Customer Reviews

The Java Tutorial: Object-Oriented Programming for the Internet (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

It always amazes me how one person can give a book a "five" and another a "one". The bottom line is that a certain amount of knowledge is necessary to get the full benefit from this book. Specifically, if you have very good knowledge of Object-oriented programming (preferrably C++ knowledge) then this book is for you! Otherwise, you're out of luck. Often, the authors will introduce code and will not explain it 'till many pages later. As someone with knowledge of C++, I found myself often saying, "Yeah, that looks familiar" or "Okay, I know I don't understand it, but I'm sure it'll be explained later." I could usually guess what the unfamiliar terminology was until it was explained. Again, the explanations are very good for C++ers; otherwise you'll be left scratching your head VERY quickly. Don't think that because you know FORTRAN you'll learn Java from this book. The authors go into bit manipulation and referencing objects with the "this" terminology pretty early into the book. They often introduce new code with no real explanation. They never give any examples that let you understand why OOP is so good. However, I found myself understanding just fine. Why? Because I already know C++! Bottom line: If you have good skills in C++ or some other OOP language and need to know Java quickly, this book is for you. If you think that because you know COBOL you're going to pick this book up and be able to learn OOP, FORGETTABOUTIT!!!

This first edtion of the Java Tutorial in print covers the JDK 1.0, meaning the older event model and AWT components. I saw some editorial reviews up above that seem to gloss over this fact. Be aware that this excellent book is now outdated, and you ought to get the 2nd edition if you are new to Java programming. I just recently (June 2000) saw a print ad for a 3rd edition as well.

Just read the reviews and found it surprizing that this book is either 5 stars or 1 star. To that I would say this: If you need a reference to Java then buy a reference such as "The Java Class Libraries" otherwise remember that this is a tutorial for Java (an object oriented language). Perhaps that's why there are so many references to other parts in the book. Inheritance references other things all the time. Keep working at this book, and it will open up to you.

Not that its bad. It like most Sun books is very good, but the Third edition is out. Buy that to get the latest on learning JAVA(tm).

As a student in college, I had a very good English professor. He taught us the ins-and-outs of technical report writing. Apparently, Campione and Walrath went to the same school as he did. They teach the ins-and-outs of Java, and they do so in a very clear, complete, and consice manner. If you intend on writting Java pgms. take my advise, buy the book!

This is one of the better books for learning Java. It's clear text and frequent examples make it an easy read. One of the benefits of this book over every other single one on the market is that having been available on the web and read by thousands of Java programmers, the authors have gotten an enormous amount of feedback about what sections were good and what sections were confusing. The confusing one have been improved. I doubt that any other Java book has gone under such testing by fire (except for possibly the specification manuals).

If you are learning Java, you can't go wrong with this book. Even if you have been using Java for a long time, you can probably find a few topics in this book that you are not that familiar with that will make this book worthwhile.

Some people might be intimidated by this books giant length (over 800 pages!), but the authors present the subject clearly AND precisely in order for the reader to learn Java as well and as quickly as possible (without sacrificing the amount of knowledge learned). From the first-time Java newbie to the week-end programmer to even experienced programmers, "The Java Tutorial" introduces Java, and then proceeds from there to teach its nature, code, and process. From web applets to full-fledged applications, the Java information in this book surpasses that of many other Java books. If you don't know Java or want to know more, get this book - it's a must read.

This book is not a tutorial; it is not even really introductory.
It does have some good explanations though. i bought thisd book because I have been trying to learn Java for the past 9 months. It isn't that the language is hard its the way it is taught!

I will rate this book 3 stars; 3 stars for some good explanation. But the rest of the book is dumb examples and demonstrations, you will have to look up stuff at the Java web site to find out what exactly the methods mean. Also this book assumes you already know some basic java or whatever.

If you have read some other java books fine buy this book, if not, beware; this book is only demonstrations without proper explanations.

The purpose of a Java book should be to get the person reading it to apply what they study and I have yet to read such a book.

Thought not good as a quick tutorial, the examples that a little bit hard to read turn out be elegant and practicle. Another feature is that you can try the applet on web before you learn it and this makes you motivated. I like the book despite its drawbacks.

As several have mentioned, this book is not for you if you want to LEARN java. It's for you if you want to brush up occasionally about what something means. You need to remember that something will be explained later and not necessarily where it occurs. This book is NOT a TUTORIAl. It's is more a reference.