Customer Reviews

Learn Java Now, with CD-ROM

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The title of this book is very misleading. The publisher should remove the word "learn" from the title. This book is for those already familair with a programming language or two.

In defense of Amazon.com and Microsoft Press, the synopsis prodived by Amazon.com was taken from the back of the book itself. It does clearly state "Looking for a better way to port your programming skills", which to me means you better know the language.

I'm sure this is a very useful book for programmers, beginners beware.

This is really good book if you already know C++ and a little bit of OOP. The book explains the main ideas very well and uses good examples. Good for anyone who wants to learn to write applets in as short a time as possible. Knowledge of C++ is a must

This is the worst book on programming.I was totally new to programming and this book didnt make any sence.In order to understand it you have to be a C++ wiz if not allready know J++.If youre looking a book that is gonna teach you programming look elsewere.This book is to complex and bad written for begginners.On the other hand it offers nothing to old-timers.Soo I have only one thing to say:DONT READ THIS BOOK EVEN IF THEY PAY YOU TO.

As an introduction,this book just doesn't cut it it's examples are obscure,it's explanations are shallow it doesn't give you a feeling for the language. It introduces you to advanced theoretical topics without preparing you for it... It was my first book on the subject and has almost made me give up on Java.

As a reference book,it's almost useless since like i said topics are approached in a very incomplete way. Very sorry I bought it.

Luis Paz

I was hoping for a book more about the J++ environment. When I began reading, I found the Java language specific information helpful such as the size in bits of the intrinsic data types in Chapter 2. But then I noticed a Year 2K bug on page 28.

Considering that this book has a copyright in 1996, the author should be sensitive to Year 2000 bugs. His code calculates the number of days from a given date to the beginning of the year. He comments the code "// in February, gotta consider leap year". Well this code does not know that February 29th, 2000 exists.

Well you "gotta" also consider that we have far too many Year 2K bugs that we need to fix. Why introduce a ton more by teaching people who want to "learn Java now" to calculate leap years improperly. Especially in such a powerful new language such as Java which has a class called java.util.Date built into the core API that even takes into consideration Leap Seconds.

Well, if Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server's User Manager does not recognize 2/29/2000 as a valid date then I guess it is OK to publish a Java code that does the same.

Over all it is a good book, and it has some good content. I would not recommend this book to a beginner who does not know how to program. There are many other books out there for beginners. If you are looking for a manual for J++ this is not the book for you, either. If you have programmed before, you will find this book helpful to learn Java.

After reading about 100 pages(I received the book together with J++ software) I finally throw the book in trash. This is unreadable, uninteresting book, graphically miserable, with boring examples (bank accounts!) presented in a manner that has nothing to do with introduction in JAVA (that is the indication one gets from the title). Author occasionally cracks jokes (as he figures, seems to be a norm to write a computer book these days) that could be better replaced with readable approach.

The best thing about this book is that it comes for free with Visual J++, which means you won't have to think twice when you toss it. It is very poorly written and has bad examples. Look elsewhere!

If you want a good theoretical and philosophical introduction to Java, the "object oriented programming language," this book is a great choice. In addition to being sold at retail, this book is also packaged with the J++ system. You might think that the book that comes packaged with the software would be focused on explaining that specific software. On the contrary, "Learn Java Now" is focused on helping you understand the "larger vision" of Java and object oriented programming in general. It has very little to say about J++. I recommend "Learn Java Now" very highly. Even if you don't plan to use J++, consider buying this book retail. The concepts behind object oriented programming are difficult to grasp, but "Learn Java Now" makes them as clear as possible. The examples and illustrations - built around a metaphor of the family TV - are familiar and relevant. I found myself constantly having the "Ah ha!" reaction. "Ah ha! That's what encapsulation means!

The book begins on an innocent note for all readers. The author is plentiful with his jokes and puns, but the title of the book is a misnomer. This book is not written from an educator's standpoint but rather from an experienced programmer's who is set in his own ways of writing code. The author fails to explain MANY sections in the book in reference to the Java language keywords being used in his code snippets. In addition, he puts NOTES on various pages but refuses to explain "how" to perform the task to which he is referring. Also, sections of the book are not properly ordered or explained. For example, the author details the creation of a class called "BankAccount" but refuses to explain how to compile the source, or worse yet, even to tell the reader "where" to save the source (in a separate file, in the same file, what!). Had I not been experienced in programming in C language, I would have been drowned long before chapter 4 of this book. In general, Microsoft should be ashamed to have included such a poorly written book in a package that supposedly makes Java programming a snap. In addition, it's the ONLY documentation included with Visual J++, so I would find another book and glue myself to JDK and forsake Microsoft's J++ for the sake of sanity. Written from the perspective of a seasoned C/C++ programmer who has a Master's Degree in CI (Internet Technology).

This book is OK if you have knolage of C++, but if you don't, this book is very hard to understand