Essentials of the Java Programming Language: A Hands-On Guide [Paperback]

Monica Pawlan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201707209 | ISBN-13: 978-0201707205 | Publication Date: May 1, 2000 | Edition: 1st

Thousands of programmers want to learn Java fast, hands-on -- with as little complexity and theory as possible. For them, Essentials of the JavaaA A Programming Language is the perfect starting point. Based on Monica Pawlan's wildly-popular web tutorial, this accessible, "learn-by-doing" guide covers all the fundamentals by walking through a simple program that gradually grows into a full-fledged eCommerce application which illustrates Java 2's most important programming techniques and concepts. In the first half of the book, developers master key essentials such as: building basic user interfaces; reading and writing data to files and databases; sending and receiving data across networks via RMI and sockets; compiling and running programs; and the differences between applications, applets, servlets, and JavaServer Pages. Next, Pawlan introduces more advanced concepts. In just 300 pages, developers get a complete, accurate, real-world grounding in Java -- all they need to get results fast, and shorten their learning curve as they move into more sophisticated Java development. For every programmer seeking to learn Java quickly and easily.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With so many APIs and features, the complexity of today's Java 2 standard is certainly a strength of the platform, but this complexity does mean the language can seem a bit daunting to beginners. Instead of aiming to be comprehensive, Monica Pawlan's Essentials of the Java Programming Language gives you what you need to get started with Java in a smart, understandable tour of the most relevant features for serious enterprise development.

Organized into 14 "lessons," this book covers the basics of Java to build a simple applet-based e-commerce example. Besides covering the basics, including simple class design and practical hints for compiling, running, and deploying your first Java programs, this book concentrates on the APIs needed for real-world development. This includes servlets for building HTML on the fly, socket programming, RMI for remote procedure calls, and JDBC for database programming.

Enhanced in several steps, the author's sample code lets the reader see essential Java concepts. By the end of the volume, the sample application can simulate processing orders for a simple fruit store (including credit card numbers). Although it's far from commercially viable, the sample is a good choice for showing off the fundamentals of Java. Besides hitting the basics, the book covers such topics as basic file I/O and internationalization issues. (An appendix even introduces cryptography done the Java way.)

Of course, readers will want to explore the topics introduced in Essentials of the Java Programming Language in more detail elsewhere. But there's little doubt this slim, well-presented, and digestible book can put the basics of today's hottest language into the hands of anyone who has a little programming experience. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Introductory Java tutorial, installation and compilation hints, Java classes, fields and methods; applets, basic Swing components and user interfaces, event handling, introduction to servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSPs), HTML forms, Java collections, Java file I/O, exception handling, security, permissions and policy files; JDBC and database basics, accessing data in servlets, Remote Method Invocation (RMI) clients and servers, Java socket classes, internationalization, packages, JAR files and deployment, introduction to object-oriented programming, and cryptography basics.

From the Inside Flap

If you are new to programming in the Java™ language and have some experience with other languages, this tutorial could be for you. It walks you through how to use the Java 2 Platform software to develop a basic network application that uses common Java 2 platform features. This tutorial is not comprehensive, but instead it takes you on a straight and uncomplicated path through the more common features available in the Java platform. This tutorial is a learning tool and should be viewed as a stepping-stone for persons who find the currently available materials a little too overwhelming to start with.

To reduce your learning curve, this tutorial begins with a simple program in Lesson 1, develops the program by adding new features in every lesson, and leaves you with a general electronic commerce application and a basic understanding of object-oriented programming concepts in Lesson 15. Unlike other, more reference-style texts that give you a lot of definitions and concepts at the beginning, this tutorial takes a practical approach. New features and concepts are described when they are added to the example application, and the end of each lesson points to texts where you can get more information.

Please note the final application is for instructional purposes only and would need more work to make it production worthy. By the time you finish this tutorial, you should have enough knowledge to go on comfortably to other Java programming language learning materials currently on the market and continue your studies.

If you have no programming experience at all, you might still find this tutorial helpful; but you also might want to take an introductory programming course before you proceed.

Lessons 1 through 8 explain how applications, applets, and servlets/JavaServer Pages™ are similar and different, how to build a basic user interface that handles simple user input, how to read data from and write data to files and databases, and how to send and receive data over the network.

Lessons 9 through 15 are somewhat more complex and build on the material presented in the first eight lessons. These lessons walk you through socket communications, building a user interface using more components, grouping multiple data elements as one unit (collections), saving data between program invocations (serialization), and internationalizing a program. Lesson 15 concludes the series with basic object-oriented programming concepts.

This tutorial covers object-oriented concepts at the end, after you have had practical experience with the language so you can relate the object-oriented concepts to your experiences. This should make learning the concepts a little easier. Remember, this tutorial is a learning tool, and the intention is that you gain enough experience and information here to go on comfortably to other more comprehensive and in-depth texts to continue your studies.

Appendix A provides a version of the enterprise example that uses encryption and decryption technology to pass a credit card number over the network. This material is in an appendix because the encryption and decryption software is currently available only in the United States and Canada.

Appendix B presents the complete and final code for this tutorial.

Note: JavaBeans™ technology, which lets you create portable program components that follow simple naming and design conventions, is not covered here. While creating a simple JavaBean component is easy, understanding JavaBeans features requires knowledge of such things as properties, serialization, events, and inheritance. When you finish these lessons, you should have the knowledge you need to go on to a good text on JavaBeans technology and continue your studies. 0201707209P04062001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 301 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1st edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201707209
• ISBN-13: 978-0201707205
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, crisp, concise, August 4, 2000

By 

Venkatesh (Minenapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essentials of the Java Programming Language: A Hands-On Guide (Paperback)

Great book for beginners. Our entire development team was initiated into Java programming using the author's tutorials..

Author has tremendous ability to deal with abstract concepts with ease - without compromising on depth, clarity or effectiveness.

Her greatest asset seems to be the gift of keeping things simple and short. The Java world is inundated with plenty of verbose literature and brevity is always welcome ...Monica makes an outstanding effort in that direction.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite sure where the audience is, July 18, 2000

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essentials of the Java Programming Language: A Hands-On Guide (Paperback)

One thing that can be said about this book is that the approach to demonstrating how things are done in Java is quite different. The first three lessons are standard ones about compiling and running a simple program, building an application and designing an applet. However, after ten lessons that cover among other things building servlets, file and database access; remote method invocation, socket communications and internationalization, there is a fourteenth and final lesson on object-oriented programming. Given that the presentation of the previous material requires the explanation of methods, constructors, exceptions, extends, accessors, implements, event handling, class hierarchies and so many of the other principles of object-oriented programming the last lesson is essentially superfluous. I find it baffling that chapter 14 would introduce the topics of classes, objects, inheritance, polymorphism, and data access levels. It should have been split up and doled out into the other chapters or better yet made into a summary as an appendix.
The first five chapters are clearly aimed at beginners, either to Java or even to programming. The examples are short and well within the capabilities of a beginner. However, in chapter six things change quickly. Exceptions are introduced and the inheritance tree ending at the java.lang.Error and java.lang.Exception classes is presented. This combination would overwhelm a beginner and a similar approach is followed throughout the book until the last lesson.
However, most examples are quite good in that they demonstrate the topics with code that is crisp and easy to understand, provided you have the necessary background. This is a case where the author tried to write a book for beginners and missed the mark by aiming too high. The higher goal of a book of examples for experienced programmers was also missed by aiming too low. To be honest, I really do not know where to place it if I were asked to describe the target audience.

5.0 out of 5 stars Basic to understand Java, August 31, 2010

By 

Wylmarks D. Correa - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essentials of the Java Programming Language: A Hands-On Guide (Paperback)

I have found this book interesting because explains in simple words how you can understand completelly the Java architecture. With this you get motivated and begin to understand this faboulous trend in programming.