Customer Reviews

ANT: The Java Build Tool In Practice (Charles River Media Programming)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I *think* this is actually quite a good book in the original German, but the English translation is a joke -- almost bad enough to appear as if done by a computer. This is not just a quibble, since the text is do bad that it's almost impossible to follow the meaning. Here's some examples from Chapter 2 (and it's *all* like this)...

"Some of the tags which are normally embedded in single commands can first be noted separately and subsequently referenced..."

"Of itself, this element engenders no action. Later it will be bundled from other commands."

"It contains the class path which will be picked out by the system variables of the same name. Now the first target will be constructed at once. It contains the name main. Thus, it will be called during the start of the build file, since main will likewise be specified as a default target there."


Er, what?

Interpretation problem? That would explain the less than perfect English in this book. It is not a terrible book but it is disappointing that it was not edited properly. Its easy to bash this book for not meeting publishing standards, but I give it 3 stars because you will definitely learn a lot of Ant. Lots and lots of good, short examples matching the CD. The book seems to have very good coverage/expertise on the technology. It is too bad that the grammar is not perfect, otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate to give it 4 stars. So, if you don't mind the stumbling/stammering grammar and you are a patient reader that can read between the lines then you may be impressed with how much you will learn. This book seems to be targeted for the beginner or intermediate. Its more of a reading book and less of a reference book. I think this book is based on Ant 1.5.x.