Core Web Programming (Core Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Web pages are created with the HyperText Markup Language, which lets you mix regular text with "markup" tags describing the text..." (more)
Key Phrases: package cwp, custom cell renderer, generic network server, Internet Explorer, File Edit, Core Approach (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Becoming a Web developer these days requires expertise in a variety of disparate languages and tools and usually requires a whole shelf of books. Core Web Programming delivers all you need to become a competent Web developer in one massive text. It covers HTML, Java, Common Gateway Interface (CGI), and JavaScript thoroughly with plenty of real-world programming examples.

The first part of the book covers HTML 3.2, including the basic tags and more advanced topics such as frames and cascading style sheets. This section discusses Netscape and Microsoft extensions to HTML (such as using plug-ins for playing multimedia content and ActiveX controls). The tutorial to HTML is comparable to those in other books of this category and includes some of the author's tips for creating more portable HTML.

The next section covers the basics of Java from a programmer's standpoint, including the advantages of Java and how to access Java documentation and tools. The tutorial that follows stresses the built-in libraries in core Java, covering drawing images and other graphics capabilities. Event handling in Java Developer's Kit (JDK) 1.02 (probably unnecessary these days) and JDK 1.1 receive full treatment. The chapter on graphics double-buffering for smooth animation within Java programs is particularly useful, and the author's treatment of how to access the network capabilities of Java is perhaps unmatched. (Topics here include how to load URLs using Java's network classes and even how to create a simple HTTP server in Java.)

The third section of this text moves to CGI programming using Java on the server. The author introduces the basics of HTTP and describes how data are passed to CGI programs from the client. Though this section lacks a discussion of Perl (which is still the preferred language for CGI development), the treatment of CGI fundamentals and the basics of Java servlets is good. (Java servlets are an alternative--with some advantages--to Perl.)

The fourth and final section of the book returns to the client side once more, with a tutorial on JavaScript, the scripting language for Netscape browsers. Topics such as how to use cookies to store information on local machines and how to validate arguments for CGI forms help round out a successful tour of the technologies that developers need to program on the Web.

Product Description

A comprehensive Web programming resource aimed at the serious developer or upper-level student. Reflects plenty of real-world experience and pointers to key pitfalls and bugs in the major implementations. Four main topics are covered:

HTML: Complete coverage of the HTML 3.2 spec, major Netscape and Internet Explorer extensions, frames, cascading style sheets, dynamic/layered HTML via either extended style sheets or the LAYER and ILAYER elements.

Java: Java 1.1 and 1.0. Detailed coverage of the 1.1 event model. Exhaustive coverage of *every* AWT component. Basic syntax, OOP intro, threads, sockets, RMI, JDBC, serialization, inner classes, double buffering, etc. Hundreds of examples.

CGI Programming: The HTTP specification (request methods, request headers, response status line, response headers, cookies). The client side (HTML forms, sending GET and POST data from applets). The server side (CGI environment variables, writing CGI programs in Java, a CGI form parser and cookie value parser in java, the servlet API, CGI alternatives). An overview of public-key cryptography.

JavaScript: JavaScript 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2. Writing cross-platform scripts. Customizing pages. Manipulating layers. Validating CGI forms. Animating images. Handling events. Regular expressions. Complete quick reference to all of JavaScript 1.2.

The text presents over 200 HTML and JavaScript documents, and more than 250 Java classes, which are also available on the book's CD-ROM.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1279 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr; Bk&CD-Rom edition (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013625666X
• ISBN-13: 978-0136256663
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,616,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, more JavaScript needed..., September 13, 2001

By	Petar Banicevic (Zagreb, Croatia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Core Web Programming (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Before I bought this book: I knew about html basic elements such as head, body, p, and a few more. I had to use tools to create web pages and I never knew how it really works, and I didn't use any advanced elements. Now I can do web pages much better, use CSS and many other cool things.

This book is so well organized it has good approach, from easy elements to harder elements. It covers very interesting topics starting with text elements (for beginning), frames, css, java introduction, java programming, basic 2d & 3d graphics, mouse and keyb. events, layout managers, awt components, swing, threads, network programming (excellent one), and finally server side stuff (java server pages, servlets,jdbc...).

My wish would be to remove java programming sections, since java programming is too big and to complex to show it in 2 or 3 sections, also there are plenty java programming books around. However this is just my opinion.

*All* of the examples are SHORT and INDEPENDENT: you don't have to read all chapters in a row to be able to understand the example. Each topic has it's own nice and small example which exactly points out the essential things. I really hate reading a book from beginning to the end, therefore I hate when whole book is based on one example which grows as you go further - THIS BOOK IS NOT LIKE THAT, althow more examples would be even better.

Finally, this is one of the best books I own, the only negative mark is that java programming should be removed, as well as awt, and instead more java script should be present, however this problem is easy to overcome by buying one of numerous java script books (recomended: JavaScript Bible by Danny Goodman).

Sorry for typos, good luck to all, bye !

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost everything a web site developer needs., February 9, 2000

By	Conrad H. Weisert (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marty Hall's well-organized and clearly written book is like four books in one, with major sections on HTML, Java, CGI, and Java Script.

His treatment of HTML and Java are more thorough than in many more specialized books. Highly recommended for the experienced professional learning about web programming!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bullseye!, April 3, 2000

By	Stephen Foster (Seattle, WA United States, via Scotland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a well-aimed book. If, like me, you are an experienced programmer who is looking to quickly learn Web programming, then this is THE book for you. It doesn't waste time with long-winded explanations of what variables are or what recursion is. It assumes you know all that stuff and quickly explains its four topics.

I can't vouch for most of the HTML section, because I already knew HTML, but I didn't know CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and they are handled succinctly here in about fifty terse pages, sprinkled with very clear examples.

The one exception to the "adult" level of explanation is a chapter on OOP (Object-Oriented Programming) for people new to it.

1200+ pages for $40? Quite the bargain.