Java 2: A Beginner's Guide [Paperback]

Herbert Schildt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072127422 | ISBN-13: 978-0072127423 | Publication Date: November 21, 2000 | Edition: annotated edition

This work provides up-to-date coverage of the latest API specification.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learn the basics of Java 2 programming from master programmer Herb Schildt.

This easy-to-follow guide explains why and how to use Java - the preeminent language of the Internet - and covers core Java concepts, including the fundamentals of object-oriented programming (OOP), program control statements, arrays, strings, methods, classes, objects, and packages. You'll also get full details on exception handling, the I/O system, multithreaded programming, and creating Java applets. To speed your progress, the source code for all examples is available free online. Start programming in Java right away with this self-paced, step-by-step learning solution.

This Beginner's Guide is Designed for Easy Learning:

• Modules - Each programming concept is divided into logical modules (chapters), ideal for individualized learning
• Goals - Each module opens with the specific programming skills you'll have by the end of the module
• Ask the Experts - Q&A sections throughout are filled with extra information and interesting commentary
• 1-Minute Drills - Quick self-assessment sections to check your progress
• Annotated syntax - Example code annotated with commentary that points to the particular technique illustrated
• Projects - Coding exercises contained in each module show how to apply what you are learning
• Mastery Checks - End-of-module reviews that test your knowledge using short-answer, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and simple coding questions

About the Author

Herb Schildt (Mahomet, IL) is a leading authority on C and C++ and a best-selling author whose books have sold more than 2 million copies. His acclaimed C and C++ books include Teach Yourself C, C++ from the Ground Up, C++: The Complete Reference, Java Programmer's Reference, STL Programming from the Ground Up, Windows 98 Programming from the Ground Up, and co-author of C/C++ Annotated Archives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 570 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media; annotated edition edition (November 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072127422
• ISBN-13: 978-0072127423
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,629,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for Novice & Experienced Programmers Alike, October 12, 2003

By 

M. Hart "Sci-Fi Fan" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Java 2: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

When I needed to learn the Java programming language very quickly for work, I read many reviews and narrowed down my search to handful of few books. I looked at copies of my final possible choices in a local bookstore and finally purchased Herbert Schildt's "Java 2: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition" and have absolutely no regrets.

Herbert Schildt's book was written for people to learn the fundamentals of programming in Java as easily and as quickly as possible. (Of course, each reader can go at his/her own pace.) After I began reading the book, I started to become accustomed to Java's terminology and downloaded Sun's free Java compiler online. Within a few days, I was writing my own simple stand-alone Window's applications and applets. After that, I started exploring more complex concepts.

Herbert Schildt's writing style and book organization made it possible for me to start writing a complex, multithreaded, work-related application within 4 weeks. He begins the book with a history of the Java language; it's relations to C, C++ and C#; it's built-in security & portability; bytecode; and object-oriented programming. He then explores data types, operators, and program control statements before explaining the heart of a Java program: classes, objects and methods. From there, the reader is ready to be introduced to some of Java's more powerful aspects: inheritance, polymorphism, abstract classes, packages and interfaces.

Next, what elevates Java over many other languages is its built in exception handling. Being able to track and locate programming errors is often one of the most difficult aspects of programming, especially when the program is large and complex. Java allows programmers to test various blocks of a program using the statements "try" and "catch". Some methods require the use of the "try" and "catch" block because of their potential to generate an exception that is outside of the program's control (such as file streams).

The next very powerful aspect of Java that Herbert Schildt explores is multithreading. Seasoned real-time programmers will be very familiar with the concept of multitasking, but for many novice programmers, the concept of multitasking or multithreading (as it is called in Java) can be daunting and confusing. Herbert Schildt's explanations of how to use multithreading (and its potential problems) are thorough and relevant. Finally, Herbert Schildt explores the creation of applets.

As your knowledge of Java expands, you'll find it very worthwhile to purchase a more comprehensive Java reference book that contains a broad list of the various classes and methods available within the language. For this, I highly recommend Herbert Schildt's "Java 2: The Complete Reference, Fifth Edition", which is geared for J2SE 1.4.

Overall, I rate "Java 2: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition" by Herbert Schildt with 5 out of 5 stars. Java is a great programming language, and Herbert Schildt's instructions make learning the language is painless as possible.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best intro I've found so far., October 15, 2002

By 

Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Java 2: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I've been reading a LOT of intro Java books, and most seem to suffer from the same errors. One common type of book builds the entire text aorund the construction of a complex transaction engine- which I don't happen to have any interest in writing. Others start with a few examples, and then give you 200 page sof details of the language with no examples whatsoever, promising that "we'll see how this works in following chapters". Another type repeatedly provides examples in which we are encourged to ignore the confusing bits and just accept on faith that it's important they look that way. And then there are all those books that assume you know C++ and just need a little transition information.

Happily this book suffers from none of these flaws. It covers a wide range of applications, it's full of detail on the latest graphical interface tools, there are plenty of small examples, and no command or definitions is introduced without a clear example.

This is an excellent book for someone with some programming experience, but no experience in object oriented methods. Storngly recommended.

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Introduction for Absolute Beginners, June 1, 2001

By 

"schapel" (Hillsborough, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java 2: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

Overall, this book is a good introduction to Java for those with little or no programming background. Concepts are explained "from the ground up" so that first-time programmers can understand them. However, for a book that teaches Java to beginners and covers nearly the entire Java language, multithreading, I/O, and graphics programming, 600 pages is not long enough to give thorough and accurate descriptions.

I found many oversimplifications and half-truths throughout the book:

"Static methods may call only static methods." Not true -- static methods may call non-static methods if called on an explicit reference.

"A call to a superclass constructor must be the first statement in every constructor." Not true -- you can call the current class's constructor with "this" instead of "super". This is an important technique called "constructor chaining."

"Wait and notify may be called only from synchronized methods." Not true -- they may be called from non-synchronized methods as long as they are called from a synchronized block and called on a reference to an object the thread holds a lock on.

The explanation about how Java "passes objects by reference" confuses many beginning Java programmers, and the trick of passing an Integer to simulate passing an int by reference doesn't work because Java passes references by value and the wrapper classes are immutable. The explanation about method overloading supporting polymorphism is confusing because which overloaded method to call is decided at compile-time, whereas polymorphism means that the method to call is decided at run-time.

There are numerous examples that demonstrate the mechanics of Java without showing how the constructs should be used in an actual Java program. The example of a finalizer neglects to call super.finalize() as all finalizers should. The example of a catch block sweeps the caught exception under a rug instead of recovering from it. The example of a static initializer simply prints a message to show that it was executed instead of doing something useful like loading a class or library.

Readers who learn Java from this book should be prepared to study a more thorough and accurate Java programming book after this one. For those who just want to program in Java as a hobby, this makes a decent introduction to the topic. Just be aware that not everything the book says is true or as simple as it appears.