Java

Product Description

In this completely up-to-date volume, Herb Schildt, the world's leading programming author, shows you everything you need to know to develop, compile, debug, and run Java applications and applets. You'll get complete details on the Java language, its class libraries, and its development environment along with hundreds of examples and expert techniques.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #576971 in Books
* Published on: 2004-12-14
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 1000 pages

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Schildt’s classic Java reference--updated and expanded for J2SE 5. The ultimate resource for Java programming.

Java 2 Platform Standard Edition, version 5 (J2SE 5) is the most extensive upgrade to Java yet and Herb Schildt, the world’s leading programming author, has updated and expanded his best-selling reference on Java to cover it. Whether you’re a beginning Java programmer or an experienced pro, the answers to all your Java questions can be found in this one-stop resource. With expertly crafted explanations, insider tips, and hundreds of examples, this book fully explains the entire Java language and its core libraries. Of course, in-depth coverage of all the new features added by J2SE 5, such as generics, autoboxing, varargs, enumerations, metadata, and the enhanced for loop, is included. Essential for every Java programmer, this comprehensive resource offers the clear, crisp, uncompromising style that has made Herb Schildt the choice of millions worldwide. Coverage includes:

* Data types and operators
* Control statements
* Classes and objects
* Constructors and methods
* Interfaces and packages
* Method overloading and overriding
* Inheritance
* Exception handling
* Multithreading
* The I/O classes
* Networking
* The Collections Framework
* Applets and servlets
* AWT and layout managers
* JavaBeans and Swing

Plus, in-depth descriptions of Java’s newest features:

* Generics
* Autoboxing
* Enumerations
* Metadata (Annotations)
* The enhanced for loop
* Static import
* Varargs (variable-length arguments)
* The Formatter and Scanner classes.
* The Concurrent API

Herbert Schildt is the leading authority on Java, C, C++, and C#. His programming books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide and have been translated into all major foreign languages. Find out more at HerbSchildt.com.

About the Author
Herb Schildt (Mahomet, IL) is an authority on the C and C++ languages, a master Windows programmer, and an expert on Java. His programming books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide and have been translated into all major foreign languages. He is the author of numerous bestsellers, including: C: The Complete Reference, C++: The Complete Reference, and Java 2: The Complete Reference.
Customer Reviews

Good book to start learning Java4
This book is a good, by example book for you to learn Java and understand how and why it includes certain features/functions in the language. If you are looking for a reference book, this one is a bit hard to navigate to find detailed information about class interfaces. Another thing it is lacking is in-depth design patterns. If you are looking for detailed information on writing Swing interfaces, look elsewhere as well.

However, all in all, this book will successfully guide you through the Java language. You should be able to write multi-threaded programs that are networked and can successfully use file IO by the end of the book. It is especially useful if you have written software in other languages. If you are a beginner at writing software, you should probably buy a beginner's book before this.

The Review5
As a C/C++ programmer switching to Java I found this book very helpful as a beginning book. It was pointed out that the author takes the time to go over why certain things are different between the two languages... It should be noted that if they were not pointed out would have landed me in quite a baffeling bit of trouble, as I am sure is the case with many others.
It is agreed that the title is a bit much, but it is at the fault of Osborne not the author, it is the name of the series of books, and none of them are complete, but for that matter there is not a computer science book ever printed that completely covers a single subject... and I dare say there never will be either. With that said, a better title would be The Complete Beginners Reference, and for that purpose it is an excellent book, and that is why it got five stars... that was after all the books very obvious intention.
Someone mentioned that using an API without knowing how it was built and absolutely works is bad practice... I have two comments on that actually, the first being is that if you bring that up at a meeting at work some day you will get alot of rolling eyes if you are lucky, but more than likely a good chewing out, or firing from the boss... you dont have time to understand ever facet of every single function, most of the time you are using bits and pieces of a program that multiple other people wrote and throwing it all into a program inside of a few months that would have taken you years to have wrote alone. Second, you have to learn to walk before you can run, and APIs are excellent ways to get into some more advanced stuff with out completely knowing what you are doing yet... humans do learn by trial and error after all, think about the first time one of your parents told you not to touch something hot.
Lastly a leading authority does not mean he is the master of those languages... the people you mentioned are known as the best programmers of that language, there is alot more to programming than being extrememly good at manipulating the language... for instance you may have an extremely well founded knowledge of how the compiler handels your code... as does schilt... you may not be able to come up with the code, but you can look at it and tell exactly what it is going to do, we have several people at work that do that, they are horrable programmers, but they are extremely good at finding logic errors. Beginners need a good elementary base with this, and that is why they get someone who is good at it to write the book.

So Kudos to Herbert Schildt on an excellent beginners book... and reference to those of us having a bad day.

There is better2
I thought this book would help me learn Java when I first bought it, but I think the examples are skimpy. A more complete reference and tutorial is Cay Horstman's and Gary Cornell's 7 ed. of Core Java 2: Volumes 1 and 2. These 2 volumes have great examples, and go more in-depth into Java. Skip Schildt's book, and buy the Core Java Volumes even if you need just a reference. You will be happier, and learn more.