Graphic Java 1.2, Volume 1: AWT, Third Edition (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Java developers know that the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) is still an effective way to build functional user interfaces, whether inside Web browsers or in stand-alone applications. David Geary's guide to AWT programming in Graphic Java 1.2 shows you all the basics of AWT newly refitted for the new Java Developer's Kit (JDK) 1.2 standard from Sun, including some excellent 2-D animation examples.

After introducing the basics of the AWT library, the author looks at simple painting and 2-D graphics. Standout sections here look at displaying images--a staple of Internet programming--as well as transforming images with "filters" (such as dimming and rescaling an image). Graphic Java 1.2 shows you a variety of advanced techniques for getting control of your bit-mapped content. The tour of Java graphics capabilities moves on with coverage of layout managers and basic AWT components such as buttons, text fields, lists, and choices. For those who want to create stand-alone Java applications, there's much material on using Java menus.

The book's advanced material highlights new features of JDK 1.2, such as its support for lightweight controls, built-in double-buffering support, and advanced "native-style" operations (such as clipboard support and "rubber-banding" classes). The author also shows off his custom classes for 2-D sprite animation. --Richard Dragan

Product Description

The most comprehensive guide to the Java Foundation Classes available. Provides Java developers with the skills needed to build professional, cross platform applications that take full advantage of the Java Foundation Classes. Paper. CD-ROM included.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 878 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1st edition (September 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130796662
• ISBN-13: 978-0130796660
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #884,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The BEST book available on the AWT, October 19, 1999

By A Customer

Unfortunately, unlike other Java topics like language fundamentals, I/O, or programmer certification, there are very few books which cover the AWT adequitely. This book is the exception. What makes this book really special is that it presents all the basic information you need to know about what components are available and how to use them. But it also teaches you two more things on the way: (a) fundamental graphics operations such as rubberbanding, double buffering, and sprite animation which you will need to know for any programming language (b) how design patterns figure prominently in the AWT API (don't know what design patterns are? check out the BIBLE by the 'gang of four':Design Patterns : Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing) ) Here are some of the tidbits I found most helpful: *limitations associated with peers *overriding deprecated java 1.0 methods *prevent excessive flashing by overriding update *avoiding race conditions with modal dialogs *using font metrics and validate intelligently to force text to resize with components *using the built-in image filters in java.awt.image Some things with the AWT can drive you nuts because they don't work as advertised, and this book should include, but doesn't, a discussion of: *ScrollPane displays excessive flashing when scrollling images- even his example code- this is an AWT bug which should be mentioned *the toFront method does work reliably - another huge bug *using anonymous inner classes can make some of your windows unreachable by the GC and lead to memory leaks Anyway, I practically lived with this book for two months while working on a project and would have to say this is THE reference for the AWT.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm not through this book yet, but it so far it's amazing!, October 21, 1999

By	Justin Greenwood ([e-mail]) (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

There is a sad sparsity of good Java books, especially when it comes to the AWT. I am really impressed with this book and I highly suggest it to anyone that really wants to learn the JFC APIs. It would be really nice if the JDK documentation had something like this, but they left the examples and explinations out so they can sell more Java books. Well, I guess Sun needs to make some money on Java somehow, right?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Draggable saints - it's come to this !, June 19, 2001

By	Michael Sweeney (Boulder CO) - See all my reviews

Excellent and clearly written, but you better know the difference between "extends" and "implements" or forget it. I appreciated the six versions of the ThreeDButton listener in chapter 9, and now have a much clearer understanding of event handling.