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Complete Review

Core Java (3rd Edition)
Advanced Rating: 5 Gary Cornell and Cay S. Horstmann
SunSoft Press / Prentice-Hall
ISBN 0-13-766957-7; 630 pages; $39.95 US
My all-time favorite. I have all three editions of this book; it's that good.

This book has good stuff for serious programmers, with minimal hype. It makes a good distinction between applications and applets. (I'm programming Java applications mainly, so I am sensitive to books that ignore applications.) The 1st edition assumed there were no GUI builders, etc. available for Java, which has changed a bit now.

Core Java 1.1 (3rd Edition) Volume 1: Fundamentals tells you there are development environments, and points you to a few, but doesn't encourage their use. (I agree. Most are cumbersome and I have yet to be able to pull my application's classes into one.)

This book has some good basic Windows 95 tips, and includes tips for the Visual Basic programmer (which I am not), as well as for the C++ programmer (which I am, er, was.). This book has the best description of Properties and their practical use that I've seen. Good "practical" OOP intro, design, conventions, and tips. Threads are covered late in book. All in all, a good practical book, for the "serious programmer."

The 2nd edition includes chapters on JDBC, RMI, Object Serialization, native methods, and a "future of Java" section. The CD-ROM includes HTML files of all the Java API help.

The 3rd edition is now in 2 volumes; this reviews the 1st volume. The second volume, Core Java 1.1, Vol. II - Advanced Features, is now available.

See also the Web site for the book for errata, etc.

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