Customer Reviews

Java The Complete Reference, Seventh Edition (Osborne Complete Reference Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the text for a class I just finished. It's clearly written and does cover the new elements of the Java 6 platform. The author seems obsessed with AWT and applets in spite of neither having been used much this century. The book gives short shrift to swing. The book has nothing about java.sql and database connectivity. It touches briefly on servlets and ignores jsps.

If you're interested in an introduction to the nuts and bolts of the language the book is OK, if not inspired. Don't expect it to serve as a reference; it's short on detail. I would have liked to have seen a stronger emphasis on OO design. Most of the code examples are written in a procedural style that wouldn't have been out of place in 1985. A positive for the code examples is that every one I've tried compiles and seems to run properly.

I am new to java but programmed in C before. Currently I use the Sun java tutorial and the contents of the above book to get into Java. Un some areas the Java tutorial is better understandable and in some others the above book. Using both gets most of the questions answered. The above book is quite good to have a fast reference to scan through, if one prefers to use a book than to sort it out on the computer.

Unfortunately both are not providing real full propper understandable application examples when it gets more complicated, i.e. examples with proper multi thread operation with propper error handling, internationalization etc. These could be some kind of full applicatation covering not more than a few pages.

Internationalisation seems not to be covered by the above book at all. I don't think it matters much if the software is used only locally but as soon as it is posted on the internet, one should have serious thoughts about it.

If you're looking for the one-stop reference book --- this is it. But like other reference books, this one may sit, unused on your desk gathering dust. It's a painfully dry read guaranteed to put you to sleep at night.

Although you don't expect indepth information from a refernce book, its fair to expect at least the basic concept. Part 1 I think did a decent job of that. Part 2 however was a disaster with it being nothing more than listing of the classes and methods (epsecially the collections framework). Examples were pretty ordinary probably just a step over Hello World. It lets you know the syntax but doesn't explain how it is used in real world. Overall not moany of the 100+ pages were worth reading.

It is an OK reference book - however - it is a bit of stretch to call it a complete reference.

You are probably better of buying more specialized books if you are already well verced in Java. "Effective Java" by Joshua Block is highly recommendable.

I learn't java using this book 8 years ago. With all the updates to Java 5, I wanted to know about generics and annotations etc. After failing to understand them using online materials, I turned to this book again. It does a wonderful job.
I recommend this book for beginners. Don't be turned off by the huge book. The first few chapters, will give you all that you need.

I'm new to Java, actually this book has every thing that a beginner or intermediate programmer needs.
The author didn't depend on the back knowledge base of the programmer, he assumes that you need every single information in Java.
I think every Java beginner should own this book.
The only thing that I didn't like in this book is that it doesn't cover one important part of Java, that is JDBC.

Java: The Complete Reference, Seventh Edition (Osborne Complete Reference Series)

It is a very good book. You can find almost everything you need for starting Java programming. I recommend it!

But for other interesting subjects like RMI or JCE you have to refer to other specialized books...

This is a nice book for Java beginners, especially for those who have some experience with C++. The first part discusses the basic Java language syntax and features. Mr. Schildt illustrates each of his points with some short pieces of codes and gives some insight about the reason why Java works the way it does. The second part of the book is about the Java libraries, and the third part goes into advanced topics about building applications with Java. I think reading the first part will get someone started with programming in Java. The second part serves better as a reference. This book is a good first step in one's study of Java programming before delving into more advanced books.

I have read a lot of books on Java, but this was the best one. There are hundreds of books on Java and its technologies, some are good, some not so much but "Java - The Complete Reference" was the book I ever wanted. The author explains very clear the language and its new features added in Java SE 5 and improvements in Java SE 6. I like all books written by Herbert Schildt, he is my preferred author of programming books.
Thanks to Herbert Schildt for this book, keep up good work.