Customer Reviews

JavaTech, an Introduction to Scientific and Technical Computing with Java

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

 

 

Expected it to focus more on scientific programming using Java. Rather, it details the development of Java apps/applets. There are worthwhile nuggets, e.g file I/O, class/object organization. I would not recommend this as an introduction to Java programming.

One of Java's strengths is that you can run its bytecode on many different types of hardware. But one merit of this book is that it shows how you can customise your code to take advantage of binaries on particular platforms, and use specific devices.

The book also talks about distributed or remote computing. Giving explantions of RMI and CORBA. You should be aware that RMI has fallen under a relative cloud. Systems using it can be awkward to run, even if there are no bugs. While CORBA's limitations have become painfully apparent, independently of any Java usage. Nowadays, distributed computations written in Java tend to go to Web Services and using XML text messages to communicate between entities, as opposed to CORBA's binary messages.

If you have never used RMI and CORBA before, then the book doesn't really educate you about their drawbacks. So they might seem like really nifty ideas. The book should perhaps talk more about Web Services.