java

I found this book very useful for learning Java (I am using it while I also read "Thinking in Java"). I am a beginning programmer, knowing a little html and vbscript so I don't have a background of C++ or C under my belt. This book takes you step by step and explains concepts that you build on to understand object oriented programming, classes, methods and so on. If you know C++, you won't have a problem at all. The examples are perfect if you are patient enough to type them in. I didn't find the downloadable .lst code very helpful, but the examples are correct in this book.

Title: The Complete Reference. Java 2 ,
Edition: Fourth Edition
Author: Herbert Shildt
City: Berkeley, California
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published Date: ???

Since, I had been reading another Java books, I can tell it is not for study for a test. It is more for a consulting your programming doubts on paper rather than try to find answers on-line. It give you a lot of details(See:Chapter 5-Control Statements) that other books don't.

If you are a Java Beginner that it does not come from C++ world (or you are not interested), just like me, you would like to eliminate all those references from the author to the C++ language that toke you out of focus for seconds. I mostly found those on the "NOTE" section after some paragraph, but the most dificult to digest are those embedded inside a paragraph.

I would like to see more visual numerations (as bullets) to classify some information like when discuss different concepts and types.

Rates:
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a) Overall value of the book:3 (Does a good job as a reference tool due to extensive and detail of explanations)
b) Instructional value of the book: 3 (Does a good job as a teaching tool, due the comments after each sample code program)
c) Reference value of this book: 4 (This book has earned a valued place on my reference shelf)

I got this book as a prize at a Java User Group meeting. Overall, it's a good reference book to keep. One thing I wish it had covered is the JSPs, since it does cover the Servlets.