Java is the language du jour, and plenty of books have been written about it. But with so many books available, new offerings should be something special. This one isn't.

Learning Java starts at the beginning with a "hello world"-style program that demonstrates using Sun's Java tools. Throughout, the book introduces features using examples--all thoroughly discussed and explained in as straightforward and jargon-free a manner as practicable.

A tricky aspect of Java is the way classes are related, so it's neat to see a whole chapter devoted to the subject early on. Even more opaque is the explicit use of threads. Again, this topic is made accessible in this text, especially with its discussion of thread synchronization. Basic graphics, video handling, and other media in Java are discussed, followed by Beans and the builder environment--but stopping short of JavaBeans. The book finishes with a section on applets, the Java plug-in, and digital signatures.

Overall, however, the reader gets no feeling of working toward a goal, and perhaps this would have been a better book if a project had been its theme. Another odd decision in the mix here was to ignore the several--some free--Java IDEs generally used to program Java. (The book makes a point of saying it hasn't discussed them but doesn't explain. Even beginners find Java more accessible in a programming environment.)

Still, Learning Java, which uses Java 2 v1.3, does a competent job of introducing the language to beginners. As with most O'Reilly books, it's authoritative, lucid, and well edited. Though this book may fail to inspire in the reader the presumed enthusiasm for Java felt by the authors, you won't go wrong with this one, and its coverage of object-oriented programming issues is particularly good. --Steve Patient, Amazon.co.uk


From Book News, Inc.
A book/CD-ROM package on Java 2 SDK 1.3, the latest release, reflecting the software's changing focus on improved GUI programming tools, the emergence of servlets as an alternative to applets, and the advent of APIs for multimedia and image processing. The accompanying CD-ROM contains some 100 example programs, plus Java programming environments, including compiler and class libraries. Niemeyer is involved with development of client/server systems and communications software. Knudson has written several computer books, and writes a monthly online column on Java.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR


Book Description
This new edition of Learning Java has been expanded and updated for Java 2 Standard Edition SDK 1.4. It comprehensively addresses important topics such as web applications, servlets, and XML that are increasingly driving enterprise applications. This edition provides full coverage of all Java 1.4 language features including assertions and exception chaining as well as new APIs such as regular expressions and NIO, the new I/O package. New Swing features and components are described along with updated coverage of the JavaBeans component architecture using the open source NetBeans IDE the latest information about Applets and the Java Plug-in for all major web browsers. The accompanying CD-ROM provides all you need to start working with Java immediately. In addition to the many example programs from the book, the CD includes the complete J2SE SDK 1.4, the NetBeans IDE, the Jakarta Project's Ant make utility and Tomcat application server as well as BeanShell, a simple open source Java scripting language developed by author Pat Niemeyer.


Book Info
Updated second edition introduces the basics of Java, the object-oriented programming language for networked applications from Sun Microsystems. Inside you will find a broad survey of J2SE and everything necessary to get up to speed on the new 1.4 version quickly. Softcover. Previous edition c2000. CD-ROM included.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
The Gartner Group estimates that well over 90 percent of all midsize to large application development organizations will be using Java technologies through at least the year 2005. They￯﾿ﾽd be focusing even more heavily on Java, but for one thing: not enough skilled Java developers.

Does this sound like an opportunity? It should.

If you haven￯﾿ﾽt learned Java yet -- or if you￯﾿ﾽve given it a once-over-lightly but haven￯﾿ﾽt dived deeply enough to even mention it in your r￯﾿ﾽsum￯﾿ﾽ -- seclude yourself with a copy of Learning Java, Second Edition. This polished O￯﾿ﾽReilly title covers everything you need to start building significant applications with Java 2 Version 1.4.x.

Learning Java, Second Edition is actually in its fourth iteration: the first two were published under the title Exploring Java. Which means there￯﾿ﾽs been more time to shake out the inevitable errors, and refine the book￯﾿ﾽs enormous number of code examples.

With each iteration, however, the authors have done far more than fix errors and add new features (though plenty of new features are covered in this edition -- we￯﾿ﾽll get to that.) They￯﾿ﾽve also revisited the entire book, reflecting new approaches they￯﾿ﾽve learned through experience (and abandoning older coverage that no longer seems relevant, such as client-side applet development).

Patrick Niemeyer and Jonathan Knudsen begin with an up-to-date discussion of both the original rationale for Java and how things are actually working out, several years on. You￯﾿ﾽll learn how Java fits into the language bestiary; how Java seeks to protect you from shooting yourself in the foot (or allowing others to do it); and how Java has evolved.

Next, Niemeyer and Knudsen help you get your feet wet with some working code. They start with "Hello World" but iterate it three more times, giving you a first taste of a surprisingly wide range of features (from garbage collection and inheritance all the way to threads).

Once all this is under your belt, Niemeyer and Knudsen introduce Sun￯﾿ﾽs Java interpreter and compiler; and systematically introduce the framework of the Java language and many of its most important facilities (including useful new capabilities such as language assertions and exception chaining.

Next, they present a ￯﾿ﾽcrash course￯﾿ﾽ in Java object-oriented development. If you￯﾿ﾽve used C++, you￯﾿ﾽll be reasonably at home here. (Though, as the authors note, it￯﾿ﾽs easy to overestimate the similarities with C++ -- they view Smalltalk a closer relative). If your experience tends more to VB, COBOL, or other largely non-object-oriented languages, you￯﾿ﾽll find this coverage invaluable. Before moving on to Java￯﾿ﾽs API classes, Niemeyer and Knudsen demystify multithreading, helping programmers avoid the pitfalls that tend to make threading more complex and error prone than it needs to be.

The remainder of the book focuses on the Java classes you￯﾿ﾽre likely to encounter most often in day-to-day development. Some, like java.io, have been around for awhile; others, like java.nio (New I/O) are new to 1.4. While NIO was primarily designed to address issues of scalability in large systems, it contains several goodies you￯﾿ﾽll want to know about even if you￯﾿ﾽre building only small applications.

Learning Java, Second Edition also introduces Java￯﾿ﾽs great new support for regular expressions; the new Preferences API, which simplifies the management of user and system configuration data; and the new Logging API for capturing information about security failures, configuration errors, performance bottlenecks, and application bugs.

The book includes extensive coverage (much of it new) of server-side development and web services. Among the topics covered: the latest version of the Java Servlet API (2.3); SAX, DOM, DTDs, XSL/XSLT, and the new JavaBeans XMLEncoder.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains all source code, plus a complete Java software library. There￯﾿ﾽs Sun￯﾿ﾽs Java SDK 1.4, of course, but also NetBeans 3.3.1, a powerful open source IDE for building Java (and other) software; Ant, Apache￯﾿ﾽs handy Java-based build tool (think ￯﾿ﾽmake￯﾿ﾽ without the hassles); the proven Apache Tomcat server engine; and BeanShell, a lightweight Java source interpreter for quick Java-based scripting.

If you want to master Java, Learning Java, Second Edition will give you a running start -- and powerful momentum. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Learning Java, Second Edition, provides an accessible yet comprehensive introduction to the programming language that has changed the way we think about computing. Java has become the language of choice for a wide variety of applications: web services, secure network systems, XML-based tools, reusable components, and mission-critical enterprise systems. Learning Java, Second Edition, is filled with easy-to-follow code examples that guide you through Java's many features, APIs, and facilities.

This new edition of Learning Java has been expanded and updated for Java 2 SDK 1.4. It comprehensively addresses important topics such as web applications, servlets, and XML that are increasingly driving enterprise applications. This edition provides full coverage of all Java 1.4 language features, including assertions and exception chaining, as well as new APIs such as regular expressions and NIO, the new I/O package. New Swing features and components are described along with updated coverage of the JavaBeans component architecture using the open source NetBeans IDE, as well as the latest information about applets, and the Java Plug-in for all major web browsers.