Java Garage (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Enter your Java Garage

Where you do your work, not somebody else’s

Where you get away, experiment, tinker

Where work is about passion, not rules

Serendipity, not linearity

Inspiration, not same-old, same-old

Where discoveries are made

Where what you learn matters

Where you achieve greatness, not just competence

Your mentor, teacher, sherpa: Eben Hewitt

Java guru, architect, Sun-certified up the wazoo

Able to leap tall object models in a single bound and teach you how to do it, with classes and inheritance interfaces and type conversions event handling and exceptions file I/O and multithreading inner classes, Swing, JARs, and the whole bloomin’ Java 2 Standard Edition Platform 1.5

Browse it, take it home,

Enter the Garage

Come out, a master

Enter your Java Garage... where you do your work, not somebody else’s... where you experiment and tinker... where work is about passion, serendipity, inspiration... where you achieve greatness with Java, not just competence. Your mentor, teacher, sherpa: Eben Hewitt, Java architect, able to leap tall object models in a single bound, and teach you how to do it, too. What you’ll learn: only the best ways to get it done with J2SE 1.5 classes, inheritance, interfaces, type conversions, event handling, exceptions, file I/O, multithreading, inner classes, Swing, JARs, everything that matters. Think ’zine. Think blog. But, please, do not think of any other Java book you have ever seen.

From the Back Cover

Enter your Java Garage... where you do your work, not somebody else's. It's where you experiment, escape, tinker, and ultimately succeed.

Java Garage is not your typical Java book. If you're tired of monotonous "feature walks" and dull tutorials, put down those other Java books and pick up Java Garage. Java guru Eben Hewitt takes a fresh look at this popular programming language, providing the insight and guidance to turn the regular programmer into a master. The style is straightforward, thought-provoking and occasionally irreverent.

You'll learn the best ways to program with everything that matters: J2SE 5.0 classes, inheritance, interfaces, type conversions, event handling, exceptions, file I/O, multithreading, inner classes, Swing, JARs, etc. Hewitt provides real working code and instructions for making usable applications that you can exploit and incorporate into your own personal projects with ease. Need answers quickly? The book also includes FAQs for speedy reference and a glossary on steroids that gives you the context, not just the definition.

With Java Garage, you'll learn the best way to create and finish projects with finesse. Think 'zine. Think blog. But, please, do not think of any other Java book you have ever seen.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (August 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321246233
• ISBN-13: 978-0321246233
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,432,412 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 Accessible book., September 7, 2004

By	J. Benton (Southwest USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Tons of books exist on Java. So why choose this one? If you are a professional Java developer, there are plenty of handy references that will fill the needs of your daily class and method writing. But really, do we curl up with a copy of "Java in a Nutshell" or "Java 2: The Complete Reference"? Okay so maybe we do. But rather than reading like a college lecture as many Java books do, this one reads like a discussion with a good friend. It provides an accessible style and superior coverage for both the beginning and advanced Java programmer. (** Plus it has information on J2SE 5.0.)

For the Java novice, the book gives entertaining, non-technical analogies that help describe basic concepts. It uses a direct and stimulating approach. As someone who has tutored university-level Java students, I recommend this book as a starting point if you are struggling with the concepts of Java programming. The first chapters are an excellent introduction to the fundamentals. After grasping the basics, you can then pick and choose which chapters are most relevant to you, as there is very little "chapter building" from then on. An indispensable "Glossary on Steroids" serves as a reference for words and concepts you may not immediately know or recall.

I also recommend this book as an introduction to advanced topics and as a reference for when that "how does this work again?" issue arises. "Fridge" sidebar notes provide technical value and entertainment. Also included are invaluable chapters on application deployment and using regular expressions in Java. You also will get coverage of Java 5.0 during the course of the book. You'll find that Java 5.0 is a running thread (no pun intended).

This is text with actual, working, compilable code examples, not a picture book. When it comes to computation, working code is worth a thousand words.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All about the Garage, September 3, 2004

By	Victor M. Miller (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Java Garage is a greate book.

I was fortunate to be able to participate in the technical review process for the the book, during which time I was able to read it. It covers the basics of the Java Programming language very well without bogging the reader down with every nut and bolt as to how things work.

There are topics in the book that aren't in regular Java books. For example: Packaging and Deploying Java Applications, Using System and Runtime, and several more.

Overall I felt that this book was a good source of knowledge as well as a fun read. Eben Hewitt has a good sense of humor that keeps the book lively and interesting.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Headache., November 12, 2004

By	Thomas Paul (Plainview, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Headache. That is what I got every time I picked up this book. Too cute. Too many short sentences. Sentence fragments. Headache. Recipes. Like reading my 12-year-old daughter's instant messages.

First thing to note is that this is a beginner's book. You won't find that anywhere in the description unfortunately. Second thing to note is that I blame this on "Head First Java". You know how when a successful TV show comes out and all the other networks try to copy it? You know how they never do it right because they always miss the point? It's as if someone saw "Survivor" and decided it was a success because people ate bugs so they made a show where people had to eat bugs to win. "Head First Java" uses humor to help focus the mind on difficult concepts. It makes use of educational techniques that have been studied by scientists. This book uses humor to be cool(?), funny(?) but most of the time the book is just annoying, which is a real shame because there is some good information here and some of it is very well presented. Other times I was left wondering why he stopped and didn't finish explaining a concept. Then there are these stream of consciousness blurbs that seem to just come out of nowhere and go on about anything except the topic at hand. I assume the author is trying to be amusing and be less like a traditional technical book but he fails at the former and overachieves at the latter.

At one point in the book the author suggests that if you still have questions that you should get some Zoloft and take up a hobby like gardening. I think it's a little odd for an author to suggest that his curious readers are in need of anti-depressants but if forced to read this book, it may not be a bad idea. cya.