Customer Reviews

Concurrent Programming: The Java Programming Language

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

 

 

This book is passably written by an author who cares much more about concurrent applications than about java. Java is perhaps just a hook to get you to buy the book. Why spend chapters on semaphores when the language has native monitor support? The editing of this book, however, makes it nearly unreadable and unusable. The text regularly refers to "Class 2.5" or "Listing 3.4" (for example) yet none of the code listings are labeled, and may not be on the same page. You'll drive yourself nuts trying to figure out what he's talking about. Also, the text makes reference to code and listings that can only be found on the author's web page without explicitly stating this. Finally, is the first philosopher "Philosopher 1" or "Philosopher 0"? An editor should have picked this up and corrected it.

Let's get something straight, I'm currently a college student at Drexel University (The Author's college). I am a Dual BS/MS Student with a GPA > 3.8 in computer science. This book is without a doubt the worst book I've ever been forced to purchase for a class and I am fully convinced that we only use it because the author is part of the community at this school. As has been mentioned before, the code samples are not labeled. Working with the code is also a horrendous experience trying to figure out which problem matches up with which set of 4 letter source files (such descriptive names as "bbpc.java"). I do not agree that the theory is all that great in this book. Personally, I think that by reading the Javasoft tutorial one can get a better understanding of Concurrent Programming. The other reviewers are also correct in saying that the book is very poorly edited. It looks like something banged out over a month's period or time. My Recommendation? Don't buy this book, and if your professor makes you buy it for a class, protest. I told mine flat out that the book (...). Not much came of it, but at least it's out in the open. I would give this book a negative rating if (possible).

The book is great on theory and poor on programming ideas. He writes "The best way to debug a Java program is with the System.out.println statement, as is the case with any high-level programming language." Inexcusable language for a professor in computer science.

I was assigned to use this book as text book, I find it is a good book but a little different in real programming. The theory is much more easy than other books.