Java 2 v5.0 (Tiger) New Features [Paperback]

Herbert Schildt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072258543 | ISBN-13: 978-0072258547 | Publication Date: July 29, 2004 | Edition: 1

Unleash the Programming Power of Tiger

If you already know Java and want to utilize the impressive array of innovations contained in Java 2, v1.5, this book is for you. Codenamed Tiger, Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition v5.0 (J2SE™ 5.0) is Java’s most extensive upgrade yet. Its many new features fundamentally alter the way Java code is written. For example, generics add a completely new syntax that enables the creation of type-safe, reusable code, and autoboxing simplifies the interplay between primitive types and objects. Moreover, all the new features work together to enable you to write more reliable code. By covering only what’s new in Tiger, this fast-paced guide gets you up to speed quickly, without rehashing what you already know. The world of Java is changing. Let best-selling author Herb Schildt show you how to move your programming skills to Java 2, v5.0 today.

Inside, you’ll:

• Apply the power of generics to create type-safe, resuable code
• Streamline code with autoboxing and auto-unboxing
• Use the enhanced for loop to cycle through collections and arrays
• Create more flexible methods through the use of varargs (variable-length arguments)
• See how Java’s class-based approach to enumerations fundamentally increases their power
• Embed supplemental annotations (metadata) into a source file
• Import static members of a class or interface and then refer to them directly by name, without a class qualification
• Create formatted output and read formatted input with Formatter and Scanner classes
• Learn about the major changes to the Java API

  Herbert Schildt is a leading authority on Java, C, C++, and C#. His programming books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide and have been translated into all major foreign languages.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Unleash the Programming Power of Tiger

If you already know Java and want to utilize the impressive array of innovations contained in Java 2, v1.5, this book is for you. Codenamed Tiger, Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition v5.0 (J2SE™ 5.0) is Java’s most extensive upgrade yet. Its many new features fundamentally alter the way Java code is written. For example, generics add a completely new syntax that enables the creation of type-safe, reusable code, and autoboxing simplifies the interplay between primitive types and objects. Moreover, all the new features work together to enable you to write more reliable code. By covering only what’s new in Tiger, this fast-paced guide gets you up to speed quickly, without rehashing what you already know. The world of Java is changing. Let best-selling author Herb Schildt show you how to move your programming skills to Java 2, v5.0 today.

Inside, you’ll:

• Apply the power of generics to create type-safe, resuable code
• Streamline code with autoboxing and auto-unboxing
• Use the enhanced for loop to cycle through collections and arrays
• Create more flexible methods through the use of varargs (variable-length arguments)
• See how Java’s class-based approach to enumerations fundamentally increases their power
• Embed supplemental annotations (metadata) into a source file
• Import static members of a class or interface and then refer to them directly by name, without a class qualification
• Create formatted output and read formatted input with Formatter and Scanner classes
• Learn about the major changes to the Java API

  Herbert Schildt is a leading authority on Java, C, C++, and C#. His programming books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide and have been translated into all major foreign languages.

About the Author

Herbert Schildt is a world leading programming author. He is an authority on the C, C++, Java, and C# programming languages, and a master Windows programmer. His programming books have sold more than three million copies worldwide and have been translated into all major foreign languages. He is the author of numerous best sellers including C: The Complete Reference, Java 2: The Complete Reference, Java 2: A Beginner's Guide, C#: A Beginner's Guide, and many more. Schildt holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (July 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072258543
• ISBN-13: 978-0072258547
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,079,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You can't go wrong with this book, August 8, 2004

By 

Lasse Koskela (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Java 2 v5.0 (Tiger) New Features (Paperback)

"If you already know Java and want to utilize the impressive array of innovations contained in Java 2, v5.0, this book is for you." That's actually from the back cover of the book and I have to say I fully agree. Schildt has brought us many useful titles and "Java 2, v5.0 (Tiger) New Features" is no exception.

The delightfully small book (a hair below 200 pages) packs just enough information to upgrade your know-how to the level of the latest Java version. Each topic (generics, autoboxing, enums, for-each, static imports, varargs, annotations, formatter, scanner) is explained clearly and concisely with expressive code samples. Schildt even lets you in on how the compiler handles some of these syntax enhancements, which I especially enjoyed reading about. The major features of each new addition is discussed in more detail and the less common methods are given a one-sentence description, which suits me, personally, quite well as long as I agree with what's common and what's not.

Talking about agreeing on what's common, the only real gripes I have with "Java 2, v5.0 (Tiger) New Features" is that the author completely by-passes the addition of java.lang.instrument and java.lang.management packages, only mentioning that those have been added. I would've certainly expected to read at least a page worth of overview on the actual services those packages provide.

In summary, I'd say you can't go wrong with this book. It's not a "complete reference" nor is it intended to be. It's a quick path to knowing just enough to feel comfortable diving into Java code written "Tiger style".

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well written but incomplete, July 21, 2005

By 

Nicodemus (Cheltenham) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java 2 v5.0 (Tiger) New Features (Paperback)

I was looking for a clear & comprehensive explanation of Generics (mostly). Elsewhere (in web tutorials) I have found detailed explanations but confusingly written. This book is VERY clear and readable. But it is not at all comprehensive (the reviewer who described it as Comprehensive obviously does not realize just how much is not covered!). EG it descibes Upper Bounds in some depth, but gives NO explanation of how/why to use Lower Bounds. Also under Enums, it makes NO mention of instance-level polymorphic methods.
This book would be an excellent introduction to the new features - but you will need to go elsewhere for the rest of the details. However I must say that the coverage is MUCH better than all the other Java books claiming to be 'fully updated' for Java 5 - most of which seem to have max half a page on Generics!!!
Despite its omissions I am glad I bought this book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacks depth, November 15, 2004

By 

M. le Rutte (Swalmen Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Java 2 v5.0 (Tiger) New Features (Paperback)

The book starts that it is ment for experienced Java programmers who want to get up to speed quickly. However it only touches each subject so lightly that an eperienced programmer would have had enough from the API documentation and other sources.

For example the chapter about autoboxing fails to mention what happens when you unbox a null object, while that would be the interesting case.

I also fail to understand how an entire chapter can be devoted to the enhanced for loop. The part about generics would require more chapters, one introduction and one more advanced part. When diving into generics things get complicated, but it is not described in this book.

The part about annotiation fails to mention that the @SuppressWarnings annotation is not implemented in 1.5