Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 Online in Web Time (The Teach Yourself Series)

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

 

 

Java 2 Online in Web Time is a great introduction to programming, and especially to the Java(TM) programming language. The authors have done a fine job of using real world examples to explain objects, what they are, why they're useful, and how to declare them.

For the new programmer, this book gives easy to understand details on programming syntax. You don't need to know C++ or any other programming language to understand the concepts in this book.

Each new feature is fully explained and the quizzes and exercises are great in enhancing what you learn in each lesson.

I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn programming, and those wanting to learn the Java programming language.

I agree with all of the other comments on this book so far. the one thing I did not find here however is any mention that the book refers to things on the CD-Rom that are not on the CD, in fact there is not even a copy of JDK on the CD you must download the 20meg file yourself from Sun. also there are a lot of typos in this book, I realize this is the norm anymore but in several of the examples things were just wrong. For example in Exercise 3 they refer to modifying the JButton statement while there is no JButton statement only a JLabel.

one last gripe here.. The on-line part of this publication is terrible, very outdated technology used here, also the questions are not exactly in synch with the text.

The book on it's own is excellent, it gives a very concise description of OOP, and more. If however your main reason for purchasing this book is because it is On-Line, then don't bother. The online portion of this is not worth the hassle and I can only assume the sole purpose for having an on-line portion is to jump on the Web bandwagon, and possible to further their Marketing research as you are asked a million questions when signing up.

Believe it or not.. This is my favorite book on Beginning JAVA so far and I have been through over 15 of them just on JAVA2.

I had no actual experience in programming, had a four week course in VB last year and just fumbled around some with that when I started this book beginning of April 2000. I found the book easy to read and the author has humor which helps getting through 800 pages. For me it was the perfect way to start with Java, not too easy and not too difficult..just right. There's a lot of code examples and more online exercises with answers too. Also I found the online messageboard very helpfull. It's true that there is no help from SAMS as promissed which cost them a star in my opinion, but it turns out that a lot of students have fun helping eachother out and it's very educational and fun to help eachother. Recommended to start out with before beginning with another great book "Thinking in Java" from Bruce Eckel...

I was reading Gilbert and McCarty's earlier book which was just as good but only covered Java 1. This update is an incredible achievement after 3 chapters I was writing applets albeit basic ones. I read Java2 in 21 days but with no tests or projects my knowledge of Java was going nowhere. This book has approximately 75 quizes and about 150 projects the online section adds 75 additional quizes and 75 projects with solutions if you get stuck. The discussion forum is a great touch and also has proved useful. There are the inevitable errors but they are few. I've got to get back to studying.

This book is not good for the beginner. It starts with some intermediate concepts and doesn't explain the basics until Chapter 3. It is really backwards. Also, there are no solutions to the exercises in the book. The website is not useful at all. Their is no one to answer your questions. They have examples on the web with solutions, but they don't match the book. I found this book at best confusing.

The book's back cover states (about the website) " Threaded Discussion List - A forum for you and fellow students to discuss technical topics, WITH ASSISTANCE AND GUIDANCE FROM AN EXPERT MENTOR."

DON'T BELIEVE IT! The "mentor" rarely checks in. I had a straight forward question and still have not received an answer 3 days later. And I saw answers to other questions by students that were obviously wrong yet were not corrected by the "mentor". The Discussion List is full of msgs from upset students who were expecting SAMS to deliver what they promised. The msgs are simply ignored. And the book is full of typos and errors. Others have reviewed this book and said the same things so how can they rate it 4 stars? I highly recommend Just Java 2 by Peter van der Linden or Beginning Java 2 by Ivar Horton.

Great book for the beginners. If you want to get hands-on experience, this is the one. You'll get some help with the problems by posting them in the discussions online, and other students will reply if they want, or you can look at the past discussions and responses that are helpful to you. One thing that needs authors' attention is that they should compile and create a Frequenly Asked Questions file and put its icon in in a corner of discussion panel, so the students don't have ask the similar questions over and over again.

The book is not bad, easy to use for beginners. Some significant errors noted. The online part is if you want more problems or exercises. But the site is always down. I haven't been able to access it for sometime and no one responds when I email any possible SAMS contacts. So discount the web part if you want this book.

The book is written well and easy to understand even for the unexperienced programmer. The hardest obstacles await you in the very beginning though: Almost no help with downloading the JDK, configuring your computer and your browser. If you figure out how to do that, you are able to do the rest. Like other people stated, however, there are mistakes in the book as well as on the web site, and the "mentor" who is supposed to help out, does simply not exist. The exercises in the book have no solutions, if you are stuck your only hope are your fellow students. The online exercises are fun, however they do not accomplish anything that could not have been done in the book as well - with the bad disadvantage that not only your subscription expires after a year (he, you purchase a book, books are known to be readable for eternity) but what is worse, sometimes the web site is DOWN FOR WEEKS. This could be a tremendous learning package - if they would just do a couple of things to their web site.

Programmers new to Java will develop a foundation to build on by reading this book and doing the exercises. Not as high brow as other "beginner" Java books (Just Java 2, Beginning Java 2). My only complaints are the numerous errors in the code examples, the written code in the book sometimes does not match the code on the CD. If you're like me you will consider debugging the compile errors as educational. Another note, don't use the JavaMatic IDE on the CD, it's quite poor but it is free. Downloading the KAWA demo is not a bad alternative.