On to Java (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

by Patrick Henry Winston (Author), Sundar Narasimhan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
A clear, concise, no-nonsense book on Java that would appeal most to serious programmers. Authored by an MIT CS prof and a real-world Java expert. Written in a terse, slide-show style that presents each essential idea in a brief paragraph without unnecessary verbiage. Much like this review. --This text refers to the Textbook Binding edition.

Product Description
(Pearson Education) Text providing the knowledge necessary to master the essentials of Java programming language and creating Java programs. This edition features new material on connecting models to servers, implementing dynamic tables, developing layout managers, and collecting information with servlets. Previous edition: c1996 Softcover. DLC: Java (Computer program language).

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley; 3 edition (June 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201725932
• ISBN-13: 978-0201725933
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,050,702 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, Concise, Thorough, June 6, 2000

By	David A. Seruyange "sophtwarez" (Sioux Falls, SD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: On to Java 1.2 (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This is quite simply an amazing book. As a programmer I have encountered many technical books and even more in the way of documentation and I have never found anything quite like this. The author has a unique style that is quite possibly the most forthcoming and concise presenation format one could find on the topic. In honor of this I shall write my review in the same style of the book:

1. My first book was Core Java 2 (Fundamentals). As a VB developer trying to learn Java, this was

the most elementary book offered by Sun. While the book promises much depth, lack of organization and clarity impeded my ability to work through it. In the second chapter one is already importing classes and fiddling with CLASSPATH variables.

2. In extreme contrast to this, On To Java focuses on syntax in a step by step format that thoroughly covers even the most basic Java "Hello World" type application. Upon this the author builds concepts such as data types, methods, classes and so on in a very methodical step-by-step format.

3. Although this material is more of a drawn out tutorial that focuses on a single application and develops it throughout, it's concise and deliberate format is something that I've found to be lacking in *all* other Java documentation I've perused, including the excellent material from the O'Reilly people.

4. Therefore this is a book for a person who wants a quick but thorough start on Java, who wants to be advised of even the most straight forward syntax before they begin importing classes and looking at sample applications and who wants to focus on the language rather than a specific vendor's product.

5. The limitation of this book is that it is *not* a reference by any means. After one has been through the material they will not draw on this book for supplementary input. However, the authors intention I'm quite sure is that this material is a primer- a preliminary step whereas the complete references are meant to augment one who is already versed in the basics, structure and syntax of Java. Moreover the JDK includes such documentation.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best book available for learning Java. (1.2), February 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: On to Java 1.2 (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

1999 Edition, Java 1.2: If you want to learn Java, get this book and get it now. I wasted my money on 10 other Java books before I bought this one and not ONE of them even came close to getting me to understand the Java language like this book did. It's easy and exciting to read as you learn more and more in each subsequent "how-to" section. If you want a book full of Java applets then buy one of the other 10,000 books out there, or visit a web site. If you want to learn Java, do yourself a favor and go buy this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just want t add my 5 stars to all the others, August 13, 2000

By	Anna's Mama (Jamaica Plain, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On to Java 1.2 (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I agree with all the reviewers who gave this book 5 stars. And want to add that this book is a good, quick read. I started looking into Java with the O'Reilly books (Java in a Nutshell and Java Examples in a Nutshell), and while those are also good and more in-depth I would recommend this book first. It is simply more intuitively organized and a breeze to read. I can't explain the presence of the one star reviews, except to say that this is not a book for people completely new to programming. This is the best book if you are adding Java to OO languages you alread know.