Customer Reviews

JavaFX Script: Dynamic Java Scripting for Rich Internet/Client-Side Applications

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I bought this book because it was the the only thing available for JavaFX at the time. I tried to work through some of the examples, but was disappointed to find out the even the HelloWorld program would not compile. After going a bit deeper, I realized that major keywords have changed, and entire packages have been moved or rewritten or dropped since the book was written. The book also moves very quickly into a fairly complex example program that takes several chapters to complete, and translating between the old syntax and the new syntax doesn't look very easy. Don't get me wrong - this was a well written book at the time. However, due to the number of changes in the JavaFX language, it is at best useless and at worst misleading.

I am a person who likes to learn a new technology by reading a good book, where someone has taken the time to distill the essentials into as compact a form as possible. I can tell you after reading through this book, either wait for the next edition or for one of the other pending books that is based on the 1.0 release of the language. You will find that you are much better off trying to work this technology out from the more correct information that is published on the internet rather than from this book.

This book is really out of date. It appears the Author went on the original spec of JavaFX and they changed it somewhere after release. The book is worthless if you are trying to follow the examples with the new updated syntax. I don't think you can blame the author on this, but it really should be pulled from publication. Buyer beware on this book!

Caution! This book is obsolete since March 2008, after Sun has modified the syntax of JavaFX Script.

This book is poorly typeset. The block structure of the code is almost impossible to discern because the indentation varies. APress, there's a reason that code is usually typeset with constant spacing courier fonts. It's much easier to read.

This book has no index rendering it absolutely useless as a reference.


I had intended to use JavaFX Script to create simple guis for displaying data. Perhaps, JavaFX Script is capable of doing this, but if it is, you certainly couldn't prove it from this book.

Read the book last night: It was much better than I expected - normally texts that appear less than 6 months after the product announcement are rushed and full of errors. I found this one to be good quality, concise, and would make me consider using JavaFX (I was buying the book to evaluate the language for a future project).

My main disappointment is not to do with the book itself, but the reason I bought the book; I was looking for a solution to package up a Java App, then deploy it over the web (like a modern version of a Java Applet, but using Java Web Start to overcome it's drawbacks). For this , it would have been nice to have a section on Deployment (as part of an Enterprise app).

However, this was clearly stated to be a JavaFX book so this is a 'nice to have request' rather than a complaint!

JavaFX is a great tool to leverage the advantages of all the vast Java class libraries and Swing in a declarative but statically typed style. I had come to this conclusion when I first noticed JavaFX through stumbling across a link on Sun's Java web-site and portal.

The one thing that JavaFX lacked was a basic, get up to speed tutorial or book which didn't assume you were a programming dunce, didn't assume that you were somehow clueless about how Swing or SWT (or any modern) user interface library worked.

This book filled the gap for me.

I am a reasonably adept Swing GUI developer, can understand SWT and write it (but can't see any particular advantage to SWT unless you're using a product that already uses it or it's an Eclipse based product) and understand GTK+. Hence, I don't need a lecture on how GUIs work, what an event model is, what a widget is; nor do I need a how to program, what does Java syntax look like.

This book gives you sufficient information to: determine if JavaFX may fit into your GUI needs, how to use JavaFX and Java classes together and how to put together a small, JavaFX application. Others have stated the application isn't real-world: I challenge them - I wrote a "real world" word place program for a client...games aren't "real world" but they contain very real concepts both in their play and in their creation.

The book doesn't: teach you how to program Java or any other programming language; it's a fairly tutorial style book. JavaFX is the type of tool where you can bring up a small(ish) example and fiddle with bits to work out what changes. It doesn't teach you a heap about Swing but gives pointers to Swing documentation where appropriate. Those not used to programming or Swing may find it difficult to translate Swing documentation into what JavaFX does. It will show you how to make classes, but not why you'd make them and it presupposes you know a little about programming.

That said, I do know these things and it was certainly worth my money.

I think this book would suit anyone who wanted to peek at JavaFX to see what a basic, but functional example does. It would also suit someone who knew Java, who wanted to add JavaFX to their toolset. It would be less suitable for someone who didn't know what a "for" or "while" loop does and it doesn't go into great detail about "classes", "class hierarchies" and such.

It's a good book and it augments and isn't, by any means, a regurgitation of online documentation.

As you see the front page you'll think that's the right one , but inside have a little basics of JAVA , some simple games example ... , also no Web Applications inside ...

This book has been superseded by Pro JavaFX™ Platform: Script, Desktop and Mobile RIA with Java™ Technology
The new book was written by me (James L. Weaver), Weiqi Gao, Stephen Chin and Dean Iverson. It covers JavaFX 1.2 in-depth, and will ship in July 2009. Thanks,
James L. (Jim) Weaver

Maybe I'm just an old entrenched Java programmer, but quite frankly, after reading this book, I just don't get why somebody would want to use JavaFX. First off, you are forced to use Netbeans if you want to program in JavaFX. I don't use Netbeans and I'm not interested in doing so. I don't know many Java programmers who are interested in doing so either. Second, the JavaFX language itself doesn't parallel well with the Java language. Many simple constructs are completely different from what is done in Java. In short, I'm having to learn yet another language. Finally, it just doesn't deliver what I'm looking for - a simpler faster way of writing reliable multimedia applications. Sure you can put up some nice 2D GUIs and displays, but Sun had been promising a Java answer to Flash, or at least the beginnings of one. The problems with pure Java solutions to multimedia - runtime startup time, resource usage, and a lack of complete multimedia solutions including audio, animation, etc. is a problem that has existed since the early days of Java Media Framework and its eventual orphaning by Sun. JavaFX doesn't solve any of these problems or even put a real dent in it.

However, to the author's credit, I learned all of this by reading his book. He doesn't editorialize on the language, but his examples make clear the shortcomings of this new language and therefore prevent you from wasting anymore time than necessary on it. I commend him on that.

I'm starting in the JavaFX world and this book is helping me on this. I'm using some JavaFX tools and the Netbeans JavaFX plugin.
James L. Weaver is always in the jfx discussion lists and is very accessible. Thanks. :)