Rating: 
Summary: Swing is explained realy lousy
Review: Author does a good job explaining a AWT but AWT is the thing of the past. Swing is the thing of the future. In swing he does very very very bad job in explaining how classes intaract. If you are starting in java get a book that does a good job in explaining how inner classes work and how you can exploit them.
Rating: 
Summary: Java Black Book - Exceptionally Well-Done Reference Book
Review: I am fairly new to Java Programmning, and I have tried several different texts to assist my learning curve. Some of the books have helped me, but the Java Black Book is the first one that I consider both complete and easily understood in each of its sections. The author takes time to ensure that the reader can get Java's basic constructs down before continuing. The use of the Novice Programmer and the mentor is a neat way of explaining each secion's purpose. Also when demonstrating a function, method, etc. the author uses the entire program rather than a snippet. This allows the novice programmer to see where the new material fits into the process. This book is definitley made for learning Java, and it will be my first reference source while programming.
Rating:
Summary: Best comprehensive Java Book ever!
Review: I have read two books written by Steve Holzner. Java Black Book and Perl Black Book. If you want to learn the language itself look no further. He brings Java down to earth and makes it very easy to understand. The examples are complete and great. I literally learned Java and Perl from this author. I am looking forward to reading other books written by him.
Rating:
Summary: Best comprehensive Java Book ever!
Review: I have read two books written by Steve Holzner. Java Black Book and Perl Black Book. If you want to learn the language itself look no further. He brings Java down to earth and makes it very easy to understand. The examples are complete and great. I literally learned Java and Perl from this author. I am looking forward to reading other books written by him.
Rating:
Summary: great book/weak binding...
Review: I own 9 Java Books. This one is the best. The author explains how to do things very clearly and it covers a large portion of the language. I wish every author wrote like this.
Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners - Average for the Expert
Review: I was extremely eager to buy this book to get some backing for a Java B2B project I was undertaking. The examples were clear and detailed, yet I thought that his examples lacked true practical application. Very little in-depth coverage of Internet/JDBC. If you are already a programmer look for another book.If your a beginner this is an excellent book. Sorry, but this does not compare to the VB Black book.
Rating:
Summary: great book/weak binding...
Review: I've been using this book since my first Java course, which I took a little under a year ago. I'm now in my second Java course and am still using it, even though the course uses another textbook... What's so good about this book is that the author presents extremely complicated ideas in an easy to understand manner. His code examples are excellent. What's also good is his presentation of class components in an table format. However, now that I'm using the book for the second course, I noted that the binding has just about given up. My only recourse is to buy another -- gee, is this planned obsolescence? I intend to copy the publisher on this and see if a hard-bound option is available. Why aren't all big language references hard bound?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Beginnes/Intermediate
Review: Maybe it's just me, but the use of the Novice Programmer and mentor just bugged me. This isn't bad for a beginner, but I was looking for something a bit more serious. I suppose everybody has their own style and preferences, but I just didn't like this style. Most of the reference of constructors and methods were good, but they were lacking definitions. The calling sytnax was presented, and that may be enough for simple methods like subString, indexOf, etc. However, less known and more specific Java methods had little description in many cases. The examples aren't bad, but I was looking for something with more "meat". JDBC and RMI are only briefly mentioned.
Rating:
Summary: Lousy Swing description
Review: The book is not bad but author does very lousy job in explaining how swing works and because of that do not get this book. AWT is the thing of the past. Swing is the future and he does not do a good job in that area.
Rating:
Summary: Much ado about nothing
Review: This book is a gentle introduction. It does not go into nearly as much depth as the Deitel and Deitel book (Java - How to program) but is definitly easier to get through. I like the writer's style of the Novice Programmer and the Boss giving him constant problems to overcome. It's the sort of book that you could use to look up a topic to get a high level understanding - then use something like Java in a Nutshell to fully understand it. With a name like "Black Book" you'd expect a definitive guide or something to make you a "Black belt" in Java, which is something this book is not. To summarise - a pleasure to read but don't expect to be an expert after it.
| 
