). It explains the concept of object oriented design through hands on exercises. At the end of every chapter it outlines "Good Programming Practices" , "Common Programming Errors" etc. Overall a wonderful book, MUST BUY !
Rating:
Summary: very good--much better than average.
Review: On an earlier occasion I rated this book two stars (if my memory serves me right). I have been feeling guilty about it now that I have spent many productive hours going through the book and less-than-productive hours on other Java books. A particularly good feature of the book is the use of short, COMPLETE, useful programs, with a complete accounting of the inputs and outputs (multiple outputs where applicable). I am therefore re-rating this four stars or 4 1/2, and I am looking forward to the same authors' more advanced book on Java when it comes out.
Rating:
Summary: excellent book for beginner and advanced java programming
Review: I read this book cover to cover every chapter three times last summer. It is the most valuable java book I own. I was able to use every topic in my development work and research. This book along with the Complete JAVA Certification guide book and sun educational java courses prepared me to complete the java certification exams.
Rating:
Summary: Size does not matter - Big can be Bad
Review: This is a great course on Java - if you are attending a FIVE YEAR FULL-TIME CLASS and don't ever need to use it as a non-linear reference. I read the first 50 pages... And I still wasn't IN chapter 1! A LOT of time was spent bragging about the courses the authors teach, explaining that the authors are revolutionary educational wunderkinds... when really they are long-winded show-offs. This book was a required purchase for a college Java class I was taking, and I really resent having had to purchase such a useless book.
Rating:
Summary: Great beginning Java book
Review: I was introduced to this book as a college textbook. At the end of the semester, I kept reading it until I finished Chapter 25. Two years later, working as a Software Engineer, I still look at the book once or twice a week. Whenever I need a simple demonstration of how to use a Java class, or how a particular Java feature works, I can almost always find an example in this book. I have adopted the Deitel coding style, and noticed other engineers using it. You end up with clear, easy to follow code, sensible naming, and methods that are clearly defined without being overly long. Other books on specific Java topics do provide much more detailed information. As a general reference with a lot of examples, this book is the best.
Rating:
Summary: poor design
Review: Readers that rate this book highly obviously do not understand object-oriented programming. Doesn't anyone find it ironic that a book about an object-oriented programming language repeats the same code over and over again?
Rating: 
Summary: Not good for OOP in Java
Review: This is not a good book for learning OOP. It seems to treat Java as a procedural language. Even if you read through chapters 8 and 9, you can't see the big picture of what OOP is. I recommend "Thinking in Java", ....By means of "Thinking in Java" you really get into the OOP world. One more thing: in spite of lots of good and nice exercises and projects, this book of Deitel & Deitel has a clumsy and boring presentation of the subject. That's why I decided to give it two stars, and not a single one more.
Rating:
Summary: Not A Reference Book
Review: If you know absolutely nothing about Java and very little about programming in general ... you might find this book useful. It takes example source code and explains what the code is doing statement by statement. At times, it explains too much. For experienced programmers who just want a reference to the Java language commands and syntax ... well, it's pretty much useless. A lot of the information is there, but it's not easy to find.
| 
