Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 Platform in 21 Days : Professional Reference Edition

Review Courtesy of Amazon.com

When approaching Java for the first time, a programmer encounters an incredibly rich range of Java features and APIs that need to be mastered. (It's so rich, in fact, that the authors add a "bonus week" here, for a total of 28 lessons.) The book's strongest feature is its logical progression of lessons in the four-week tutorial format, which mentor the reader along on all the basics while refraining from cataloging every Java API and feature. An important--and effective--editorial choice includes coverage of Web development with applets using the older JDK 1.02 standard early on, while focusing on Java 2 for building standalone applications later. This choice makes for a logical progression in the book and aids in the discussion of more complicated APIs for user interfaces (like Swing and JavaBeans) later in the text.

Lessons don't skimp on the fundamentals, such as installation of JDK and running your first applet and application. The emphasis is on short, digestible lessons on necessary Java concepts, classes, and APIs (all told using the authors' humorous prose style). More advanced topics like network programming with sockets, signing JAR files, RMI, and JDBC round out the contents.

The Java 2 platform is extremely rich and sometimes overwhelming for new users. If you have three (or ideally four) weeks to spend, Teach Yourself Java 2 Platform in 21 Days can be the guide you've been waiting for when it comes to a comprehensible introductory book on today's hottest programming language. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: History of Java, JDK installation, OOP basics, Java types and operators, arrays, flow control, class design, JDK 1.02, JDK 1.2, applets and applications, overloading, graphics, Java 2D, animation, sounds, AWT, event handling, frames, menus, interfaces, inner classes, exception handling, streams, network programming and sockets, Swing, JDK tools, security, serialization, RMI, data structures, JavaBeans, and JDBC.