Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 Platform in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition [Hardcover]

Laura Lemay (Author), Rogers Cadenhead (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sams Teach Yourself in 21 Days Series | Publication Date: January 21, 1999

Sams Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days continues to be the most popular, best-selling Java tutorial on the market. It has been acclaimed for its clear and personable writing, for its extensive use of examples, and for its logical and complete organization. The Professional Reference Edition of the book includes an extra seven chapters covering advanced topics like object serialization, remote method invocation, accessibility, security, JavaBeans, JDBC and advanced data structures - as well as a 200-page reference section detailing the most commonly used aspects of the Java language.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The revised SAMS Teach Yourself Java 2 in 21 Days provides a solid tutorial for the major aspects of the Java 2 platform. This intelligently presented book is suitable for the new or intermediate Java programmer who wants to learn the latest Java features quickly.

The first week looks at Java platform basics, including Java's virtual machine and language fundamentals (such as data types, variables, and flow control statements). The ins and outs of object design, including inheritance and overloading methods and AWT applet programming come next. (For browser compatibility, the authors rely on JDK 1.02 functionality.) After a quick look at graphics programming (including the new Java 2D API), the authors explore a variety of options for animation, including double-buffering. They finish this group of lessons with information on basic AWT component programming, including short examples using AWT controls.

By the third week of lessons, the book covers ad hoc topics, including a clear explanation of Java packages (and exactly what those public, protected, and private keywords mean). A section on Java streams lays the groundwork for simple Internet programming (specifically, downloading a URL). Several chapters on the new Swing interface classes explore the simpler Swing components, such as images, sliders, and scrollbars (though advanced controls, such as table and trees, are not covered).

A bonus section--seven days of lessons beyond SAMS's standard three-week format--testifies to the richness of the Java 2 platform. Here the authors cover such useful Java topics as JDK command-line tools, signed Java applets, JavaBeans, and JDBC database programming. With its comprehensible format and often witty writing style, this text delivers an appealing introduction to some of the best of today's Java. --Richard Dragan

From the Back Cover

Sams Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days continues to be the most popular, best-selling Java tutorial on the market. It has been acclaimed for its clear and personable writing, for its extensive use of examples, and for its logical and complete organization. The Professional Reference Edition of the book includes an extra seven chapters covering advanced topics like object serialization, remote method invocation, accessibility, security, JavaBeans, JDBC and advanced data structures - as well as a 200-page reference section detailing the most commonly used aspects of the Java language.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1200 pages
• Publisher: Sams; Bk&CD Rom edition (January 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067231438X
• ISBN-13: 978-0672314384
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,206,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Overview of a Complex Subject, January 11, 2000

By 

D.Nobles (College Park, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 Platform in 21 Days: Complete Compiler Edition (Paperback)

It took a little more than 21 days, but I feel that Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 gave me the java insight and understanding I was looking for. I am new to java, but I have been a COBOL programmer for years. I took a C++ class several years ago and was totally stumped by all the new OO concepts. Sam's leads you step by step using silly examples that increase in complexity. This approach allows you to mentally see what is going on.

There is a lot of hand holding here. I would imagine that an experienced java programmer would regard this book as a review. On the other hand, it provides more than a just a high level introduction, there's some real meat and potatoes here. It was a committment, but I read it cover to cover and afterwards found that I could understand any java program I came across. This course will keep any beginner busy for 21 days (at least!), but in the end, I think you will be able to put your new java programming skills to the test.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good beginning course, February 25, 2000

By 

Mr. D. S. Stadler (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 Platform in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition (Hardcover)

I am an experienced Unix C++ programmer who was looking for a good introduction to Java in a manageable format. This book was the best I saw on the bookshelf at Borders bookstore in London. It has been proven to be everything it was claimed to be, though it is only an introduction in my opinion. I was a little disappointed in the depth of the information for the last 7 days, and methinks the authors could have put in information about J2EE (Jave Servelets), CORBA, et al. On the positive side, I was impressed with the Appendices showing how to get the JDK going. It is an excellent introduction to the Java Foundation Classes. There is no question that the book leaves one with a firm grounding with which to go on to 'expert class' books in JavaBeans, J2EE, Swing, etc. One caution to beginners: Don't assume that the coding style used in this book is the optimum OO style. Look elsewhere to learn more about this topic. As an experienced OO designer I found myself cringing occasionally. Apart from that, very valuable!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is just an applet-writers-guide, June 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 Platform in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition (Hardcover)

Though the writers call it "Professional Reference Edition", this book completely skips threads, collection frameworks and other important stuff. Nearly 50% of the pages are about creating a user interface (which is useless old AWT style anyway). Newbies can make some use of it, but I really DONT recommend it to professional programmers.