Java How to Program (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

~ Harvey M. Deitel (Author), Paul J. Deitel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dedicated to the principle that more is more, the massive Java: How to Program, Third Edition, may just be the most comprehensive available textbook for Java. Suitable for both students and home study, this book offers an extremely thorough introduction to Java programming, including all major APIs.

The sheer size (and level of detail) presented here is undoubtedly its most impressive feature. Weighing in at over 1,300 pages, it features an almost endless trove of information with over 500 programming tips, over 1,000 summary points, over 900 programming exercises, and a whopping 5,000-plus entries in its index. This is clearly a textbook and reference for students who want to master the entire Java language. The authors present many challenging exercises and examples too, including numerous interesting graphics problems, a simulation for a simple CPU, a compiler (for the same), and an elevator simulation case study. (In all, there is certainly sufficient material in this book for two semesters of college work.)

Besides a full tour of all the fundamentals of Java, from basic statements to object-oriented design techniques, the authors also delve into more advanced APIs for servlets, JDBC, RMI, and JavaBeans. (Their guide to Swing components is also a standout here.)

While the richness of Java: How-To Program might intimidate some readers, for those who want to experience all the possibilities of Java, this book is a fine choice for a first textbook on introductory programming in Java. Its authoritative and far-ranging presentation can serve as a reliable and effective guide to the truly exciting world of Java development. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Basic Java, applets and applications, control structures, methods, arrays, object-oriented programming techniques, strings, graphics and Java2D, Swing user interfaces, exceptions, multithreading, multimedia, file I/O, JDBC and databases, servlets, RMI, networking, sockets, custom data structures and collections, and JavaBeans.

Product Description

Completely revised and updated to cover the new features in the 1.2 release of Java, this book is a comprehensive look at learning how to program in Java. The book covers all facets of the Java language, including object-orientation, multithreading, exception-handling, the new event model, the graphics capabilities of the new Abstract Windows Toolkit, and the new APIs.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1355 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 3rd edition (December 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130125075
• ISBN-13: 978-0130125071
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (194 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #822,439 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You'll love it if you learn by examples..., December 4, 1999

By	"bdunn" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Okay, this book won't let you miss much. Every detail is covered IN DETAIL, but only to the intermediate stage. If you have no idea what OOP is, I suggest you get this book before any other. OOP (Object Oriented Programming) can be a little tough to understand, but this book's approach is very good.

The book is LARGE (dense) and looks like the typical goofy Deitel tutorial, but it's actually a pretty good book.

NOTE - If you already know C++, you'll probably want to skip this one. But if you currently know nothing, or you are a VB programmer, then this would be an excellent purchase.

This is my gripe and the reason for three stars. While the self-study answers are provided, the solutions for the real exercises are NOT provided and they will NOT provide them unless you have some kind of arrangement with Prentice Hill. That was a very annoying discovery. You can't purchase the answers and they aren't available online, don't ever bother.

If not for that BIG flaw, this is actually a very good introduction to Java, and the pace is very good for the beginner.

If you don't buy this one, my advice is to look at Thinking In Java, Java Examples in a Nutshell, Core Java 2.0, or Just Java 2.0. Those are all VERY GOOD books and worthy of serious consideration. In addition, the ANSWERS are PROVIDED in those books! What a concept! You'll actually know if you have it down well enough to move on. However, once again, THIS book probably has the best introduction to OOP that I've seen, so if you don't know it, consider buying this one.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for somebody who doesn't know Java at all, August 31, 2000

By	Jeremy Gailor (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

First of all, this is a great book... Especially if you don't know any Java at all. I bought this book for a class, sat down and went through every example in the book, tweaking them each time to get a better understanding of each concept. 6 months later, I am now have my Sun Java Programmer certification. This book is FOR BEGINNERS. If you are looking for more complexity, then buy a book marketed for the specific type of aspect of Java you want to learn. This was the best starting point for me to move onto learning more advanced techniques. Of course it means spending a little more on books that are more specific to advanced topics, but hey, that's life. If you want to learn Java, then start here, read the chapters, actually WRITE THE EXAMPLES, COMPILE THEM, RUN THEM, AND TWEAK THEM. This is HOW YOU LEARN TO WRITE CODE. Don't whine if you want you don't want to write out the examples, because when I sat through my Computer Science 1-4 courses, everyday I heard "Go to the lab, enter the programs, and modify them". To sum up... Buy this book if you want to learn Java from scratch, then look more into the areas that interest you after you've finished with it.

P.S. - In two months I'll be going for my Sun Java Developer certification, which I never would have gotten to without this book.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the top Java books (another author's perspective), April 23, 2001

By	Jonathan S Sayles (Coventry, CT United States) - See all my reviews

In glancing through the existing reviews on Paul & Harvey's book I was dumb-founded at the vitriol, sarcasm and ridiculous nature of the negative reviews of this book. I thought for a minute I was on some online Jerry Springer show. I am author (over a dozen books - published by J. Wiley) - and if you would, allow me to set the record straight on this book:

1. The organization is excellent

2. The technical content is clear, high-calibre and detailed (this "detail" is confused by the negative reviewers as redundance - but in fact, is very useful to a certain type of entry-level audience.) No statement is un-documented, no assumptions made on the part of the audience.

3. The workshops are a compromise between too much and too little detail. It is difficult to address detail-needs for the kinds of audiences that are learning Java at this point. Experienced C++ guys need little detail, born-again-COBOL programmers need gobs of it. Paul and Harvey do an admirable job of providing a mix.

4. The end-of-chapter "gotchas" - review section is worth the money by itself. This is basically information culled from their substantial classroom experience, and is unique in books I've seen.

5. As another reviewer mentioned, the authors are super-responsive (unlike the Sun site) - to Q&A. And they're technically very competent.

Could this book be better - folks, no book is perfect (especially not mine). But you'll look far & wide to find a technical learning book on Java - that delivers so much information so well.

Jon