This revised edition of the classic Core Java™, Volume I–Fundamentals, is the definitive guide to Java for serious programmers who want to put Java to work on real projects.

Fully updated for the new Java SE 6 platform, this no-nonsense tutorial and reliable reference illuminates the most important language and library features with thoroughly tested real-world examples. The example programs have been carefully crafted to be easy to understand as well as useful in practice, so you can rely on them as an outstanding starting point for your own code.

Volume I is designed to quickly bring you up to speed on what’s new in Java SE 6 and to help you make the transition as efficiently as possible, whether you’re upgrading from an earlier version of Java or migrating from another language. The authors concentrate on the fundamental concepts of the Java language, along with the basics of user-interface programming. You’ll find detailed, insightful coverage of 

• Java fundamentals

• Object-oriented programming

• Interfaces and inner classes

• Reflection and proxies

• The event listener model

• GUI programming with Swing

• Packaging applications

• Exception handling

• Logging and debugging

• Generic programming

• The collections framework

• Concurrency

For detailed coverage of XML processing, networking, databases, internationalization, security, advanced AWT/Swing, and other advanced features, look for the forthcoming eighth edition of Core Java™, Volume II—Advanced Features (ISBN: 978-0-13-235479-0).

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 19 Ratings

Great Introduction to Java - 2009-10-17
Reviewer Rating:
I like this book - it covers a lot of territory very quickly and has notes for people who have already programmed in C++ - like myself.

Tailored to the Sun Microsystems Courses - 2009-09-01
Reviewer Rating:
I am not familiar with other books on Java. I suggest using this one if you are taking any of the Java classes provided by Sun Microsystems, Inc., especially the first "Java Programming" course, because the book's presentation is somewhat aligned to the course's. I am familiar with computer language books in general, and this one suffers from the same problems that most of the others I have examined or used have. For example, it tries to be a narrative textbook that could be read consecutively, and also tries to be a reference book to help you when you have questions. It gets mediocre marks from me on both functions. Concerning the narrative aspect, the exposition is not always in clear language; object-oriented languages involve many abstract concepts, and only the best technical writers seem to be able to get their ideas across in an unambiguous way without using long, convoluted, obtuse sentences. It leaves me thinking "there MUST be a simpler way to explain this!". Reading chapters 1-7 consecutively is probably worth the effort, although Sun's website has a free online tutorial that is easier to read. Concerning the reference book aspect, the book COULD probably answer a lot of questions, but the index doesn't have enough entries to make it easy for the reader to find answers. This is bad considering the book is over 800 pages long! The reader often must skim through chapters to find the needed information.

One of the best - 2009-07-10
Reviewer Rating:
Has plenty of examples but they like to assume you're programmed before. So this book isn't for a beginning programmer.

Advaced Java Primer - 2009-06-05
Reviewer Rating:
"Core Java" is a good book to learn Java for the first time. It gives fairly detailed description of everything a novice might need, but at the same time the book isn't too technical and doesn't get too dry or boring. The examples in the book are concise and well crafted.

Excellent book - 2009-03-30
Reviewer Rating:
Excellent java book for the non-novice. Just wonder why the publishers do not have a Kindle edition out for this book when Vol II is on Kindle!!! I wish it comes out soon in an ebook version.

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