Java Programming

Rating:
Summary: this book needed a proof reader
Review: Even if this were a first edition, which is not, there are too many egregous errors that should have been caught before this book went to the printer. If this is the only book being used by a student, if the examples don't work, the student might not realize that it the book's fault, not theirs. Don't waste your money on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Java for Dummies or any other book is better than this
Review: First off... I am not a natural programmer. 70% of the class I am in are. Let it be known that I am not dumb either. I graduated with my first college degree in Biotechnology Magna Cum Laude. That's a 3.78 gpa for me, and pretty good for those who don't know the term. At least half of the students in your class already know how and why these programs work and function. That is where this book totally falls apart. I approach everything as a scientist would. I have to know the how, but more importantly the "WHY" and the thought process behind each new idea. Why do we set up the program this way? What is the reason for jumping around back and forth in every chapter??? She leads us through the exercises by the nose, but never shows the whole code or comments about the program as a whole.
She never goes through the following: This section of code will do this, we need a section to do that and a section to do this other thing. This feeds off that... etc.. What it totally misses is that logic involved with programming. When a problem is put forth, you stop and think about it. You lay out what this program needs to do. List all the variables you'll need, etc. Get the sections of programming ideas down, then start turning them into code.

This book ignores this thought process completely. I'm no slouch either. The exercises tell you to place your cursor here in the method of the class of the main... (if you can find it... there's no actual code listed in its entirety so good luck)
press enter... okay, now type this... Why??? Who knows, she never tells you why you want to place this little piece of code in this other part of the program... Then, you go to a totally different part of the program and type this... little snippet of codeWhy??? Who knows. You know what the individual line of code will do, but not WHY you put it in this particular part of the program. What makes it worse is half the time you're looking at the sections of code she had you make and you think to yourself, 'Self, What was she thinking, I wouldn't make it like that, who places code in that order?' What's the thought process behind these chunks of code?

If real programmers make their programs the way she takes you through them I gaurantee they'd all kill themselves by the age of 30.

At times you'll bounce around so much, you will go bonkers, I'm telling you.

I am learning more from the Java for Dummies books than I did in a class with an actual professor using this horrible book. Bring a different book to class, use the different book. If the programs your instructor wants you to write don't have to be done using this book, then, don't get it. Or at least get it but get another book and read them both. Trust me, it sounds like more work, but it's acually a lot less work as you won't waste hundreds of hours interpreting this confusing book.

I wonder if she made it confusing to maintain her own Job Security...

Thanks,

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book at all costs
Review: I just recently dropped my Java II Programming and got my money back for the course, solely because it used and relied on this book. Attempting to do the tasks identified in the first lesson was painstaking and tedious, because the format and instruction design of this book is horribly thought out.

I have looked over dozens and dozens of programming books, and all follow a standard outline. All of them, that is, except for this book. Source code is nowhere on the included disk, and the guided examples attempt to be so "motherly" that you feel like your face is being smothered under a pillow.

Click here. Type this. Now you're going to initiate variable x, y, z. Type this to initiate those variables. Good. Now type this.

Nowhere in the book do I find a solid chunk of code, followed by a sample of what it created. Even the worst books on the various programming topics have atleast given us this courtesy. Instead, her source code is broken up into chunks and spread out over pages, muddled in paragraphs of wordy garbage.

This book could be cut in half if you bothered to bring the source code into one concise block. Don't buy this book. Don't take courses that use this book. Don't open the CD at the end of the book.

In fact, if your course uses this book--drop it. Chances are, it's not a very good course or it won't transfer over to a university. Because, frankly, no respectable computer science department would let this book be used.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult to follow
Review: I'm taking a programming class that requires this book. I've taken one other class where the text was also a Joyce Farrell book and that book was just as hard to follow as Java Programming Second Edition.

The problems with this book are that it's not written in laymen's terms. The prologue indicates that the book was written for someone that has no prior programming experience and no higher math than high-school math. However, the programming examples require a good knowledge of programming structure and syntax or a first timer simply will not be able to follow the examples.

The programs are not written out for you. The author gives you step-by-step examples to follow and expects you to type them in. An example of this is, "Place the insertion point directly to the right of the main brackets and press enter." This would be great if the author had explained what the main brackets are.

There's another example in the book where the author has you create an object but never tells you where to create it. She gives the instructions for every other part of the program except where the object is supposed to go.

This book will leave you very frustrated.

I should also mention that in my class of 20 students all of us are very frustrated and fed-up with this book. We have all complained to our instructor and he is making accommodations so that we wont have to rely on the text as much for our instruction, but if a student misses class I guess they're out of luck.

We have gone to our department chair asking him to replace this text. He refuses to. He likes it. So maybe there is some merit to it. I have yet to find it.

On a related note, I'm also taking a C++ class (C++ is supposed to be more difficult to understand than Java) and I'm able to understand the structure and syntax of C++ without any problem.

public class GetAnotherBook
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
System.out.println("Don't buy this book");
}
}

Well, that's my review. Just don't get stuck in a class where they use this text. Please let me know if there is something I can recommend to my school other than this waste of tree fiber.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Primer
Review: In response to the reviewer that stated that anyone that wrote a bad review of this book probably failed their computer course. I take exception to that. I took a course using this book and I got an A in the course. I went to the instructor and informed him that the book was very confusing. I went to the department chair and informed him of the same thing. The instructor agreed with me that the book is confusing. The department chair became upset with me and told me if I don't like it to go to another school.

What ultimately allowed me to obtain an A in the class was going to the instructor and letting him know everything that I did not understand. After about 5 weeks in the class it started making sense.

Since I've taken that class I've bought other books on Java and they all make a lot more sense to me than this one ever did.

I think the way this book is put together is very poor. The author uses a snippet of code then trys to explain what is going on then goes on for a few pages then has you type in a bit more and then tries to explain what's going on. In the mean time you're pretty much lost.

Another book that I use, Sams Publishing Learn Java Programming in 21 days gives multiple examples in each chapter and then explains line per line what the code is doing. I don't think it's a great book either, but it does a better job of explaining what the code is doing.

This book is extremly confusing. Even now that I understand Java and can write code in Java, I look back at this book and it still confuses me.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Primer
Review: Overall good. End chapters were a little weak but great to get up to speed for other books.

I have been programming for 9 years with Microsoft. I found this book a piece of cake and was required to use it during a college course.

The instructor recomended to do this with each chapter

1. Read the review at the end of the chapter
2. Read and try and answer all the questions
3. Read the chapter
4. Do the excercises

It was very methodical but it worked to get up to speed fast. I was done with all the chapters in about 4 weeks.

Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners, but not for serious study of Java
Review: This book is good for people who are beginners to programming with its simple style, but it should not be used for serious study of Java programming. This book does not cover Java in detail enough for you to use it for serious study. Beginners should use this text as a precursor to Java - How to Program and professionals should use this as a reference book. This book is more like a summary of the key features of Java. The price should be reduced to more like $19.99US.