Java Structures: Data Structures in Java for the Principled Programmer

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for C++ programmers learning Java.
Review: As a C++ programmer familiar with MFC, I bought this book to learn Java. I was already familiar with data structures and wanted to see how Java works with a familiar subject. I was very pleased to find that the book was well organized and well written. It was an enjoyable read and when I was done I was able to design my first test applets with ease and confidence. Thanks for making the book with a hard cover; it really is more comfortable.

Java is evolving so rapidly, that a reader should not expect to learn "everything about Java" nor everthing about data structures from this book. Never the less, the book is valuable for accelerating the learning curve.

Thanks, Duane, for writing it.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: As a computer science student learning data structures, I found this book to be incredibly confusing for a beginner. The examples provided are not explained well. The reader is often left to guess and fill in details. It seems like many important details were left out. If you were to try his examples using a compiler, they would never work because the author omits to tell you some important piece of info. Pieces of code appear to be just thrown in without adequate explanation of how they relate to other code. I was thouroughly frustrated with this book.

Rating:
Summary: I slept with this book under my pillow last night
Review: Java Structures has been an invaluable companion on my journey through the strangely beautiful world of data structures at a small anonymous liberal arts college in the Berkshire region of Massachusettes. Last night I slept with this book under my pillow.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for C++ programmers learning Java.
Review: This book is the solution I've been searching my whole life. It goes to the point and clears any doubts that you may have.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent - '2nd semester' text
Review: This book was not very good. Initially, like alot of software books, the author's smug comments were not irritating. By the end of the book they were unnerving. The biggest beef I had with this text was that the author does not offer sufficient explanations for the code examples. He assumes you can just read it and then understand it. Also, in several chapters rather than presenting the facts then illustrating them in a complex example he does exactly the opposite! This did nothing but serve to confuse the issue.

The author's goal is commendable: attempt to be brief and too the point. However, unfortunately this book suffers due to little or no supporting narrative to accompany the code.

The book reminds me of a professor who is teaching a beginning class but assumes you can figure out the details on your own. The professor forgets that you don't know the details yet and its his job to give them to you.

I did not like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent - '2nd semester' text
Review: This is a great book if you are a competent programmer, perhaps with some O-O experience and some procedural/functional language experience. It is not for the beginner programmer, as lots of 'trivial' concepts are glossed over - which may confuse some.

It is used for 2nd semester CS, after a 1st semester course which taught Java.