Cutting-Edge Java Game Programming: Everything You Need to Create Interactive Internet Games with Java [Paperback]

Neil Bartlett (Author), Steve Simkin (Author), Chris Stranc (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 1996

Teaches you how to write incredible multiuser games for the Internet using the Java programming language. Lists the best Internet resources for game players and programmers. Includes arcade-style game creation tips: game loops, sprites, collision detection, and realistic movement. Details over 10,000 lines of highly optimized, reusable code.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Neil Barlett (Toronto, Ontario) is the owner of G.E.S.C. Ltd., a software consulting company, and is also a JARS (Java Application Rating Service) Judge. Neil is a co-author of the Java Programming EXplorer.

Steve Simkin (North York, Ontario) is a freelance computer consultant and has been a professional software developer for ten years. Steve is a co-author of the Java Programming EXplorer.

Chris Stranc (Orangeville, Ontario) is a software engineer at Northern Telecom specializing in graphical interfaces to manufacturing data.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Coriolis Group (November 12, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883577985
• ISBN-13: 978-1883577988
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad.. but could be much better!, December 6, 1999

By 

Frederic Daoud (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cutting-Edge Java Game Programming: Everything You Need to Create Interactive Internet Games with Java (Paperback)

This book assumes that you know some Java, and thus does not waste any space on Java basics. This is good for those of us that don't like buying a book on a specific subject and then skipping a third of it because it's all basic stuff that you could learn from other books anyway. Other good points about this book include that it offers good coverage of the important issues faced when writing a game. They are not afraid of getting into the important details. Often, as you are reading, you think of a "what if?" question in your head, and hey- the next paragraph starts with the same "what if?" question, then answers it.

What I did not like about this book is that the code is indeed very sloppy. At first I thought I was being picky, but others have observed the same thing. The code could have used a much cleaner design. I was one of the unfortunates who got a bad CD-ROM, and even if you painstakingly install all the files yourself and rename every single one of them (because they are stored in 8.3 format), the structure is still sloppy. The framework is re-copied in multiple directories- shouldn't a framework be in one central place and re-used by all of the concrete code? Worse: each copy of the framework is inconsistent. Many hours are lost trying to fix all of these problems.

A final note: the prose is filled with little jokes, which you may or may not like; some people think this lightens up text, but I feel that too many can become annoying. This combined with poor code and an un-tested CD-ROM makes you feel that the product lacks professionalism.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Javaworld gave book "Very Good" in all categories, August 23, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Boston, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cutting-Edge Java Game Programming: Everything You Need to Create Interactive Internet Games with Java (Paperback)

FYI: The review is at, http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-09-1997/jw-09-bookreview.html Really liked the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good, but buggy starting point for writting Java game, February 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cutting-Edge Java Game Programming: Everything You Need to Create Interactive Internet Games with Java (Paperback)

This book was a good starting point for developing Java games, but the code is very sloppy and unprofessional. It is obvious that they didn't test it at all (don't believe the nonsense that they've fixed things since the first printing, I bought it in 12/98). If you don't mind spending hours and hours (and hours) fixing their bugs, I would recommend the book.