Subscriber Reviews

Average Rating:  Based on 17 Ratings

"5 stars" - by Anonymous on 29-DEC-2012
Reviewer Rating:
I have been a software developer for many years. I started to study java 4 years ago, but due to life's circumstances I had to put off my studies and learn others technologies. This book helped me to brush up on my java skills in a short period of time. I wish the author published another book with more advanced topics.



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"One of the best books ever for learning Java" - by chico1198 on 30-APR-2012
Reviewer Rating:
Yakov has the pulse on how people actually learn - show them something, lead them through it, and then challenge them to push the envelope themselves: repeat chapter after chapter. As a former C++ developer, I could fly through each chapter and really learn the material. When I combined it with my other knowledge, I felt as if I was ready to take on the Java job market.

The only con I could find in the book was that when the book entered the Java EE phase, the coverage was not quite as complete and the examples were not as challenging. However, this is a minor quibble as to use Java EE one will need to really dig in and go well beyond the book anyway.

Thanks Yakov. You did a great job. You really helped me.
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"Gaps keep this book down..." - by The Saj on 25-APR-2012
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Seriously, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing I hate more than examples that do not work.

A beginner book needs above ALL else to have concise, complete, and functioning examples.  

A number of the examples in this book fail to provide the necessary info.

1. Abstract classes example uses Payable interface but has no example of a compatible Payable class.

2. Swing example where the author instructs the reader to add a button.

JButton myButton = new JButton ("Click me");
add(myButton);

The author claims "This code will work..." but it won't. Not unless you have additional knowledge. Coming from an AS3 background I knew enough to add:

import javax.swing.JFButton;
&
myHello.add(myButton);

But someone just stepping into the Java world (ie: someone that would read a 24 hour trainer) won't necessarily know this. What if JButton was packaged as:

import javax.swing.components.JButton

How would a new user know that's where to go. Sure, I am familiar with Eclipse and I know I can CNTRL-CLICK to open the class. But what about someone who has never used Eclipse, or is using another Java coding environment.  

The point being, is it becomes very frustrating when examples don't work.  Every author should pay some neophyte to try every example in their book before publishing.

Don't cut corners, don't take for granted, that knowledge you have, that another might not.

Nothing discourages a new learner more than trying half a dozen examples and not being able to get any to work regardless of the code being typed perfectly.

***

UPDATE: Seriously, just read a couple pages on ENUMERATORS which ends by informing you it is deprecated and to use ITERATORS instead.

Seriously, when a brain is trying to absorb a bunch of information.  Don't throw bad, old, deprecated info. This just confuses and overloads the learner.

Instead the author should have expounded on ITERATORS than put a NOTE: ENUMERATORS operate in a similar fashion, but lack xxx ability. ENUMERATORS are considered deprecated however you may still encounter their use in older code.

I DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT want to waste time reading a page only to find out everything I read was deprecated.  


***

That said there is good knowledge here. I just wish Yakov Fain would make a few updates/corrections to the online version at least.
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"So-So" - by PaulL on 12-JUL-2011
Reviewer Rating:
The book gives a great insight to how java programing works; however, the try-it sections are incomplete it seems. It is nearly impossible to understand what they are asking for and when you download the lessons from their website it doesn't match what the try-it wants.
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"Wonderful!" - by Rupa Lahiri on 02-JUL-2011
Reviewer Rating:
Its wonderful in covering several topics and explaining practical application of the concepts.
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