Java All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies [Paperback]

Doug Lowe (Author), Barry Burd (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470124512 | ISBN-13: 978-0470124512 | Publication Date: June 25, 2007 | Edition: 2

• Eight minibooks comprising nearly 900 pages give developers the tips and techniques they need to get up and running on the new J2SE 6 (Java Standard Edition 6) and JDK 6 (Java Development Kit 6)
• This friendly, all-inclusive reference delivers the lowdown on Java language and syntax fundamentals as well as Java server-side programming, with explanations, reference information, and how-to instructions for both beginning and intermediate-to-advanced programmers
• Minibooks cover Java basics; programming basics; strings, arrays, and collections; programming techniques; Swing; Web programming; files and databases; and fun and games

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

9 books in 1—your key to success with Java!

Your one-stop guide to taming Java® and boosting your developer skills

Want to start programming with Java? This handy resource packs all the Java essentials you need into one easy-to-use guide. It's been fully updated for Java 6, covering everything from Java and XML to Swing, Server-side Java, and Eclipse. You'll do object-oriented programming, create applets for the Web, read and write XML data, and much more!

• Install and use Java tools

• Work with variables and data types

• Program for a network

• Build graphical userinterfaces

• Create servlets and Java Server Pages

• Develop animations and simple games

About the Author

Doug Lowe has been writing computer programming books since the guys who invented Java were still in high school. He’s written books on COBOL, Fortran, Visual Basic, IBM mainframe computers, mid-range systems, PCs, Web programming, and probably a few he’s forgotten about. He’s the author of more than 30 For Dummies books, such as Networking For Dummies, 7th Edition, Networking For Dummies All-in-One Desk Reference, 2nd Edition, ASP.NET Everyday Applications For Dummies, and Word 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. He lives with his wife and the youngest of his three daughters in that sunny All-American City Fresno, California, where the motto is, “It’s a sunny, All-American City.” He’s also one of those obsessivecompulsive decorating nuts who puts up tens of thousands of lights at Christmas and creates computer-controlled Halloween decorations that rival Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Maybe his next book should be Tacky Holiday Decorations For Dummies.

Barry Burd received an M.S. degree in Computer Science at Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Illinois. As a teaching assistant in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, he was elected five times to the university-wide List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students.
Since 1980, Dr. Burd has been a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. When he’s not lecturing at Drew University, Dr. Burd leads training courses for professional programmers in business and industry. He has lectured at conferences in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. He is the author of several articles and books, including Java For Dummies and Ruby on Rails For Dummies, both from Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 912 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2 edition (June 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470124512
• ISBN-13: 978-0470124512
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Java
  • #98 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Introductory & Beginning

More About the Author

Doug Lowe is a veteran author of more than 40 For Dummies books with more than a million copies in print. He's covered everything from productivity software to programming.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Dummies book--pleasantly surprised!, October 24, 2006

By 

kalmia (Traverse City, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies (Paperback)

Been a programmer for a long time but first time trying to learn Java.

This book has been very useful. I think it is very easy to find information on a lot of topics, and the examples are pretty good. Can DOWNLOAD example source code [big PLUS!!].

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good reference & tutorial, but not for the faint-of-heart!, January 21, 2006

By 

S Walker (Littleton, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies (Paperback)

This book does a good job at introducing several topics, from basic Java programming to respectable OOP practices. However, I would not consider this a step-by-step intorductory tutorial on Java - more like a "Firehose approach to everything you need to know to be a good Software Engineer, using Java".

My 10 year old son has no programming experience at all, and was able to follow the beginning chapters fairly easily, once we got Java installed. However, diving into the Eclipse framework in chapter 4 and discussing "refactorings" before OOP lost him in a hurry.

The amount of sample code is extensive, and is well used throughout the book to substantiate the topics and ideas. This is truly a reference book that supplies many excellent examples of how to do it "right".

This is a great reference book for the junior programmer, and I would reccomend it to college students up to the 2nd year programmer.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars just treat it as a big Dummies text, July 24, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Java All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies (Paperback)

Don't take too seriously the cover's claim about this book being 9 books wrapped into one. Inside, Lowe follows through on this claim by having groups of chapters, where each group is a "book". If you take that at face value, each book is only some 100 pages or less.

My suggestion is to ignore the 9 books hype. Just regard this as an atypically long Dummies text. You get a decent exposition of the basics of Java. If the book seems long, it is because Java has grown.

The book also correctly gives minimal space to explaining how to write applets. This was the original Java niche. But applets have proven to be disappointing for much serious work. It's nice to see that Lowe has done his homework on this.