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5 comments about Exploring Java, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly Java).

1. The book is a decent tutorial. Quite a few people have commented it is no good for beginners. However there are different levels of beginner.

   I have used scripting languages and keep my own web pages. I understand the basics of if ..then and Loop's. I was therefore pretty much a "Beginner". i enjoyed this book (it's a while since I first used it) because it was about the level I required to move "up" to more complete programming. I now use servlets and components and get a great deal of pleasure from programming and solving problems. I think this book was set at a high enough level to keep my interest through the learning process, several others were good but so plodding that I could not sustain the enthusiasm to keep going.

   Im short, if you have used some scripting, maintain web sites and have a decent idea about computers then it will probably be challenging but rewarding. "Comlete and Utter" Beginners will find it assumes too much prior knowledge.




2. Years ago I was only opening this book for answering my newbie questions ( How does == differ from
   equals() ? What is "shadowing variables" ? How should I work with all those I/O streams ? ) and it
   *always* helped me. Cool.

   After finally reading it from A to Z (and having more Java experience since then) I can say that
   this book is really good for Java beginners. It already became outdated ( and I told my wife
   not to dig into applets too much :) but still one can make his first baby-steps in Java having only
   this title. "Working with images" chapter especially helped me recently.

   So, if you don't know Java and want to learn it nice and easy - read this book ! Note that next (and updated) edition is called "Learning Java".




3. Honestly, I didn't read this book from A to Z yet, but I open it first whenever I need to recall something basic in Java ( How does == differ from equal() ? What is "shadowing variables" ? How should I work with all those I/O streams ?.. ) and it *always* helped me. I think, this book is an excellent reference for standard ( not advanced ) Java topics and once you have it - you always equipped with an expert to answer your newbie questions. And, believe me, this is *a lot* till we become Java experts. So, if studying Perl means "Learning Perl" by O'Reilly, then no doubt - studying Java means "Exploring Java" for me.



4. Honestly, I didn't read this book from A to Z yet, but I open it first whenever I need to recall something basic in Java ( How does == differ from equal() ? What is "shadowing variables" ? How should I work with all those I/O streams ?.. ) and it *always* helped me. I think, this book is an excellent reference for standard ( not advanced ) Java topics and once you have it - you always equipped with an expert to answer your newbie questions. And, believe me, this is *a lot* till we become Java experts. So, if studying Perl means "Learning Perl" by O'Reilly, then no doubt - studying Java means "Exploring Java" for me.



5. One problems with documenting any computer language or system today is that things evolve so quickly it's almost impossible to keep a book current without yearly revisions. Java is certainly a prime example; many of the books out (including this one) still concentrate on applets, and that's not the direction where Java is going. Applets have all but disappeared in favor of servlets, as many have realized the truth of the characterization of Java as the "write once, debug everywhere" language.

   Another problem with many Java books is a lack of graded examples that introduce features of the language in a logical manner. Many start with a few small programs and a "don't worry about this feature, we'll explain it later" attitude, and then give you 200 pages of language details with no examples. Others develop one huge application and use that as the basis of the text. Fine, perhaps, if you're developing a similar application, but otherwise only confusing.

   This text does suffer a bit from a paucity of examples. It's not a bad book, especially at the reduced price, and it's a decent introduction to Java. But there are better ones for not much more.

   My current favorite in a purely introductory text is Herbert Schildt's "Java 2: A Beginner's guide". Plenty of examples to illustrate every feature as it's introduced, and a logical progression to the text that's based on learning the language, not a particular application.

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