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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