Java Programming: The Easy Way (Easy Way Way Series)

Rating:
Summary: Eh, there are better
Review: Book was helpful for helping me to understand a few concepts. But instead of showing you new concepts by starting small and building, the author thought it would be best for learning to give 2-3 pages of code to interpret for each lesson, and afterwards saying (ok that was this, that did that). Hey buddy, most of us can't compile 2 pages in our head, not to mention even look at it all and soak it up. Don't buy this, instead get something else. (Def. not text book worthy)

Rating:
Summary: just amazing book
Review: I am taking computer science at university. Because it was my first time to program in Java, it was very hard to understand the subject and was very confusing. The textbook didnt help me either because it was written very hard. After I read this book, everything became so clear and I got so muvch confident in programing in java. I really think this book can help someone who doesn't have background in computer programing.

Rating:
Summary: shallow and illogical
Review: I bought the book recently since I want to learn Java. The title and other good reviews led me to buy it. It has some useful stuff in there. But for the most part it is too shallow and does not explain the most important fundamentals well. I advise you to go buy another stronger book.

Rating:
Summary: starts well, then walks off a cliff
Review: The beginning of the book is a good intro for those who have never, ever programmed before, but it steadily loses value after that. By the time you get to windows programming with AWT (halfway through the book) the author has apparently lost interest in instructing on the subject of Java and decided to do many other, irrelevant things instead (he prefers to discuss algebraic equations, code generators, and "outline code" rather than how to create buttons and other controls and setup their actions in response to events. He uses his code generator to gloss over these details to free up room for his own meandering babble). Get another book or use the free instructional material at Sun Microsystems' java.sun.com website.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Beginner's Book
Review: This book is a great choice for someone who doesn't have any education on programming at all.
It begins by covering very basic concepts of Java/object-oriented programming well and then extends into several different aspects of the Java language to show how to create simple programs that use text/fonts, various GUI/windows, file storage/retrieval, audio and graphics capabilities. The original included CD is out of date now (2003), but none of it is required to use the book examples and the current JDK is available for free on the web anyway.
There are very few Java books that a total beginner can pick up and learn from; this is one of them.