Customer Reviews

Mr. Bunny's Big Cup o' Java™

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

WARNING: Do not read this book in a brick-and-mortar bookstore or you'll have people stare at you when they see you laugh uncontrollably. This is an excellent book for the beginner. The concepts are explained in way that is hard to forget. This reminds me of David Pogue's books: Accurate, yet enjoyable. This is not a book for the hard nosed Java programmer, but definitely worth a read for someone who is starting out with Java. Concepts are explained very accurately, and this is far removed from the 600-page tomes in the sense that this is safer: It's not heavy enough to smash your PC screen when you cant get that dang program to work! Interestingly enough, someone with little programming experience can also get the jokes. And for the other reviewers who take programming a little too seriously to be fun: Get a life! Also make sure you visit the author's (or publisher's?) home page at mrbunny.com. Highly and heartily recommended.

Satire is a very difficult topic to write well and to maintain the flow and quality over the course of an entire book is one of the rarest of achievements. This book is a satire on the Java language and while it has many good points that are quite funny, it does lag and at times, becomes a bit repetitive. Trust me, if you read this book with the thought that you will learn something significant about the Java language, you will be very disappointed. Reading it for any purpose other than amusement will probably bore you to going back to programming in BASIC.
However, if your purpose is to have a little fun and take some time to reduce your level of seriousness about the fast-paced world of programming, then this is a book that you may like. I have inserted the word "may" because it is necessary for you to have a taste for satire to enjoy it.
Quite frankly, I did not enjoy reading the first few pages, as I had not yet placed myself in the satirical state of mind. But once I did so, I went back to the start and read it over, enjoying the (un)subtle turn of computing phrases. This is not a book that everyone can enjoy, but if you fit the previously stated caveats, then it is possible to read it with pleasure.

I don't get the negative reviews. Well, whatever. This is pure, hilarious, brilliant, hurts-when-you-laugh from a guy who knows his Java. Don't expect to learn anything about Java. It's just a stream of great injokes. Includes enormous curly braces, examples of white space, meeting "the primitives", explaining interfaces with a guy who's the mayor and a sheriff and a painter and a whole bunch of other things. And the illustrations are hilarious for anyone who's suffered through too many life cycle illustrations, those silly marketing layer diagrams, and "simple" illustrations of how Java works.

Anyone who knows the difference between an interface and a class will love this.

I wish this author would write more books. Books on C++, the Internet, etc...

It's certainly a Dave-Barry-meets-Joe-Programmer kind of book, and I have to admit, even though it's hard to take this stuff seriously (ever other sentence is a play on words or programming concepts), the metaphors still explained some things very clearly.

I'll never forget Inky, popping plates off a stack of plates in response to stack push and pop commands.

If you're willing to take yourself less seriously and embrace the fact that programmers are really geeks, then you will laugh at this book.

From Mr. Bunny's first appearance in chapter 1 (his first words are, of course, "Hello World!") to the last chapter's Home Sweet Home Page, this book is worth reading - if you can stand to laugh that hard.

This is not-- let me repeat, NOT-- a book to get to learn Java. There is absolutely nothing in this book that will teach you Java if don't already know it. From reading some of the other reviews, there are obviously people out there who thought it would be a good idea to try to learn a programming language from a book titled "Mr. Bunny's Big Cup o' Java". Learn from their mistakes!

What this is is a very amusing read if you're a programmer and a geek and have a strange sense of humor. It's a good book to leave in the bathroom if you often have other programmer geeks over. Especially if you don't mind some raised eyebrows from everybody else when the person in the bathroom stays in there for half an hour, giggling the entire time.

For all the technical/non-technical people, this is a very good reading in leisure time. If you know the programming language he is talking about, that gives more fun. Wonderful reading, absolute funny style of writing.

Amazingly Wacked !!

Like his previous Best Seller* that no normal person has ever heard of ("Mr. Bunny's Guide to Active X") this gem raises and answers questions that not even normal programmers (oxymoron?) would ever think to ask. E.g., "Which came first, the Comment or the Code?" -- answer -- White Space!

It pokes fun at everything from its own copyright "No part of this book ... blah, blah, blah, without the secret handshake." to resume writing suggestions "... listing your greatest accomplishments (unless, of course, you are Monica Lewinsky.)"

I liked "Diagram 1" which displayed everything from the top level ("Java Program") down to the lowest levels ("Pizza Crumbs" and "Tile or Carpet.")

The Common Programming Errors section (like everything else) was also was amazingly creative (and more importantly, funny!) -- including "Calling no argument constructor when there is no no-argument constructor is a no-no resulting in an argument with the compiler." and "C."

Finally, explaining the challenge the compiler faces -- making your java code understandable to a box of sand. (In all my years of compiler writing, I never though of this.)

Get this book!! Even if you're not a nerd, it will have you rolling. (What about the "Backward" which is, of course, the Forward in reverse!)

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*I saw this #1 rating in "Boston Software Newspaper" also, one of the local book store owners told me they sold nearly twice as many "Mr. Bunny's Guide to Active X" last year as the #2 title.)

Entertaining fun, although I though the ActiveX book (same author) was funnier. Check it out too: Mr. Bunny's Guide to ActiveX

Almost every paragraph is fantastic. I couldn't recommend this one higher.

This is a fine publication, far better than other heavier books with more pictures. Its lucid prose will show you in everyday language how to successfully design and deploy electonic commerce applications such as those used by major media companies all over the internet. With little or no experience using a mouse, you too can start a career helping power the economy of tomorrow. Egremont's style is easy yet richly informative. Many a university computer science class as well as teams of professional programmers could benefit from the clear and insightful example problems put forth at the end of each chapter.