Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself Java 1.2 in 21 Days

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

A great introduction into the newest realm of Java. This book provides a more than adequate stepping stone from the beginner to intermediate knowledge of Java using 1.2.

Please readers, don't be fooled by the title of this book claiming that it teaches you Java 2.0 (the lastest version of the book). All the samples in the book are JDK1.0 version. Don't be ripoffed by this lazy author!

If I explained things in my job as badly as most writers of these so-called introductory texts, I would soon be out of work, and rightly so. Page 62 (Day 2) sums it all up for me - "To summarize today's material... 'Object' - an instance of a class. 'Instance' - the same thing as an object." When will someone who really knows how to explain things write a book on a subject like this?

I come from the torrid world of C++, this introduction to Java was brilliant - easy to read and a joy to learn (not like my introduction to C++). I would not recommend the book for new programmers (I would not recommend Java to them either). For C or C++ programmers this is the start for you, but dont expect it to take 21 days - unless your sleepwalking.

Lemay & Cadenhead do a very wonderful job putting this book thogether. It is the book to get for anyone just starting out in Java. It gives a very good overview of the basics. Anyone getting this book should not get it thinking it's going to teach them everything there is to know about java, rather any reader of this book should have access to the web, Dua! So that they can refer to the Java 2 documentation found at Sun Microsystems web site. Moreover any reader should consider getting "Java in a Nutshell" to go along with this book. I found some typos but every typo I found in this book has been addressed in the book's own web-site which is given in day 2. I did have a difficult time understanding Java's implementation of Threads (day 10) but after looking at my O'RELLY, and Sun's Documentation, Lemay and Cadenhead's explanation came together quite nicely. After going through this book I feel confident about purchasing more advanced books on Java, in other words I have acquired the taste buds for Java (yum yum good), now it's time to try other more exotic blinds.

If you need a good crash course in Java, then this book is for you. I highly recommend this book for those that are about to take a course in Java. Those with an OO background should be able to finish the book in about a week and a half. The book is in a course-like format which allows you to set a pace for yourself. The only downside to the book is too many dumb jokes, and code with silly names used in the text, which is a bit too distracting.

The book was ok overall, giving some useful info on Java and got me started, but seemed to focus attention on brand new programmers (at least to object oriented languages). I have very little programming experience, and found the book overly simplified and lacking useful examples (too much "toy" code). The title is very misleading too (not really Java 1.2), a third of the book is based on applet code using Java 1.02, and nearly the rest of the book is Java 1.1 code. The only code I found that did not compile on a 1.1 compiler was the very last two "days" on Swing.

This book has helped me to learn Java and now I consider myself to be able to program reasonably well in the language. It is best suited to those people who have programmed in a structured language before. ie. C++, COBOL, Visual Basic. By the end of the 21 days I was making good applications and applets, though it is not a complete reference and leaves certain features of the language uncovered such as Java 3D, JavaBeans, RMI etc.

I bought Lemay's 1st "Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days" and felt frustrated by Day 6. This updated version on 1.2 is clearer, concise, and has better examples. If you are new to Java and/or to programming itself, this is a great book to start with.

I've had this book now for about 6 months. I seem to continually to refer to it to get the answer to the question I have. It not only got me started in Java Programming, but it continues to enlighten me when needed. This book, however, is for the professional programmer, not the novice.