5 comments about Pro Hibernate 3 (Expert's Voice).

1. I've been using Hibernate for a while, mostly Hibernate 2.1.x.
   
   I've got a new project starting, and it's going to be using Hibernate 3, so I decided to book up - get the latest in the Hibernate 3 book universe. When I start a project using a given technology, I usually just snarf up all the best books I can find, read, and begin to implement.
   
   I went to the local B&N, and pulled all the Hibernate 3 books in the Java section (slim pickings, unfortunately), and started to read.
   
   Guess what. These guys have another Hibernate book ("Hibernate, Beginner to Pro", or somesuch), which has direct (and I mean *DIRECT*) transcriptions of what's in *this* book.
   
   I've got a bunch of Hibernate and SQL books already. Had I not taken the time to read, I might have bought two Hibernate 3 books with a lot of common content I really don't need.
   
   So, here's the deal, APress: Make it clear when a given book is a subset of another.
   
   Sorry for the rant. Apart from this, the book looks pretty good. For what it's worth, I say this as a Hibernate user with about 5 years experience of the technology.



2. The book book has 242 pages in total, where ca 30 are intro + appendix and at least 30 pages are nothing more than POJO's code with fancy getter and setter methods. I guess the author got paid on per-page basis. Conclusion: Do not waste your money!



3. As an arm chair book, this resource looks pretty good (though, admittedly it's thin in certain areas) -- you'll get the general idea of what Hibernate is, what it does, and how it does it. So far, so good.
   
   Then at some point you'll actually want to cozy up to the computer with a compiler and try some of the examples. At that point, you'll be tearing your hair out, inventing new curses, and throwing the book against the wall.
   
   My bone to pick? Inconsistency and forward references.
   
   Page 8, the hello world example -- won't work because you haven't read about mappings page 9, or how to apply them page 37.
   
   Page 10, database generation -- a simple command, that won't work until you're off to page 37 again.
   
   Page 17, a huge reference sheet -- you don't need it, not for a while. Why's it here? It spans 3 pages.
   
   Ok, brush stroke all that away and jump to Chapter 3: Building a Simple Application.
   
   You'll be needing Hibernate3 and HSQL for the example, which since this isn't a book on HSQL, you're not going to get much instruction for setting up. Good luck. One hint: on page 28, that's not an 'O' (oh), but a '0' (zero). The thing with /home, you'll have to weasle your Windows install path if you're not on Unix. The code to shutdown the server, should you have enough knowledge to compile it, will require a semicolon on Windows after the class path, or it won't load properly and shutdown.
   
   The Ant example on page 29, the jdbc path is missing the lib directory. The name of the project, chapter03, hasn't been discussed yet - this will be your jar file, btw. Thought you might wanna know.
   
   And the build.xml file you're copying on page 29, well moments later when you go to use and discuss it on page 36, it's subtly changed. Check out src as well as classpath.run. Interesting, eh?
   
   You just typed in a bunch of stuff on page 31, but you're not told the important filename you're supposed to save it to. That's okay, pages 32 and 33 tell you why you may not need it. Surprise, later you will.
   
   Look closely at the all important page 37. Some editor screwed the author. It's clear after multiple scrutinizing passes that a table was intended. This file is available from here, (next row) these files are available from this other directory, and so on. Problem is, you read about something in a paragraph, and then are given the resources - according to the visual format. The reality is, the paragraphs are discussing the content above them. That'll take a while to straighten out.
   
   This book is HORRIBLE for following along, and it's clear no one sat down at page one and started to work through the examples to see if it was even possible.
   
   Information is presented in the wrong order.
   
   Information is incorrect.
   
   Extraneous information not pertinent to the discussion at hand is injected in the middle of what ought to be simple steps to illustrate a point.
   
   This is by far the worse book in the Pro series that I've encountered on a subject.



4. My primary frustration with the book is that it does not deliver what it promises. I am specifically referring to the book's unfounded assertion that it is explaining how to *automatically* generate POJOs, DAOs, Hibernate XML configuration files, and/or Database Schema's.
   
   Because on my consulting job I use iBatis and their marvelous ABATOR CRUD generator, the bar is set high as far as I'm concerned when I look for corresponding ease of use in Hibernate. The authors crow about the automatic code generation features of Hibernate but never actually explain how to do it beyond generalities that cannot be acted on.
   
   Pro Hibernate 3, which strikes me on some levels as a glorified marketing brochure for Hibernate, is written by two authors whose only previous book is listed on the back cover as being a co-authored book on "Building Portals with the Java Portlet API", and a book by one author called "Pro Struts Applications". That does not seem like a terribly great resume for authors of a book on Hibernate.
   
   I prefer and recommend instead of this book, the book, "Hibernate Quickly" by Peak and Heudecker (published by Manning).



5. This is a good follow-up to the book by the same authors, Beginning Hibernate: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: from Novice to Professional).
   
   There is a certain feeling of overlap between the two books, but that is probably understandable, seeing that the same authors wrote both. Still, there is valuable information in here.

5 comments about Mastering BEA WebLogic Server: Best Practices for Building and Deploying J2EE Applications.

1. The book does not have detailed explanations - it just brushes the surface of a few topics. It does not really talk about the internals of WebLogic.

   I bought this book and now will sell it on amazon or something. Glad that my company paid for it :)




2. I've already reviewed this book previously but had to comment on the reviews by the "reader from Danbury, CT".

   I'm not sure what your problem is but I don't see the value in panning a book you either didn't read or understand. My only other guess is that you have some sort of other agenda.

   I guess it is just common sense to ignore anonymous reviews.




3. I really like this book. It is not for beginners, and is not an "Intro to J2EE". However, for advanced developers, and especially those leaning towards the administation aspects of WebLogic Server, this book is an excellent resource.
   The examples in this book are straighforward, and the accompianing discussion is well written and easy to follow.
   A lot of discussions in this book cover advanced topics leaning towards deployment and administration (such as tuning JVMs, or understanding Thread usage), but there are some excellent discussions regarding architecture as well. There is not a lot of material discussing developing J2EE code.
   This book should be a part of any advanced J2EE developers library, especially those using WebLogic (since so many of the examples are targeted towards that platform).



4. I placed the order on 13 may 07 . But till date I did not get the Book which i ordered. I belive it is almost 1 month. Please let me know when I can expect my product ?



5. This book is a great WebLogic reference, and also thorough coverage for J2EE concepts under one volume

5 comments about Professional Java Tools for Extreme Programming: Ant, XDoclet, JUnit, Cactus, and Maven (Programmer to Programmer).

1. Seriously, I can't find any other book right now that lays Maven out in such an easy to approach way. All the material online is reference based entirely and my fingers are practically bleeding from digging through google every five seconds. If you've never setup Maven before, buy this book while you still have your hair.



2. I ordered this book based on the title and the preview content here on Amazon (I couldn't find it at the B&N near my work). I was very pleasantly surprised at the practical, nuts-and-bolts approach that the authors took to XP and the tools in this book. I was also extremely pleased at how well the authors showed the integration of these tools into a sophisticated and professional development environment. This is not easy, especially when working with a wide range of tools which includes
   * CVS
   * Ant
   * XDoclet
   * JUnit
   * JUnitPerf
   * Bugzilla
   * JMeter
   * Cactus
   * jcoverage
   * Swing testing tools like Jemmy
   * Maven
   * Anthill
   
   And even though all these tools are O.S., some projects are very territorial (eg they consider other tools to be the competition) so just reading the docs will not always help you choose the right tool for the right job or learn how to use the tools together.
   
   The code I downloaded from the Wrox site was a little rough (some missing files), but the version I downloaded last week was *much* better and has solved all the earlier problems I was having. I'm glad the authors were responsive and willing to release fixes. Great stuff!



3. I bought this book hoping for a quick jumpstart to getting a simple xdoclet/struts app up and running.
   
   The example code from the "Building Struts Apps with Ant and XDoclet" is so bad, it's a disgrace. I spent more time figuring out why their code wasn't even close to working, than I would have if I had just skipped their book altogether. It couldn't work, it never worked, and it shouldn't have been published.



4. I am an experienced Java developer and new to the J2EE field.
   I bought this book to learn how to use the open-source tools with the XP attitude. Mostly for the XDoclet and JUnit.
   Well, the examples are not so bad.
   There are SO MANY ERRORS *in the code itself*. It happens, I know.
   So I entered the web site to check for more information. Nothing !!
   No errata and the book's forum is not active AT ALL.
   I downloaded the source code for the examples. Half of the book's examples is not there. The web site (and the forum) won't mention anything about it.
   The other half is filled with errors.
   
   This is not a professional book !
   I did learn something from it. A little bit XDoclet and which tools I should learn and know. But that's all.
   
   WROX publication lost a customer. I won't buy any books they publish.



5. A majority of the content are out of date now. A typical example is the chapter for Maven that is almost useless. Instead of reading this book, I'd rather go Google.

5 comments about Computer Graphics for Java Programmers.

1. I very much enjoyed this book because the author did not make any assumptions about the reader's knowledge. He explained many details that every other graphic's book skips over and moved from chapter to chapter in a logical order so that you could absorb complex topics. This is one of those great and rare books that having read, and studied makes other texts and graphics topics digestable.



2. That book was really worth every Penny. I hope Leen Ammeraal (author) continues the tradition in writing such comprehensive textbooks that are generous with information as well as code. If you're taking an introductory course in Computer Graphics and you've already taken an introductory course in JAVA , then that is all you need to optimize your use of this book. Once again, worth every penny.



3. Although providing nice code examples and clearly explaining the mathemantics of standard computer graphics algorithms, its ~270 (paperback) pages do not cover the scope or detail of the ~1100 (hardcover) pages in "Computer Graphics" by Foley, van Damm, et al., which costs roughly the same amount. John Wiley & Sons needs to be brought to task on the pricing issue, as the high price really shadows the real value (and business opportinity) of the book. My conspiracy theory is that the publisher is aiming to market it as a text book where students can't counter being ripped off by a publisher endorced by a professor or university.



4. I don't know if the other reviewers read the same book as I did, I think I was tricked by the bookstore and given the wrong book as a cruel joke.
   
   So, let me tell you the reasons why this book was given 1 star:
   
   1) If you a native spaker of the English language, you won't understand this book. Chapter 5 starts out with, "We now turn to the exciting subject of 3D graphics." Who writes like that anymore? The English in this book is very difficult to understand. The author repeatedly states the same piece of information over and over again in different words. At times you begin to wonder if the author is just trying to fill the pages. It's very apparent that English is not the author's first, second, third, forth, or fifth language. After reading the first several pages, one might conclude that perhaps author had the proof reading and translation assistance of a poorly trained monkey.
   
   2) The author has a bad habit of putting words in quotes expecting the reader to know what they mean. Example is on page 112 with 'superpixels'. Any person who has ever taken a technical communications class knows that one should never assume the audience to know topic specific words. If you look up 'superpixel(s)' in the index, it lists 112. Great.
   
   The Pros:
   While this book greatly frustrates me, it isn't all bad. The concepts that the author presents are coherent. His execution could use work.
   
   Conspiracy Theory:
   This book is not worth the price they charge for it. This is one of those cases where the publishing company and the universities got together and decided to create a textbook. Anytime this happens, they also agree to rip-off the students as much as possible.
   
   One day someone will compile a list of books that aren't worth their weight in coconut shavings, because the publisher and universities were greedy, and this book will rank top 5 of that list.
   
   If you're a student and you're going to fail the class if you don't buy this book - try to get it used.
   
   If you're interested in learning about computer graphics, I cannot recommend this book to you. If you are thinking about buy this book, Jonathan Swift recommends you attempt to steal it first and get arrested. The time that you spend sitting in a cell will give you an opportunity to ponder about something meaningful. Or spend your energies being angry at something else other then this book.



5. pretty intense and math heavy, not for beginners. interesting graphics problems though. this book discusses important issues that most other books seem to skip.

No comments about A Guide to Programming Java: For Java Se 5 and Java Se 6.

5 comments about DHTML Utopia Modern Web Design Using JavaScript & DOM.

1. This is without doubt the worst book on DHTML/Javascript that I've ever read. The author tries to be cute, funny and authorative but ends up just plain painful. The examples are over-long and artificial, and would be difficult to incorporate into a real world application. The author peppers the book with snazzy shots like "It's the modern way!" but rarely explains the benefits of the methodology he's pushing, and glosses over any shortcomings.
   For instance, in discussing regular expressions he provides a simple expression for a telephone number, then points out that it's seriously flawed. But it's "suitable for our discussion" so onward we press, and a correct solution is never provided. Bad luck if you were after such a beast. (Footnotes abound - often just URLs to now broken links - so you have to wonder why he couldn't have provided the solution at the bottom of the page.) The part on Ajax is a joke - he just plugs in an out-of-date version of the Sarissa library and never scratches below the surface.
   Beware.



2. As a developer with no prior JavaScript experience, I've been very disappointed with this book. In the Introduction section, the author says "Some experience with JavaScript might also be useful, but it is by no means critical" (Page VIII) which isn't true.
   
   Throughout the book, the author will keep assuming (implicitly) that you already have a good programming background (he uses a more complex logic in his code),and will leave many things unexplained or explained too late. This alone will easily guarantee frustration. NO BOOK EVER frustrated me that much.
   
   Another issue is that the book uses some very complicated examples with complex logic. Unlike other decent coding books, instead of starting with simple functional examples and developing them\it as you read a chapter, the author uses one big example and "tries" to explain it part by part throughout the chapter. This might force you to "memorize" the script(s) since they contain too much code to understand (which is not the point). To make sure if the examples of the book suit you or not, download the free sample chapters from Sitepoint.com and check the "table highlight" example at the end of chapter 3. That's how most of the examples will be presented. (with more code of course)
   
   Now don't get me wrong, the topics covered in this book are great, but it seems that the only people who will really appreciate it are those who already have a good background in JavaScript (logic,functions,methods...etc) NOT beginners like myself. So if you're trying to learn JavaScript\DOM, then go find a better book (such as "DOM scripting").



3. (this was originally published on www.last-child.com)
   
   This is a difficult book to read for non-javascript programmers. If you are more comfortable with HTML and CSS, I'd recommend reading Jeremy Keith's DOM Scripting first. Keith explains the theories behind this book.
   
   That said, I did learn enough from DHTML Utopia to not look like a complete idiot during my job interview with Yahoo. This book is filled with project examples for you to follow along with. I will say that I tried several of the examples and had mixed results. I visited the book's web site to get updated code.
   
   If you've already worked with Javascript, this is a great book to have on the shelf. If you are a rookie, start with Jeremy Keith and follow up with DHTML Utopia.



4. This book has a lot of great stuff but you have to have the patience to sit down and read it line by line. Can't scan through the book and hope to learn something. Even need to type in the script and try it yourself. Some of the most important ideas the author just covered in two sentences. It does teach a lot of useful stuff but it is absolutely not a beginner's book. Save me from my job interview.



5. I agree with most reviews for DHTML Utopia; the book is middle level, leaving beginners in the dust but pros wanting more. It is, however, well written and contains very good code and coding standards. If you are not completely new to JavaScript and DOM scripting, but would like to learn more and make sure your code is up to today's standards, then this book is for you. If you are very familiar with web scripting and/or have been writing your own unobtrusive client side code then go with a more detailed book.

5 comments about J2ME in a Nutshell (O'Reilly Java).

1. Should improve description with short
   and clear language. In a lot of places,
   the text is wordy and does not get the point across.



2. The reader from Columbia, SC, said it right: this book is a reference, not a place to learn J2ME. Like the other books in O'Reilly's "In a Nutshell" family, the book has two parts: a quick rundown on the features of J2ME, and a reference part on all the details of the language. The book's audience is someone who already knows something about the J2ME platform, such as how it looks, how it runs on a PC, and how it produces the code you can upload to a device. If you want to see a tutorial type of book on J2ME, you won't find it here. Since I never learned Java completely, I find it difficult to follow the book. If you already know Java well, you may find the book easier to follow, although again you won't find detailed, step-by-step sample programs.

   In short, probably great for someone already programming in J2ME; not helpful for someone wishing to learn J2ME.




3. The information in the book was meant for the beginner. Half the page is filled with reference to classes & packages which are available free on the web on java.sun.com
   Dont understand the need to be paying for free information.
   
   The author seems did not have enough material or information to fill the book. A slightly better book is "Java on PDAs: Developing Applications for PocketPC and Palm Devices" by Daryl Wilding-Mcbride.



4. This book does not cover MIDP 2.0, only MIDP 1.0. This makes it uninteresting to buy it. Are the authors considering a 2nd edition?
   
   Still the book follows the classic nutshell O'Reilly style and is useful as a desktop quick reference.
   A good aspect also is that unlike other books, it covers some CDC-based PDA programming.



5. This book reads like a white paper on j2me... not very in depth or up to date. Not a very good effort from Oreilly, which is surprising.

5 comments about Java: A Beginner's Guide, Third Edition (Beginner's Guide).

1. It was OK, but I wasn't overly impressed with it. I would not buy it again and the only reason I bought it in the first place was because it was a required text book.



2. im only 13 years old but i understude this book perfectly it covers all the basics of the two subjects and some of the advanced studys. anyone new or old to these subjects need to ave this but becouse nothing is perfect i give it a four



3. I think that this book is a great place to start with Java. I have been reviewing books to replace Head First Java as a text at a local community college. To me the vast majority of texts out there do not deal with objects soon enough and spend too much time with GUI's and Applets without giving a good foundation in the language first. This book gives a broad perspective of the language without cluttering it up with a bunch of eye candy. It is the first that I have seen that deals with generics, threading, and enums and does so in a manner that will not cause the new user to choke. In addition to providing clear examples and explanations, the author also gives real world usages of the material taught. There are examples of when to use and not to use certain features, and what the pitfalls and potential traps are that a new coder might not be aware of. All in all this is going to make a great text.



4. I love this book! I had to buy a $60+ book for my java class and I was so lost. I spent $30 on this book and it has saved my grade! I no longer even bother reading my required text. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn java. It doesn't bother me that it doesn't go into great detail about applets. It says on the cover that its for beginners. The applets come later.



5. this book is awesome, it is a little hard for a beginner, but this book and a class should be enough. i looked over TONS of java books, including headfirst java and thinking in java, and this was the best I could find. It beats all the most popular ones, if you buy the book, the author has a website, and i called his number from there. He actually spoke to me for 20 minutes answering my questions, and he answered my email as well. This guy is awesome. Like i said, it would be good to have a class in addition to this book.

5 comments about SCJP Exam for J2SE 5: A Concise and Comprehensive Study Guide for The Sun Certified Java Programmer Exam.

1. This certification study-resource from Author: Paul Sanghera is a great tool for quickly getting up to speed in java with a view to taking the java programmer exam! As someone who recently succeeded at the SCJP 1.5 exam, i can vouch for this book. The following review is thus for those interested in preparing for the exam and not quite sure whether this book is the right tool for the job.
   
   As a green-horn in Java, I found the following 2 exam-study resources very useful in learning how to program in java, and taking the Sun Certified Java Programmer for J2SE5 certification:
   (Book 1.) SCJP Exam for J2SE 5. - (SCJP E5)
   (Book 2.) SCJP Study Guide. - (SCJP SG)
   
   Note: (due to review real-estate constraints, i shall limit this review to (Book 1) ie: [SCJP E5 (Sanghera)] -( the current book in question). you'll find a (Book 2) review on the customer review page for : SCJP SG
   
   Like most new-comers to java, I wanted to get-up to speed in java rather quickly. Therefore, the (SCJP E5) book from Sanghera was chosen as the first reading-reference, as it seemed concise, compact & condensed. However, if i had to do things-over, and choose which one book to use in order to scale the SCJP 1.5 exam -(whilst learning the Java language as well), I'd pick the [SCJP SG] from Sierra & Bates.
   
   Here's why...
   
   About the (SCJP E5) book : this book is great for beginners. i found that it brought me up to speed quickly Re: java, as well as preparing for the exam. However, unless you have previous knowledge & experience coding in java, you might need another book for deeper clarity and more rigor regarding 5 SCJP1.5 exam-objective related areas, viz:
   (1.) - Generics
   (2.) - Threading
   (3.) - I/O + Regular Expressions + Parsing
   (4.) - Packages + Jar Files & Static Imports
   (5.) - Exceptions
   
   Note that: while the 5 exam-objectives above are quite well treated in the (SCJP E5) Sanghera book, I found that the (SCJP SG) Sierra & Bates book, provided the finer level of details that i believe a beginner might further require in order to have a better grasp Re: these 5 exam-objectives cited above (AND) (the questions in the real exam do require this further finesse with those details).
   
   Otherwise, with the material in this book alone and without any hands-on experience, i reckon, a beginner might struggle a bit to pass the real exam by a comfortable margin.
   
   and this is why i cant give the book alone all 5 points of credit. (I would however award 4.5 points!)
   
   Upon completing the book, any access to good exam-revision practise material would be very useful in order to pass at the exam-level. while the (SCJP E5) book features useful questions and answers at the end of every chapter, as well as a further round of 73 questions in Appendix-D of the book; I believe people preparing for the exam would find it useful to seek out further resources for exam-question practise & revision purposes .
   
   As review-space is short, i shall include below only 2 of the exam-revision resources which really helped prepare for the actual exam (for details Re: The other key resource used, u might want to refer to the customer review posting for (Book 1): SCJP SG
   
   u might want to check these out:
   (1.) "Tiger notes" on JavaRanch. look under the SCJP FAQ section for : [Mikalai Zaikin's SCJP Tiger notes ]. You can get a paperback copy of notes similar to these on Amazon if you prefer. lookup: Java 1.5 Tiger. However, i'd advise that you use it only as a prep-extra, just to cross-check certain topical-details you may need to clarify ie: (java: "Exceptions"). I wouldn't recommend it as your sole & unique study guide.[ kittybooboo's notes ] on JavaRanch are also quite good.
   
   (2.) Turn to a SCJP Group for advice on the forums. They represent people in the same boat as those trying to prepare for and pass the SCJP exam. here are 2 such groups you can join.(Yahoogroups): Google: [" tech groups yahoo + scjp5" ]; (Another is): Google:[ "jchq + net" ] (-OR-) if you are preparing for the SCJP 1.4:( scjp 1.4 groups ) : Google:[ "uk groups yahoo + java_balk" ] ps: a good book for SCJP 1.4 is :A Programmer's Guide to Java Cert
   
   (3:) refer to my customer review posting for (Book 1) ie: SCJP Study Guide
   
   Schedule, Sit and Ace the exam in 2hrs:55mins, when you've finished with these various exam-practise questions and study-guides.
   The exam is comprised of 72 questions of which several are fashioned as drag & drop coding-scenario questions. Although, the pass mark is 59%, I think most people -(myself included!), view the exam as tough, because of its code intensive nature. I think reading, tackling & spotting possible coding errors in code-samples 6-30 lines long is tough under such time-constrained exam conditions, Plus, No credit is given for partial answers. However, on the up-side, it is do-able with the appropriate revision preparation regime.
   
   Curiously, in comparison, the previous SCJP exam ie: the SCJP 1.4 exam, is comprised of 61 questions , for which one has 2hrs to complete. Plus, the pass mark is 52%. That exam, is generally deemed to be an easier exam compared with the SCJP 1.5 exam; at least so attests certain in the user-community on JavaRanch.
   
   for those wondering, i took the SCJP 1.5 exam on March 19th 2007. the passing-score achieved was: 98% ie: (71 out of 72 questions ). The pass-mark is 59%.
   
   Good Luck!
   
   next stops: SCBCD, SCWCD, SCEA, SCJWSD.
   
   Cheers :-)



2. I have just passed the SCJP for J2SE 5 exam largely after preparing from this book. However, to be on the safe side it might be good idea to consider using more than one resource to prepare for this exam, because the exam is certainly not a walk in the park. I have read all the three SCJP for Java 5 study guides from cover to cover. So I would like to share my experience with these study guides in the context of both the exam and learning Java:
   
   "SCJP Exam for J2SE 5" (this book) by Paul Sanghera.
   I found this Study Guide the best among all, especially for the beginners. As another reviewer said the author has the unique approach of saying only what is necessary. He also has the skill of making difficult concepts easy to understand without compromising accuracy. The material is organized in such a manner that we also learn Java while preparing for the Exam. Because everything is explained from scratch, and there is no hopping from topic to topic, this book is especially suitable for the beginners. Here are some features in the book that I especially liked:
   
   * All concepts are clearly defined and explained by using visuals where necessary. It makes this book self-contained.
   *Tons of code examples explained in the book, which I downloaded from the book website and experimented with them to build confidence.
   * The Exam Quick Prep appendix. I went through this just before the exam to refresh all the important points quickly.
   * Exam's Eye View, Caution, and Notes throughout all chapters, which re-enforced important points.
   * An appendix that provides useful information and analysis for those who are considering updating the J2SE 1.4 certification to J2SE 5.
   If you are a beginner, this is your book. If you are an advanced Java programmer, this book will still take you through the exam without boring you.
   Bottom line: I agree with another reviewer that books like these are hard to find.
   
   "SCJP for Java 5" by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates.
   This is a good book for advanced Java programmers, but rather over-hyped. If you are planning to buy two books to prepare for the SCJP exam, this is the second book I will recommend. However, this is NOT the book for the beginners. If you do not have intensive Java programming experience, do not use this book as your first book. If you want to use this book, first study Sanghera's book.
   
   "Complete Java 2 Certification" by Phil Heller and Simon Roberts.
   If you want to buy three SCJP for Java 5 study guides, this is the third one I will recommend. It does not do justice with some of the exam objectives. Overall exam coverage is not that great, but you will learn some Java topics.



3. This was the only book I bought and I passed the cert. I found the book to be generally good. I felt a couple of the examples were poor. For instance on page 141 the finding the area of different shapes, a classic example of where one should use polymorphism, the book provides an example of overloading operators. Yes, in the sense the code is "correct" but I find the misuse to be confusing. There are a number of items including some questions in the review exam that are just wrong. That is if you type the code in and run it you don't get what the book claims that you should. These do not seem numerous and I have not found any certification material that is without this sort of problem. The reality of preparing for the test is that if someones answer doesn't make sense you have to test it for yourself. It would be nice if publishers would hire someone to go cut and paste all of the code into a compiler and find this stuff.
   
   More importantly there is not enough material on generics and there is only ONE practice exam.
   
   Having complained I should and that the text is readable and helpful in preparing for the cert. I found it to be a good starting point for my preparations.



4. In the beginning of the year, Java equals "null" to me ( I know C/C++). I decided to learn the language and take the SCJP as a measure of my learning. I tried the Deitel book but didn't like it. Then I started to read the Kathy Sierra book, but they assume you know the basics (not my case). Due to the comments of one of the reviewers, I bought this book and liked it very much. I read it twice, tried all examples, fragments and tests and then went back to the Sierra book, which is more comprehensive (it is a much bigger book), has better explanations of generics and threads and has more tricky questions. I was able to pass the SCJP exam this month thanks to these two very good books.
   I do not give 5 stars due to the presence of several typos and some other minor errors in the text. These errata are not yet in the book site, but as you are studying for the exam, you will spot then when you compile or cross-check with the SUN Java documentation. But these are a small nuisance considering the overall value of the book.



5. your reading this based on my rating '1' stars.
   
   The book starts off good and explains OOP (abit) but the ending chapters which is the important stuff is like a "quick cram", you know, if your buying this book to get your SCJP - well, you need to know java, because in the interview you will be asked questions and your general knowledge of java will only do.
   
   if you know java GREAT - buy it, read it and after a few weeks of 'reading' - take the exam. CONGRATS
   
   BUT -- Please save yr/self the time which is the most important, to click the 'back' button on IE7 and search for a more complete title.
   
   just my input

1 comments about Creating Mobile Games: Using Java ME Platform to Put the Fun into Your Mobile Device and Cell Phone (Technology in Action).

1. This is a pretty good book on creating mobile games for the Java platform. The author does not assume that you already have a working knowledge of the tools involved, so she starts by introducing you to these tools to give you a general idea of what is involved. Next she covers what you must do to set up your computer for Java Micro Edition game development and how to get your games running on an actual target device. Then, once you have your development environment up and running, you can begin building and modifying the book's examples. The book website at Apress has all of the source code for the examples available for you to download. The author assumes you already know Java programming with Java Standard Edition, and that you already know something about designing a game - this is not a book on the theory of game design. The point of this book is to show you how to do all of this with Java ME. Even multi-player gaming is explored by showing how to write a program for a game of checkers using Java ME. The following is the table of contents:
   
   1. Getting Started 1
   2. Using MIDlets 21
   3. Using the MIDP 2 Games API 53
   4. Using Threads and Media 95
   5. Storing and Retrieving Data 131
   6. Using Network Communications 193
   7. Advanced Messaging and Data Access 263
   8. Securing Your Applications 305
   9. The Mobile 3D Graphics API 317
   10. Adding a Professional Look and Feel 351
   
   You can carry some of the ideas into other types of applications, but this book is very much focused on Java mobile games. For that purpose it is highly recommended.