Java: Your visual blueprint for building portable Java programs

Rating:
Summary: Never buy this book !
Review: Being useless for the deleloper and teachless for the beginner, it is terrible to read and your eyes are gonna be in real danger if you insist to try. They call it 'handcrafted illustrations' - absolutely unreadable - try to read the sample page 14 to see what you are going to get. And, of course, you will learn nothing about Java - you will just type their samples one by one.
I am in software industry for about 12 years and I have never read anything worse than this.

Rating:
Summary: A logical, well-developed presentation
Review: I have learned more about Java in this book's concise, crisp presentation than in the several verbose Java tomes that I have worked through over the years. Admittedly, I brought some background to the effort, but I think a motivated beginner could learn from this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good for fast results (without lengthy background)
Review: If you know little of Java, this helps without writing endless code. I gave 3 of 5 stars because examples are hard to see. It's not cert material, but it is a good workbook. The author shows small useful apps. This allows growth and creativity. The disk gives some good extras.

Great effort explaining hard topics in few words.

Rating:
Summary: Great learning while debugging code in the book
Review: This is not for the uninitiated. Just fixing the code in the book, (what could be deciphered around the graphic boxes) was an education in itself. Hungry Minds has been bought by Wiley, and guess what... Not one mention of this book was found, nor was there any contact info for updated working stuff. This book has a label that should read "avoid".

Rating:
Summary: One of the best basic Java resources
Review: This is simply the best introductory Java book. During the first 6 months of learning Java, I constantly referenced examples in this book. Very well put together and quite extensive. Congrats to the author and editors.