Beginning Java [Paperback]

Ivor Horton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

Focusing on showing users how they can achieve success with Java, this book builds their confidence, enabling them to experiment and develop their own applications at an early stage.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Beginning Java is quite possibly the most comprehensive and readable tutorial for the Java programming language available today. The author takes a language-centered approach to showing off Java features, beginning with basic data types and language keywords, along with an explanation of the fundamentals of object-oriented programming and design. This strategy makes the book an excellent introduction for beginning programmers who learn Java as their first programming language. (More experienced programmers can skim the early chapters and get to more advanced topics.)

Early on, the author uses command-line examples to show Java basics without getting bogged down in the details of AWT interface programming. He also presents some great advanced topics, such as the chapter on file I/O in Java, which you won't likely find in any other volumes on Java. Other especially useful expert topics include the Java threads, database and JDBC programming, and even socket programming using Java's networking classes. The book closes with a very clear explanation of remote method invocation (RMI) for distributed computing and details on how to deploy Java components on the Web in JAR files.

Beginning Java is truly a rare find: both beginners and experts can use this book and it proves that Java is a great language for teaching programming. As Java becomes the language of choice for the industry, we can expect more books to approach the language in the same way. With Beginning Java, the author seems to have a head start on the future of how to teach programming.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1039 pages
• Publisher: Apress (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861000278
• ISBN-13: 978-1861000279
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,523,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Beginner's Book, October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beginning Java (Paperback)

Having attempted (and failed) to learn Java thru tutorials, software documentation, and several other books, I came across this book and I suddenly started to get somewhere.

This book starts at the beginning and requires that you build your knowledge from the fundamental concepts.

Learning Java is not easy. It is a very complex language and getting more complex with each new release. Adding to the difficulty is the Object Oriented nature of Java. You have to learn a new language and a new programming paradigm in order to be successful using Java. This book addresses both of these requirements and ties them together better than any other book or tutorial I have tried.

Some of the explanations for OO concepts and application in Java were the best I've ever seen and definately brought me to the "Aha" point.

Now I understand the concepts and am able to create useful programs of my own. Other texts left me with a lot of jargon, trivial examples, and no transferable skill. Great book - read this and do the work before you try anything else.

57 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excited to finally be programming, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beginning Java (Paperback)

I'm 15 years old, and one day out of the blue I just decided that I wanted to learn how to program(computers, that is). Well, I dabbled a bit in other programming languages, or tried to. Often I couldn't find enough documentation to even get the compiler working. In the end I came upon Java. I downloaded a few online tutorials and the jdk and set at it. Unfortunately I found the tutorials to be a bit skimpy and hard to understand, often requiring the reader to have previous background in programming ( I didnt download these, of course). In the end I journeyed to my local library ( I wonder if I should be using a dicionary to check my spelling) where i checked out a couple books and found them to be worse than the tutorials. I finally got my hands of Mr. Horton's book, and to my great suprise, I found a book that described everything in detail and(!) I could understand it! ( I'm overdoing it aren't I?) once I understood the basic concepts I was more able to use all the other resources I had compiled with more ease. Not to say that I didn't finish the book, it took me 3 weeks and an enormous fine before I returned it having absorbed all I thought I could use. This is turning out a bit to long winded. Ah well, at any rate this book is truly a fine example of...a programming book...for Java... totally readable and understandable( which, to my knowledge are two different things...). My problem with his book (A.K.A: why I'm giving it 4 stars) is Horton's rambling on about principles that well,... I know I'm not going to use (and by the way a ,... is 4 pauses). One odd section was his rambling on about hexadecimal numbers, which yeilded no meaning to me no matter how manny times I read it.

My next problem ( and by far the worst) are a few problems in the source code, parenthisese( lord, I know I spelt that wrong, inexcusable considering how often I use them) where there should be brackets and the like. Such little errors will drive you insane- especially early on when you can't spot the problem because of inexperiance.

Ok... that's it, all in all its a great book, one that I would without hesitation recommend to anyone... even if they don't care about progamming at all... although I'm not sure why.

BTW: I'm not going over this for typos, misspellings, or missing words altogether, so I hope you could read it. At any rate, at least you didn't have to read it in my handwriting. Uhhh huh.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for serious students!, January 13, 2001

By 

Mitchell Kirschner (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beginning Java (Paperback)

*Caveat emptor!* After buying this book, I discovered that amazon.com sells three different editions of it. I unwittingly bought the oldest version (published June 1997, covering JDK 1.1). The fundamentals haven't changed, but I recommend spending a few more dollars to buy the latest version (published April 2000) , titled Beginning Java 2 - JDK 1.3.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I can say that this book is perfect for me. I've worked in the IT industry for about 5 years, primarily as a project manager. At the moment I'm on sabbatical, going through a self-directed retraining process to become an internet programmer of some sort (specific technologies still TBD). I may or may not decide to specialize in Java, but one of my immediate goals is to gain a solid understanding of the Java language.

The author, Ivor Horton, is a programming veteran (the cover photo showing his grey hair is a clue) who takes obvious pride not only in the craft of programming, but in the craft of writing. The prose is smooth and pleasant to read, and the treatment of the subject is logical, well-organized, and detailed. Horton's fondness for teaching also shines through, and he teaches you not only about Java, but about programming in general.

I'm only on Chapter 3 as I write this, but what has impressed me most is how Horton illustrates progressively simpler(and preferable) ways to accomplish a given programming task in Java. To some, that may seem like a roundabout way of getting to the point. But for serious students it provides an in-depth understanding of the subject. Before I started the book I already had a superficial conceptual understanding of object-oriented programming, or OOP. That is, I could spout rote explanations of how "classes", "objects", "methods", "properties" relate to one another. But thanks to Horton's teaching approach, I'm beginning to truly understand why OOP is powerful and useful.

As another reviewer pointed out, Horton relies heavily on mathematical examples in his Java programs. But I've always liked math, so that didn't bother me. If I decide to become a Java expert, I'll probably acquire some additional Java books that provide more relevant examples for internet programming.

In summary, this isn't a "Get Java quick" type of book - which I mean as nothing but a compliment. Super novice programmers may want to supplement it with a more introductory treatment to get started. Likewise, highly advanced programmers may prefer an encyclopedic reference work instead, but they still could get a lot out of this book, as the visual layout allows you to easily identify and skip over generic explanations of programming concepts.

I give the book 5 stars, because it's very well-suited to my present needs.