Customer Reviews

Java Foundation Classes (Mcgraw-Hill Java Masters)

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

 

 

In addition to this JFC book, I also have Gutz's book and Weiner & Asbury's Programming with JFC. This is certainly the most comprehensive of the three.

Basic and more advanced examples are offered, and each class that is covered includes a very handy public methods reference.

The coverage on JTables is inadequate in all three books, but Java Foundation Classes at least touches on most of the JTable features.

Not perfect, but definitely worth the money.

This book is not well organized and (as usual with mostcurrent computer books) has a number of glaring errors in it. In a number of other instances the reader is left with confusing and contradictory code examples, explanations and concepts.

The page count of this book exceeds 1000pp; however, 700pp are API descriptions. I, too, would wait until a better book about the JFC is published.

Pros:

The book starts simple and assumes a working knowledge of basic java. Then it talks about the most important classes and the related classes, which was very helpful in the learning process. Chapter 8 goes through each of the classes with good examples. I like that for each class there is a "Steps in Creating and Using ..." section to get you jump started. It also lists all the methods for the class and gives a short description of what each method does.

The last 4 chapters of the book implement the classes in larger applications to give an understanding of how the classes can interact. Very helpful.

This book is a great How-to book and a good reference with all the source on the CD.

Cons: Chapter 8 should be broken up or the pages ought to be indexed somehow to find a specific class quicker. Chapter 7 should cover all of the classes to match Chapter 8. Could probably leave out Chapter 9, Future technologies, or expand on it for more useful information. The last 4 chapters could probably go on the CD because they are mainly source code.

I have read prerelease versions of this book and find it very good. This book was written by a programmer for programmers. The text is written in a logical, straight forward style and the examples are very good! The examples are actually usefull programs and not just 5 liners. This book will not only teach you the beginning stuff about JFC(SWING), but it will teach you many advanced concepts too. This book will always be on my bookshelf! Everyone learning JFC will save themselves much time and effort if they buy this book.

This could be a textbook in how not to write a Java book. The vast majority of the pages are in Chapter Eight, "JFC by Class"... and all have the same header, "Chapter Eight, JFC by Class", making it difficult to skim through the 700-page chapter looking for information on a class. The API descriptions are vague, unhelpful, and sometimes even inaccurate; they provide nothing beyond what is offered by the official online documentation.

The "step-by-step tutorials" are mere repetitions of the code examples, and the code examples are poorly explained. The few comments which provide actual insight are buried in lines and lines of stuff like:

// Set the frame's size

mf.setSize(300, 300);

The layout is horrific; the margins are huge, there is too much whitespace, and diagrams and sections and descriptions are frequently divided across pages. To glean information from any section one must flip pages back and forth all the time.

Whe! n I first received the book, I thought that despite its flaws it might be redeemed by the six-page "moving from AWT to JFC" chapter alone... except that substantial amounts of that chapter are simply *wrong*, not to mention the dubious wisdom of devoting six of 1000 pages to what will undoubtedly be the most pressing issue for most readers.

It's not a completely useless book, but it could be far better. I would wait for something better to come along and use Sun's docs for now.

The book is one of the few that offers something both for a seasoned programmer as well as the inexperienced. The detailed description of the individual classes in JFC is organised in a neat alphabetical order making it an excellent reference. And for the beginner sample cod is given for each class from the ground-up. I would recommend this book as a must buy both for the beginner and the mid level programmer.

I find that with Nelson's JFC book I'm not stuck reading yards of mundane and overdone "how to code in oop", etc.. chapters. It gets right to the point, provides examples for every conceivable problem regarding all the JFC components! Without this book, you'll find the JFC a frightening beast , but with it -- its a snap :)!

While this book may be difficult for beginners, I found the combination of class oriented step-by-step instructions and detailed examples to be just right. I didn't see any signs of discrepancies between the text and source code.

The extra-long reference chapter could have been organized better with page headers or something, but that is a minor complaint.

Quality far better than Gutz; better examples, much more in depth. Still light on some areas I've had trouble with, but this one won't stay on my bookshelf. Minor nit - poorly formatted, especially in the 800 page "by class" section. 800 pages with only the chapter number and name make it hard to find the sub-section you need.

This book offers very little in comparison to Sun's online documentation. It is not well organized-- a very simple overview and an underwhelming 700pp. API reference section. I would definately wait until a more critical book is published on the JFC.