Customer Reviews

Java: First Contact

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

 

 

I have been studying OOP, and can honestly say I could not have passed without the help of this book. Ignore the negatives from those who obviously have Java experience, this is a book for beginners and is honest about it. I have bought 5 books on java and this was the best for a first timer. For those who hate it...It's always easy to slam something like this if you already know what your doing. Remember when you were new?

A very well written and easy to understand text on intorduction to OO concepts, programming logic and JAVA in general. Excellent usage of diagrams to get the point across. Probably not suitable for an advanced student or user of JAVA. The authors do let you know that they have assumed that the reader of this book has no programming background. Therefore, if posible, it is wise to read the introduction or the back cover of the book before purchasing it. I do tend to agree with one of the reviewers that if you find this book hard to understand then you do need to rethink about changing your field of study. Do not worry if the examples do not compile the first time, there are many books out there that have similar glicthes. Plus it is a good dose of reality, because there is no software application that hits the mark on the first pass. If you don't have the patience and the tenacity to debug, then you are headed for doom. Do not worry about examples not compiling---- learn the concepts, after that its all a piece of chocolate mousse.

Java - First Contact explores the Java programming language in depth, while maintaining a learning atmosphere which Roger Garside and John Mariani implement perfectly within the book. I'd recommended it as one of the first Java-related books a learner of Java should purchase.

The best book to introduce one to programming and Java at the same time. Clear and friendly text.

First off, I'd better admit that I came into programming as a complete novice. I bought this book as the course text for the course actually taught by the Roger Garside. Great, I thought, a course taught by the author.

I was sorely dissapointed. The book is quite good at explaining the concepts behind object-oriented programming, so for philosophical meanderings on the devleopment of objects in programming language, it is quite useful. However, when it comes to actually learning to program, there are errors in example code, vital poitns missed out, annoying diagrams which are meant to replace coding (could the author not be bothered to put both in) and seemingly random errors in the code which make it refuse to compile without spending hours checking for errors (and no, I don't mind doing this- but with my own programs, not with examples!). Buy this book if you have to- it's a compulsory purchase if you're on the course, after all- but if you are a beginner to programming, buy something that will help you learn Java too.

Jumps from one point to the other without any much mentioning of the methods. Re-occuring nightmares with the corny 'English' jokes (please first develop a sense of humor) the author makes. Plus, this is definitely not a book suitable for first year students. I'm taking it right now and either the other students before me are rocket scientists but none of us seem to understand what the heck is going on! Even our instructors here at the university are experiencing problems with preparing their lecture notes. Last but not least, I wish all the other students that are currently using the same book throughout the nation, good luck in your exam! If there is any other better java books, please, please, for the mercy of god, let me know!

I used this book in my first semester in the univ, I had no exprience in java and OOP and this book helped me to understand both. examples are very understandable and clear, the presentation of the book also is good. I recomend this book for new beginners in both java and OOP.

I was asked to help tutor a person who was in a JAVA class that was using this book. I asked to look through his text book to see what they had learned and where they were. I was shocked at the number of incorrect examples (that wouldn't compile by the way, proving they weren't even checked), Diagrams used to replace code examples, references to a class developed by the author without actually showing the class itself, etc...

This is a terrible book, I know java and I read this book, it's bad, avoid it at all costs.

And thanks to the (obviously planted) first reviewer of this book, without your dishonest approval of it I might not have written this to warn people away from the book.

I was given this book as an introduction to Java having come from a PowerBuilder background. For that purpose it's rubbish. I speed read the first 6 chapters without learning more than a paragraph of useful information. For novices to computing I can see the need for a book like this but for anyone else steer clear! The guys that reckon it's too difficult should look at changing degree courses ASAP.