Customer Reviews

The Art of Java

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a truly outstanding book and is surely a "must-read" for any serious Java programmer.

The authors are touted as "two genuine Java gurus". Admittedly, I am unfamiliar with one (James Holmes), but the other - Herbert Schildt - I well remember from University days as having written the most in-depth and definitive tome on C programming I had ever seen (and has since moved on to do the same for C++ and C#).

This is not a "how-to" Java programming book or an introductory work. Those new to Java will be out of their depth here.

Instead, "The Art of Java" is a brilliant guide to producing intensely useful and technical Java applications, ranging through parsing numeric expressions, building a Web crawler (adhering to well-defined protocols), implementing an actual computer language, building a complete e-mail subsystem, constructing a streamlined download manager, and more.

These are sophisticated and fascinating Java programs reflecting deep concepts in computer science. The chapters - and their applications - are not merely individual, isolated, programs with no bearing on what has gone before. Rather, each chapter seeks to demonstrate particular features and technologies of Java, with the applications really only being to illustrate the concept - it just so happens they are highly significant and real-world applications, and not simply trite pieces of code as would be found in lesser programming works.

Where this title excels is in its masterful respect and love of the Java language. This is where the "art" in the title comes in; the authors clearly have a passion for Java and its capabilities. The very first chapter even strives to expound on this, where the authors wax lyrical on the pure "genius of Java" itself.

If you love Java, this is a must buy!

What I liked about this book was the fact that the author not only implemented the back end code, but showed how easy it is to put a quick Swing UI on it. The ability to write a complete, good looking application is often missing in most books. I think this should encourage more people to write quick UIs for the various utilities they code in Java. It encouraged me to go back to some old command line programs I use and throw a quick UI on them. Of course, that's not the point of the book. His intention was to show how Java can solve traditional computer science and IT problems. He succeeds at that.

My only complaints are:

1. the book hasn't been updated to Java SE 5 yet.
2. the use of Swing by the author is incorrect in my opinion. I think there's a few times the author doesn't handle the event dispatch thread correctly. This could send people off in the wrong direction with Swing.
3. the coding style doesn't exactly match the Java Style Guide published by Sun. Some people might like this, but I think it's a problem with many books.
4. The code in the book is not syntax highlighted. Most editors do this quite effectively and I think more books should start doing it.

I came across this book recently and was intrigued by the concept. After having read it I'm thoroughly pleased. Most books don't show you how to do the "cool stuff" in programming. This book does that. I've always wondered how AI type programming worked and this book shed some light on it in a real-world fashion. I also enjoyed the chapters on programming Internet-based applications. I have so many ideas now that I know how things work behind the scenes. I definitely recommend this book to others who enjoy tinkering with different types of programs. You'll learn alot!

I've never quite been able to figure out why this excellent little book never caught on. Over the years, Herbert Schildt has been one of the most excellent writers on computer science and programming that I have found, and this book is no exception. Both the narrative and the code are excellent.

The only thing that I can figure is that because this book does not target a particular audience - say those interested in enterprise applications for example - that it never really sold well. It is true, Mr. Schildt is all over the map in his applications - with such varied subjects as a recursive descent parser and also a language interpreter from programming language theory, from the world of web applications a download manager and also a web crawler, and from the world of artificial intelligence a problem solver. To me, though, that is part of this book's appeal. However, if you did not have an academic computer science background I can see how you might not be interested in the programming language and AI parts of the book.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to become a better Java programmer and does not mind spending some time looking at applications that might not be of immediate need to them. Especially if you have an academic computer science background and already know something about programming language theory and artificial intelligence, this book should be very interesting and very helpful.

I've buyed the book today ( in spanish ), and, even not being a skilled Java programmer, I've enjoyed the first chapters. It resembles me the excelent work that Herbert Schildt does in Dr. Dobbs Magazine, a lot of years ago ( sorry, Herb ), and when I saw the getToken() method into the code, this inmediatelly remembers me the "Build your own C interpreter" article, which I've loved it. After five years of "boring" network's administration, I've make the decission of to get more involved into Java developement, and take the Herbert and James's book was the right choice to me. By the way, this is not a beginner's book, but with a little effort, and a middle knowledge of Java and OOP, you are on the way. The best money I've spended.

Mr. Schildt is a great writer and a first class thinker. This book is up to his usual standard. But I have some quibbles:

1. He uses AWT in a few spots. Does anyone use AWT anymore? Swing would have been more beneficial.

2. The code is not refactored. I would image Mr. Schildt had to do this because of the limits on book size but the impact of the book would have been much higher if had applied ExtractMethod a few times.

All in all, another excellent book from Mr. Schildt.

I just got my copy and it looks great! Schildt and Holmes have done an outstanding job on this one. Unlike so many other books, which only teach the basics of Java, this book demonstrates how to use Java to actually do something practical! My two favorite chapters are Schildt's expression parser and Holmes' Web crawler. I whole heartedly recommend this book to any serious Java programmer

I was recently given a copy of the book as a gift! But I couldn't find a place to download the code examples from the chapters. Finally found downloadable code at co-author James Holmes' site.

[...]

Thought folks might like to know this is still available.

I think this book is great! Yes, the code is creaky. It was written pre-Java 1.5. Given the lack of a fresher edition, what do you expect from 2003? (Yes, conformity to Sun style or a typesetting that emphasized keywords would be nice. But the code is still well organized and perfectly readable.)

I just popped the "MiniBrowser" into Eclipse and it runs! Clunky, you bet. Has trouble with certain image formats, can't handle .mp3 links. But it runs, and it serves the PURPOSE of giving one a basic intro to how web browsers work.

I took a few CS courses at college but am mostly DIY self-educated. I assume a lot of the functionality in this book is covered at the college level (e.g., parsers, interpreters). Nice to have these sorts of things laid out with decent explanations, so that an intermediate Java programmer can learn the basic principles of this functionality.

This project is heavy on code examples, but they are full projects. If you are looking for how to do very specific projects then this book MIGHT be for you, however there are not that many projects in the book.

I was expected examples with good coding styles, none of this code would be even close to passing a peer review at my company. I guess it is good for someone looking for full practical examples of some Java projects, but for the most part the book is just a bunch of not very well written code with some not very interesting commentary.

Other people have already commented on the specific deficiencies of the code examples, including misuse of Swing and lack of Java 5 features such as generics.

If you are looking for how the code would be written in a modern development shop, go to JavaRanch. I would not recommend buying this book unless you don't know how to search the web for code snippets.

As far as art, this book is like a bad spatter painting. "Effective Java" does a much better job of exploring the "art" of Java.

I have to admit! The first time I saw this book on amazon.com, I imagined a java book with same old stuff. The used price of the book was relatively high as well. My passion for java made me go for this book, and boy I am so glad that I did. The fact is there is a difference between knowing java and being able to use java to write some cool applications. The latter is the mission of this book. Whether you are interested in Java-AI or just want to write your own Internet Explorer, this book shows you how. So, what are you waiting for! Buy it, enjoy it, and when you are don e with every bit of it, pass it on to others.