Active Visual J++, with CD (Microsoft Programming Series) [Paperback]

Scott Robert Ladd (Author)

Book Description

Series: Microsoft Programming Series | Publication Date: August 1, 1997

Visual J++ is Microsoft's powerhouse implementation of Java - the one that offers pure Java compatibility and is optimized for Windows-based programming. Active Visual J++ shows you how to combine powerful Internet technologies - Java, ActiveX, and the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) - to create exciting interactive applications for the Web and intranets. Written for intermediate programmers who know the basics of Java, this books gives you an overview of the new features and new strengths of Visual J++ version 1.1 and how to put them all to best use, a comprehensive look at ActiveX content - how a Java applet can be enhanced with ActiveX components, and clear guidance for taking the next step: from Java applets to complete applications built from packages of reusable components. Altogether, Active Visual J++ gives you clear guidance on taking Java beyond its Web-based roots, gives you a feel for Microsoft's Internet strategy, and lets you work with plenty of valuable code samples on CD-ROM.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Active Java J++, well-known computer author Scott Robert Ladd helps experienced C++ programmers make the transition to Java. This book provides a quick overview of the history of computing and Java's position in the evolution of computers. The beginning of the guide offers quick tours of Java's language features and the basics of object-oriented design (OOD). In a particularly valuable chapter, Ladd converts a C++ program, which uses templates, into Java (which has none). Throughout this book, the choice of coding examples is interesting, if unorthodox. (They also seem to be drawn from material the author has covered in his other books on templates, genetic algorithms, and "the Game of Life" or cellular automata.) The heart of this book discusses how to use Microsoft's Visual J++ compiler, which is unique in that it supports ActiveX components. (A strong chapter here shows how to build an ActiveX component in Java.) Though the author briefly describes Sun's JavaBeans component standard, he focuses on ActiveX. His chapters on the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) and user interface design feel a little perfunctory. The book closes with a Java port of the Game of Life. If you don't mind giving up the 100% pure approach to writing Java applets/applications, check out Active Java, which includes some information on Java and ActiveX technologies that you aren't likely to find anywhere else.

About the Author

Ladd is renowned for writing portable and efficient code in C and C++.

Product Details

• Paperback: 331 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572316098
• ISBN-13: 978-1572316096
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,800,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst book ever from Microsoft Press, July 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Active Visual J++, with CD (Microsoft Programming Series) (Paperback)

Bad examples!!! Reader needs to know automata and other theorotical aspects before he can read the book. MIND magazine has better articles than this book has. Now I am careful, when I see its MS Press book. Avoid if you are interested in learning J++/MS Java. This is the only book I regreat buying.

Hope author comes up with better examples in next edition! If there is a next edition!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not up to MSPress' usually high standard, August 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Active Visual J++, with CD (Microsoft Programming Series) (Paperback)

I like MSPress books, usually. I did not like this book. The book is thin and seemed padded (lots of empty separator pages, long boring, obscure code samples) - not much content. The book is seemed like a book about Java with some coverage of VJ++, rather than vice-versa.

How many more books have to go over the same old java vs. C++ stuff, OOD, and the Internet (hello, this book is for "intermediate programmers who know the basics of Java" - they already know about the INternet). Perhaps these sections should be replaced with real content. THis is not a Java Primer - it lacks the content required for that, yet it covers ground that would be covered in any Java Primer (which would be a prerequisite to this book). No coverage of database access, e.g. ADO...yet surely Active suggests dynamic websites, which are often/primarily used to provide database access.

The examples were...poorly chosen IMHO. ..and the paper seemed cheap and yellowed! (How about a webpage accessing a database as a more relevant example?)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but with a few "issues", March 25, 2002

By 

"donkiely" (Fairbanks, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Active Visual J++, with CD (Microsoft Programming Series) (Paperback)

Even though Java used to figure prominently in Microsoft's favorite technologies, its Visual J++ product is one of the most widely used Java development tools on the market. Scott Robert Ladd's Active Visual J++ is an excellent introduction to Java programming with VJ++ and Microsoft's Internet strategy. The book claims to be intermediate level, but you'd better already know the basics of Java programming before tackling it, or at least have a solid background in C++. The book spends its time explaining how to develop applets and applications, with very little on Java syntax.
Part 1, Object-Oriented Programming, provides an overview of Java and its role for Internet-based and full-blown applications. I liked the overview of Java class design and the comparison between Java and C++. Part 2, Component-Oriented Java, using Java for components, both for Web applications and standalone apps. The author spends a fair bit of time talking about ActiveX and COM (this is a Microsoft Press book, after all), but includes a chapter about JavaBeans and how you can mix and match them with ActiveX components. The last part, Application Java, focuses on creating standalone applications with Java, with discussions of the Abstract Window Toolkit, user-interface design, building and using components, and security issues. Over the course of several chapters, the author develops some simple but complete Java programs with VJ++.
I found the book to be generally well-written with light humor but with an inconsistency that was sometimes distracting. The author excels when describing general concepts but sometimes gets bogged down in detail. The chapter on the AWT, for example, consists mostly of the various classes listing their methods and properties (using Microsoft's terms, not Java's) with a couple of sentences explanation. I think this chapter would be more useful with a broader overview of the AWT serving as an introduction to the following chapters. Several of the diagrams look to have been hastily drawn with a marker then poorly reproduced.
Normally I don't like code listings in books that go on for several pages, but here it works. The examples are short enough to let you grasp how it works but without going on forever. The CD, of course, includes all the code.
But these are minor niggles. If you know either Java or C++ and want to use VJ++ to write anything from simple applets to full applications, this is a very good place to start.