Customer Reviews

Java Programmer's Reference

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I selected this book out of interest, and out of a need for a recent (JDK v1.3) reference for the classes, interfaces, and contents of the JDK and its libraries. I like the feel of a book in hand while I'm working, and I typically have three to six books open around me as I go. Wrox Press (www.wrox.com) advertises their works as "Programmer to Programmer ™" and they are spot on! This book is incredibly focused, and presumes you've got a solid working knowledge of Java as a professional developer, but need a reminder on some of the classes, packages and examples of how to use or call the methods. If you need a reference book on Java's huge packages, you need this book. I've read several other works covering much of the Java packages. Although this book is physically larger (best clear a good 3 inches of shelf space) it is much "denser". My overall reaction: focused, a good read, and very clear in presentation.

Chapter 1, the Java Fundamentals, is just 70 pages long. In this section, I found extremely clear, tight, and readable code and descriptions. I found single paragraph descriptions that took pages in other works. From there, you drop straight into java.lang, and work through the most popular packages including javax.swing, border, table and tree, and wrap up with the java.beans package. Every page is packed with examples, code snippets, and very terse descriptions of how the class, method, or interface works.

My key for any good reference book is the index. I want the information, easily located, and NOW. Wrox and Grant have done well here. Indexes include by class name, interface (and classes implementing the interface), and a general index, which picks up the method names. Method entries in the index include page references to the individual classes implementing the method.

The author claims (accurately) that this book is "essential rather than exhaustive". It's squarely aimed at the heads-down, professional developer, who stays "in the flow" for most of the day. Grant introduces each class briefly, provides an inheritance hierarchy, gives an overview of the methods, and drops into a functional example of using the material. No "terminally cute" examples, just easily read code that demonstrates "how to" in as clear a manner as possible. The chapters on AWT and Swing classes provide minimalist screenshots showing the results of the examples; only one item is demonstrated at a time, removing any guesswork. Got a question? In one or two pages, you'll have an answer.

I would recommend this book as a supplement to other, introductory books for a beginner to the language, or to someone taking classes in Java. I strongly recommend begging, borrowing, or (best of all) buying your own copy as you ramp up for the Certification exams. The first chapter will supplement the other study guides very nicely, and the book remains useful far longer than the certification guides.

I've got a bookshelf reserved for what I use on a daily basis; Java Programmer's Reference goes on it and will stay there. I expect this book to remain useful for years. Rating: 4 out of possible 5. (Scale: 1: read in an airport, when there's nothing better to do. 3: solid, useful, buy whichever one fits your thought process. 5: drop everything, go buy this book now, read it tonight, carry it with you.)

This book sits on my desk and I use it all the time. I looked at "Java in a Nutshell" but now you have to buy three books. This book covers JDK 1.3, the javax.swing package, and has hundreds of short examples. The java.io package examples are especially good. The book also has a very good chapter on Java Beans. The index is outstanding. It is 60 pages long and is divided into two parts, a general index and one for classes. Because its only one book, it doesn't cover everything in the J2SE JDK 1.3, but as a reference book that covers the core Java it's great

I really like this book and find it very useful. This book doesn't claim to be a tutorial, but it's actually a pretty good one. I'm still learning Java, and this book has helped me to learn things that weren't covered in my courses. Unlike many Java books out there, the writing style is very clear. The examples (and there are lots of them) are short enough so you don't get lost when going through them, and yet they are all standalone code so you can run them yourselves. It's a good way to get a feel for what the classes and methods do. The chapter on Java Beans is very good. I thought a Bean was some mysterious thing, but this book explains them very clearly.

This is the best Java reference book on the market today. It's not perfect, but it's closer than any other Java reference out there. I like the way the information is presented in a structured manner. Classes and methods of a certain type are grouped and explained together. The book is very readable and gives a lot of helpful hints to avoid gotchas that aren't usually explained by reference books. The examples are great and there are lots of them. A lot of times when I'm stuck I won't even have to read the text. I can just look at the appropriate example and it tells me what I need to know. This book is not for neophyte Java programmer's. It doesn't spend a lot of time on object oriented theory or other real basic stuff, but for intermediate or advanced programmer's it's great.

This is a good reference book for Java 2. Don't forget that this is not a book for learning Java basics. It's a good book and covers all packages extensively. Good book to keep at your desk for reference.

This is a great reference for anyone using Java on a day to day basis. I am quite an experienced programmer, but my Java knowledge is still developing. It is great to find a reference book that suits my capability such as this.

I would recommend it to any Java programmer.

This book by Grant Palmer is by far very VERY useful...i repeat...VERY useful if you can't figure out how to work with a specific class. The short examples give a good idea on how to implement something. It makes understanding things much easier since he has code and what the program will execute and what the output will be.

He goes through the very basics, such as access modifiers and variable sizes, etc. He moves from the standard packages and moves gradually to file IO, then towards the AWT/Swing packages.

The author isn't able to demonstrate ALL of the classes but by far, he covers close to 100% of what are mostly used in real-world applications. It is by far, one of the best reference manuals that I know of.

Keep in mind his title: Programmer's REFERENCE.

The way I see it, he fulfilled the book's purpose and definitley deserves those 5 stars.

This is an excellent reference with tons of short examples. I considered this one vs the Black Book and found it superior. Though the BB has good info, this book presents the info better in part because of it layout, choice of fonts, etc. It is well organized and has a great index.

The book could be used by a beginner too. I was forced to use Java to develop a simple network program and I was a total beginner (first time) to Java. With this book as my main reference, it helped me most of the way in my program. The examples for window programming javax.swing package were great. The book help me to understand Java too. I suggest that first time programmer to Java should have this book.

I was very disappointed with this book. For someone quite experienced with Java it might serve as a good tool for jogging the memory. When you are in the process of discovery it is a very difficult book to use. The index and the table of contents center around classes, not topics. If you don't already know the classes count on wading endlessly back and forth through this book. For the programming I was doing the reference was very incomplete, even regarding the basics. I found references on the Internet to be much more helpful than this book.