Java for Engineers and Scientists

Rating:
Summary: Great entry level java book
Review: Chapman's book is excellent for the beginner java programmer. The convenience classes he provides ensures that novices don't get bogged down with the complex java io system just to write simple programs. (IO is covered later on in the book). At the same time he covers quite a wide range of topics. I found his approach to object oriented design, java 2D graphics, and GUI programming using swing particularly well written and easy to follow. I would definitely reccommend this book to any beginner wanting to learn java.

Rating:
Summary: Great book for the begining Java programmer
Review: If you are a beginning Java student, or a scientist or engineer new to Java, buy this book!

After choosing Java to solve a scientific problem, I have reviewed several Java texts. Chapman's Java for engineers and scientists is, I report enthusiastically, the best Java text I have run across. During a recent Colorado ski holiday with my family, I could not put this book down.

The popular Deitel swing text and several others take a fairly complex subject and make it completely unintelligible to the beginning Java programmer. Chapman's text, on the other hand, is well organized and well written. Concepts are presented in a logical sequence that builds constructively.

The shortcoming, and perhaps advantage, of this and all beginning texts is the use of packages that simplify io and graphics for the beginner. The book also has the usual editing errors that are very minor. This is a good place to start for the beginner. After you have finished the book and done some of the exercises you are ready to tackle your own problems, or even the Deitel text.

Rating:
Summary: A good start
Review: This book does a good job of introducing Java to the totalbeginner - it will get you started and get you to write functionalprograms. The style is clear, easy to follow. It does clearly point out the several sources of numerical errors which one encounters - which is often skipped by other introductory books. Another positive point is that it provides a quick way to program decent-looking graphs. It does so by providing pre-packaged code - allowing the reader to concentrate on the algorithms.

Don't expect this book to teach you all there is to Java - it will get you going and help you deal with more comprehensive books! END

Rating:
Summary: I wanted to learn JAVA
Review: While the title of this book promises to teach Java, instead it mostly teaches the reader how to use specialzed bits of code that the author wrote himself. The reason I bought the book was to learn JAVA, so I could write my own code. I suppose this book would be good for people who want to be able to write Java programs without learning Java.