Java 1.1 Unleashed

Rating:
Summary: In-Depth Coverage of a wide variety of topics
Review: I've been a professional developer for about 7 years now so learning new languages is par for the course. It's usually not a difficult task. The real challenge with Java, however, is not in the language itself, the syntax and reserve words can be learned in a day or so, but rather with the (at this point) sprawling API's that seem to proliferate like nothing before. Add to this the fundamental changes in the design of the language between JDK 1.0 and JDK 1.1, particularly in the area of event handling, further seem to complicate the entry into full language usage. Java Unleashed, in my opinion, covers as many of the various java topics, from Applet programming, to JDBC, to the new AWT and delegation model, as well as discussing the emerging JavaOS and JavaBeans models, in a fairly in-depth, easy to read manner. Each of the topics covered in the book could (in most cases, does) have a book dedicated to that particular topic. These books are going to be more detailed than what you are getting in Java Unleashed, but nonetheless, Unleashed does (as always, the quality of the series as a whole is outstanding) their usually fine job of balancing depth versus information overload considering the space allowed to each topic. (The book weighs in at 1500 pages or something like that, so it's a stiff read all the way through.) Again it's the balance between covering a wide range of topics and the depth of detail about each of those topics that makes the Unleashed series, in most cases, the best books on the market. You may find highly targeted books that will deal with each of the topics in greater detail, but at the complete neglect of other areas. Unleashed gives the reader enough information in the various areas so as to begin to utilize the knowledge effectively, providing more than a mere 'launching point' for further studies, but rather, detailed, in-depth (if not *totally* complete) coverage of seemingly *every* aspect of the sprawling groups of related Java technologies.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book
Review: This book is not for beginners at all. It's more of a reference book. This book doesn't even give examples to play around with so you can learn how to do it. This book doesn't cover the basics and is not worth 50 dollars.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference book
Review: This book serves as a very good reference book for java programmers. It's more indepth compared with "Core Java Volumn II- advanced features". For instance, on JDBC section "Core Java" had very basic and little info on it.

Rating:
Summary: In-Depth Coverage of a wide variety of topics
Review: This is a great overview of Java, in general, as well as the newer 1.1 features. Useful at all levels.