Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself Visual J++ 6 in 21 Days

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

There is little I can say that is positive about this book; I learned one thing about creating a Windows application from it, but otherwise it was wretched. I'll never buy another 21 days book; I didn't have to pay for this one, thank goodness, because it was provided to me as an instructor for a course I was teaching. My students were furious with the quality of the examples, the typos, and the sheer lack of worthwhile content in this book, and it would have been the class from hell if I hadn't found a better text to get examples from. Personally, I would recommend Y. Daniel Liang's book, "Introduction to Java Using Microsoft Visual J++ 6" as a superb text; that is the book my institution is using for next quarter after all the complaints we got on it. If you want to learn any language, here is my advice: Buy a book that teaches the LANGUAGE, not the tool; the tool is largely irrelevant, and with the Visual Studio you will never learn anything if you let the IDE write all your code for you. The tools are nice later on, but get in the way of a beginner.

I have just finished reading this book, basically skimming the last 7 chapters (or days I should say). I gave quite a break in between, but when I went back to Day 14, I realized this is not going anywhere. I have worked on three programs on Animation and none worked. The whole code is given without any explanation. As one previous reviewer put it, that kind of code is already given when you run Visual J++. If there is no explanation, why need this book? I am totally puzzled. The Q&A at the end of each day is a big joke. I am really afraid of the programmers who would study this book and think that they are competent with J++ right away. I am immediately in search of another programming book. If anyone who would like my copy, please send me an email, and I will mail it to you if you send me the postage. IMHO, waste of time. Grap another book, please, if you are serious.

After reading the first 3 chapter of the book, I could no longer continue because this book contain too much garbage. I found myself skipping a lot of pages. For example, there will be pages of source code in the book that is an exact replicate of what you will find when you use Visual J++ wizard to automatically create a project for you. The source code was listed with no explanation and no apparent reason. These is another situation where you will find 2-3 pages teaching you how to use WS_FTP software to uploading file to Web Server. The worse is screen shot for WS_FTP were also printed with totally unrelated file selected as an example ready for upload. The author spent too little time on helping the reader to create sample program and the sample programs are way to simple with no business application experience. I would like to suggest the author to follow the same format use by the author Davis Chapmen in "Teach yourself Visual C++ in 21 days" which is the best book I have ever read.

The title of this book is totally misleading. It should have been named "Teach Yourself Kindergarden Java with Visual J++ 6 in 21 Days". As a book for a beginner with no programming experience it would have served its purpose, but it definitely doesn't teach J++ in the way you would expect. Look at the headings.

About Java
Day 2. Java Language Fundamentals.
Day 3. Making Applets Live on the Web.
Day 5. Windows.
Day 6. Menus.
Day 7. Applet User Interface Controls.
Day 9. Dialogs.
Day 10. Fonts and Text.
Day 11. Drawing.
Day 12. Images.
Day 13. Image Processing.
Day 14. Animation.
Day 15. Exceptions.
Day 16. Mouse Input.
Day 17. Threads.
Day 18. Strings.
Day 19. Stream I/O.

About J++
Day 1. Getting Started: The Visual J++ Environment.
Day 4. Debugging Java Applets and Applications.
Day 8. Application Controls.
Day 20. ActiveX.
Day 21. J/Direct.

Five chapters specifically about J++ and 16 about Kindergarden Java. Look at the dead air in this book Day 6. Menus, Day 7. Applet User Interface Controls, Day 9. Dialogs, Day 10. Fonts and Text, Day 11. Drawing, Day 12. Images, Day 16. Mouse Input.
Day, Day 18. Strings. I want to learn J++ not Java. I would rather recommend Programming Microsoft Visual J++ 6.0 by Stephen Randy Davis, which is the best book I know about J++ or if you are a beginner, Using Visual J++ 6.0 by Scott Mulloy .

I had used other 'Teach yourself' something 'in XX days' before and liked them. I sure got fooled with this one! Avoid this book unless you are already comfortable working with J++. The examples are confusing. It rambles. It presents bits and pieces but never gives you a solid foundation. I really regret buying this book.

This book lacks detailed explanations. The examples are also badly constructed. The book is verbose and if you really want learn Java, get another book.

I'm not sure what the other reviewer was looking for, but for a beginner-level book (which is the purpose of 21-day books), I thought this book was fantastic! I had zero experience using Visual J++ and within a couple of days got up to speed and was writing applets. What more can one ask for? As far as I'm concerned I got exactly what I wanted: a book that got me up and running without a lot of fluff. Now when I'm a little more comfortable with the basics that this book presents, I'll move on to a more advanced book. Like I said. Exactly what I would expect from a 21-day book.

If you already have experience in programming with C++, this book is good to learn J++ in relatively short period of time, but if you don't, avoid this book. In my opinion, it's nearly impossible to understand without some knowledge on C++ or J++.

As a C++/Visual Basic Programmer, I found this book very handy.

If you do not already understand the fundamentals of OOP (Object Oriented Programming) then you will struggle a little as it does not thoroughly cover:

- Concept of Classes/Objects.
- Constructors.
- Members.

However, if you already understand these concepts (such as I did), then you will fly through this book with little or no trouble.

This book takes you from beginner to an intermediate level whilst covering the following topics:

- Applet & Application development.
- Use of Dialogs & Standard Controls.
- Graphics & Image Processing.
- Multi-threading & Animation.
- Exception handling.
- I/O Streams.

All examples are easily understood and fairly well explained.

Just don't expect to become a professional programmer from reading this book.
You will however be able to move onto a more advance book.

This book is being used as a textbook in my J++ class. I'm a programming student with experience in Visual Basic 6 and HTML, so I'm not entirely new to programming, yet I found this book very frustrating and difficult to understand and follow. It assumes the reader has a grasp of C++ and a good background in programming. No "step by step" code, no clear "hands on" procedures in the early chapters and way too much technical jargon for the true beginner to follow. If you are a novice and really want to learn J++ save yourself time and aggravation and follow the advice of a friend of mine and try "Using Visual J++ 6" by Scott Mulloy instead of this book.