Java 7 for Absolute Beginners (For Absolute Beginners Apress) [Paperback]

Jay Bryant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1430236868 | ISBN-13: 978-1430236863 | Edition: 1

Java 7 Programming for Absolute Beginners introduces the new core, open source Java Development Kit. Its focus is on practical knowledge and its completeness—it provides all the bits and pieces an utter novice needs to get started programming in Java.  

It seems as if everyone is writing applications or apps these days for Android, BlackBerry, and the enterprise—it's where the money's at. But, how do they do it? Well, it's best to start by learning Java, one of the most popular programming languages around these days, still. Yes, that's right. 

This book:

• Teaches Java development in language anyone can understand, giving you the best possible start
• Provides simple, step-by-step examples that make learning easy, allowing you to pick up the concepts without fuss
• Offers clear code descriptions and layout so that you can get your code running as soon as possible

What you’ll learn

• How a computer processes programs
• Write a program in Java
• Debug a program
• Choose and manipulate the data structures that best match your purpose
• Create a user interface in Java
• How to do animation in a Java program
• Advanced topics such as thread management and recursion that any programmer will soon need

Who this book is for

Everyone! This book is for anyone who wants to learn to develop applications or apps for the enterprise or mobile using Android or BlackBerry and much more. No previous programming experience is necessary.

Table of Contents

1. Writing Your First Java Program
2. Java Syntax
3. Data types
4. Operators
5. Branching and Looping
6. Object-Oriented Programming
7. Writing a UI 
8. Writing and Reading Files
9. Writing and Reading XML
10. Animation
11. Debugging
12. Video Games
13. Garbage Collection
14. Recursion
15. Generics and Regular Expressions

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jay Bryant has been writing about and programming computers in a variety of languages since 1987. He has written for General Electric, Motorola, 3M, Pitney Bowes, and others. He has programmed for Logical Information Machines (a Morningstar company), the Boston Globe, and others.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (December 21, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430236868
• ISBN-13: 978-1430236863
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete without complication, January 6, 2012

By 

M. Hinze (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Java 7 for Absolute Beginners (For Absolute Beginners Apress) (Paperback)

Bryant's writing is complete but not complicated. There is a lot of information is this book, but it's presented in digestible chunks of actionable information. I found it perfect for flipping and casual reading, and I'm sure that folks new to coding would want to work through it. The instructions are precise and specific. There's no hand holding though - I recommend this book for folks who want to get up to speed on Java 7 quickly.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible so far, February 16, 2012

By 

Andy Davis (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java 7 for Absolute Beginners (For Absolute Beginners Apress) (Paperback)

I have high standards for books targeted to beginners. They can leave things out, but it is vitally important that what they undertake to explain, they explain correctly.

We're barely out of chapter two and I have already found two egregious errors.

On Page 22, we have the misstatement that "On a class, the static keyword means that only one instance of that class exists". This is just wrong. Static cannot be applied to a top level class and on an inner class it means that the inner class doesn't have a reference to the outer class.

On Page 30, we have the statement that "Static blocks are handy bits of code that let you define one block of code and have it be included in every constructor." Again, this is just wrong. Static blocks are blocks of code that are executed exactly once (when the class is first loaded). They are not called every time a new instance of the class is constructed. The lossage continues on page 31 where the author claims,

"...the real value of static blocks makes sure that everything the class needs gets into each constructor. You can get bugs from having things set in some constructors but not others, and static blocks help you manage that problem."

Again, this is wrong; completely and irredeemably wrong. If you should be setting it in a constructor, you can't set it in a static block. Why you need static blocks is subtle, and I would have left it out of a beginner's book, but this incorrect explanation is bound to do quite a bit of damage.

Where it is not wrong, the book is unexceptional in its explanations, if you're looking to learn Java, I would suggest you keep looking.