Core Java 1.1: Fundamentals [With *]

The Core Java series was fantastic to pick up Java quickly. I don't know how well this book would do for a new programmer but having already been a C++/C programmer, this books allowed me to quickly get into Java. It didn't waste time with programming methods that are already known to an experianced programmer, just jumped right into the things that make Java what it is.

This book was not written for beginners in programming, it was written for beginners in Java. If you know C/C++ you will love this book, but if you don't know any programming, you won't know what's going on at all.

As a student I took 2 intro level programming classes, which acquainted me with C, C++ and lisp, but not Java. I looked around for a good book to learn java from, and tried several. The two volume Core Java covers all the important topics as advertised -- I was able to begin programming as soon as I started reading. The books aren't meant to be an in depth guide, but rather a quick familiarization to Java as a whole. I think they very effectively impart an appreciation for the overall structure and philosophy of the language, while offering a rather meaty introduction to specific classes. Absolutely perfect for an intermediate/advanced programmer new to Java, especially if you like to learn out of a book.

CoreJava Volume I is a great book. I read it in 3 weeks and was writing windows programs in 1 1/2 weeks after starting the book. I feel that it is a great book for someone who already has a base knowledge of OOP. I got bored in the first chapters because it went over the Fundamentals of OOP programming in general which I already knew. I am not positive how a beginner in programming would get a long with this book, but it is great for more experienced programmers who want to learn Java. As the authors state in the beginning of the book, it does not give useless examples of toy programs. Examples demonstrate basic real world problems. Great book.

My opinion is, that this book explains very good the syntax of java and the OOP-concept. The examples are well integrated in the text. So you always understand the examples. You don't come into trouble with syntax or concepts within the examples, because everything is explained. The only problem for me was, how to access a variable from another class. You have to declare it as public static. In this case you have a true global variable accessible by all methods in an application (p. 95). You call it with Class.variable;. The more advanced topics, networking, threads a.s.o. are in explained in the 2-nd Volume. But with the first Volume, you are really ready to write an application.