Customer Reviews

Essential Java Fast: How to Write Object Oriented Software for the Internet in Java (Essential Series)

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

 

 

I wanted a slim, easily-read concise guide to Java. This book was slim.

I have never seen a programming book which contained so many broken or poorly edited code examples. In fact this is the only book I've read which didn't seem to have a _single_ correct code example. Only those readers who are accomplished C/C++ programmers will be able to get them to work. Yet look what the author says in Ch 1:

"Becoming fluent in a new programming language is difficult and time-consuming. ... The best way to learn Java is to read the early chapters and to try the examples for yourself."

That's a great idea, or it would be if the examples weren't crocks.

The text was also weak in many places and poorly-edited, though not completely unengaging. Yet the author never sees fit to identify which version of the JDK he was targeting - this is an important piece of information which he is obliged to share with his readers. It would not surprise me if the book had not been edited at all. I had had a relatively high opinion of Springer Verlag before I bought this book. Now they will really have to work hard to get me to buy another.

I wanted a cheapish book on Java: this was cheapish, published by a reputable publisher Springer Verlag and the author was from the UK.

I'm sorry I bought it. It's full of strange mistakes: the statement c += d is said to mean c = c + Delphi (I don't know where it came from but I suspect a Global Search and Replace was responsible).

Some of the code cannot possibly compile (missing, extra ;s), some is very confusing, code to produce a window titled "Java Window" has a picture of a window titled "my Window" (the name of the variable that the window is assigned to) and so on.

I assume that I have the first edition. I'd wait for the second at least.

Incidentally the book says it was prepared from camera-ready copy supplied by the author!

This book is great when you need to learn Java in a hurry. There's plenty of other books out there that come in over four hundred pages - but this book is straight forward and concise

The best thing this book has going for it is that it isn't too long. Not bad for a quick tour of the language, but it was riddled with errors in the code and poor editing of the text. The author was also unable to resist pointing out bugs in the JDK and Netscape which have probably been fixed long ago. The author also failed to mention the version of the JDK described.