The JDK 1.4 Tutorial (Paperback)

~ Gregory M. Travis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A first rate book, extremely well focused and hugely helpful." -- Phil Hanna, author of JSP: The Complete Reference

"This volume is reasonably priced, hot off the presses, and will pay for itself many times over. " -- Focus on Java at About.com

Product Description

With the significant changes made to the new release of Java Development Kit (JDK), this book will act as tutorial for programmers who need to make use of he new features now. Each new or updated package or feature is given a theoretical introduction, including a discussion of the role of the package or feature within the larger Java platform. Every technique described is accompanied by a sample program that provides a complete implementation and can be used as a starting point for creating new code. For packages that have been overhauled, a discussion of the relevant changes is provided in the context of what the Java programmer already knows about older versions of the package and special attention is given to anything that breaks backward compatibility.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications; illustrated edition edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930110456
• ISBN-13: 978-1930110458
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,955,308 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to transition to JDK1.4, September 16, 2002

By A Customer

This book explains for an experienced Java developer the new features introduced in JDK1.4. Particularly the sections on assestions and Collections are very lucid and I found them very helpful. All the examples in the book are presented in a detailed and clear manner and on going through them, it is easy for a reader to understand how to use the APIs.

Novice programmers may not find this book helpful as it seems to be targeted for those developers who are already using some flavour of Java 2 platform.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Guide to the new Features in Java 1.4, July 30, 2002

By	Andrew (Highbury, South Australia Australia) - See all my reviews

I found this book to be a good tutorial when upgrading to Java 1.4. Afterwards it was also useful as a reference book.

The book clearly explains the new concepts and features in Java 1.4 and has many examples. It doesn't waste time explaining how to program in Java instead sticking to the new features. It is good to have a book that focuses mainly on new features instead of being filled up with information that is already known.

It is a good book for finding out the new features of Java 1.4.

5.0 out of 5 stars 7 years since publication, still going strong, July 1, 2009

By	ThomasH (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Now in year 2009 we have JDK1.6 on our hands. Even the fundamental change of Java language through JDK1.5 generics and annotations dates back to year 2004, why would this book be of any value?

Well, it is. I see it here on sale by many, and I consider it a mistake. Here is why:

Travis mastered a great tutorial of how to use new library packages provided in the rather large upgrade through JDK 1.4, most notably providing:

1) NIO, the new IO system,
2) Java Web Start (JAWS)
3) Logging
4) Assertions
5) Regular expressions
6) Preferences
7) Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE)
...and more!

Wow, this was a track load of new features added to the language's libraries. It takes indeed a book like this to describe them all. Most importantly, these new packages are of course very much current now in 2009, and for the the most part even unchanged since their release!

JDK1.4 was the last, and a very large at that, of upgrades to Java, which left the language widely untouched. With JDK1.4 we merely received the usual new load of a new functionality in the java.* environment. As we know, this has changed with JDK1.5, but this does not negate the usefulness of Travis'es text.

Reader will like his non-nonsense approach, diagrams and quite good example code. Some of it debatable, we always do have our own opinion about code, right? But, it serves the purpose. Especially if it comes to understanding NIO, I still consider his text (Chapters 1 and 2) unparalleled and best. I like the diagrams showing progress in channels and buffers, I understood instantly how to use NIO.

You sell it for what I see now $0.30? Really? For me this book is a keeper, I will give it up only from a cold hand of my dead body.