Graphic Java 2, Volume 1, AWT

Excellent and clearly written, but you better know the difference between "extends" and "implements" or forget it. I appreciated the six versions of the ThreeDButton listener in chapter 9, and now have a much clearer understanding of event handling.

The two Core Java books by Hortsmann and Cornell have set the standard for Java reference works. This book is, to some extent, an extension of that series, specialising in the Java API.Although it is perfectly feasible to get by in Java using just the information available in the Core Java series, there is a wealth of extra knowledge avaible in this book regarding the AWT. I've found that the extra information on Layout Managers alone has made the book worth its price for me. If your interest is in development or maintenance of AWT components then I'd recommend this as an essential reference book.The only thing (admittedly minor) I could critisize about the book is the use of Booch notation rather than UML. It shows that the book is overdue for a second edition.

There is a sad sparsity of good Java books, especially when it comes to the AWT. I am really impressed with this book and I highly suggest it to anyone that really wants to learn the JFC APIs. It would be really nice if the JDK documentation had something like this, but they left the examples and explinations out so they can sell more Java books. Well, I guess Sun needs to make some money on Java somehow, right?

There is a great effort to explain Layout Managing,in particular the complex GridBag Layout.Attention is also paid to custom layouts. The Delegation Event Model is covered deeply with an interesting example on how to build custom Events. Double-buffering is very clear thanks to a powerful example. The other parts are like all the other Java graphic books.

Excellent book. Covers everything you'd want to know about how AWT works.. After you've got a decent grasp of Java & GUI development (read Core Java or Just Java), this book will complete your knowledge of AWT.The book assumes you know Java, and are somewhat familiar with the GUI's in general: I'm glad about this - I came looking for an intermediate technical book, and that's what I got.I'm really looking forward to volumes 2 & 3 of this series. (Vol 2. should be out any day, Vol 3 in early 99)