Java 5.0 Tiger

I do really like this book. It is a thin book in a beautiful layout (well I came from a laboratory environment). The text is easy to follow and rich in information. It is an ideal book to come up to speed on the new features of Java 1.5, especially since now you get full 1.5 support in Eclipse. And do not worry about the typos the text, the prose is still clear. Also do not worry about the short treatment of concurrency. It is just a quick start intro and it serves this purpose well.

Who: You. You already know Java. In fact, you silently snicker at most people who say they "really know Java," because they don't - not like you do. Why: Java 1.5 is really different. Not just enums and boxing/unboxing, it has type-safe varargs (who'd've thunk it!), last-chance handlers for threads, the most comprehensive generic mechanism I'm seen, and more. You need to know what's new, and how to use it, and fast. What: This book. It won't help the Java newbie. It's just the new features, spelled out in detail. Better yet, they're spelled out in code samples. This doesn't so much tell you what's new, it shows you. Where: Here. Until the next generation of Java books hits the shelves, your alternatives are this and the language spec. Believe me, you don't want the language spec. When: Now. This book will probably look old fast, once the more polished, friendly, and tutorial texts come out. It's a great quick-start on the new technology, though, and (see "who" above) you can't wait. I hope O'Reilly keeps coming out with new titles in this series. I give it five stars now, but probably two a year from now. As I said, though, this book is for !right!now! and does a great job of what it does. //wiredweird

This notebook series is a very good aid for the experienced developer who wants to play with some new feauture in the company of an even more experienced fellow who has done most of the research for him. Stay far from this one if you need to learn Java from scratch. (Go for one of the many excellent intro books by Ivor Horton or Cay Horstmann). Not surprisingly this book is one of the best in the series, being mostly the effort of Brett McLaughlin who, besides being a talented coder and writer is also the man behind the O'Reilly "developer notebook idea". In about 150 pages you will get plenty of working examples and clear, concise explanations on the new features of "Tiger": generics (templates), varargs, annotations, autoboxing etc .. If you are a serious Java developer you cannot miss on these new features, and have no excuse for doing it since now you can bridge this gap with just a few hours of reading on a train. And if you are an old school C coder who grudgingly had to pass to Java for "marketing reasons".. I have great news for you.. believe it or not, we got printf back! ;)

Java 1.5 Tiger Developer's Notebook is a great introduction to the new features of Java 1.5 (aka Tiger). It has numerous smallish examples and a conversational tone (almost too conversational at times). It covers all the major additions to the language. Possibly the only thing missing was a discussion of the reason for the "syntactic sugar" that spawned these new features. Regardless of whether you are a fan of Java 1.5's new features, you'll find this Notebook to be a great guide.

"Java 1.5 Tiger - A Developer's Notebook" has all the information and quality we have come to expect from O'Reilly. However, the developer's notebook series has a very different style than the animal books. The book was a true page-turner and I read all 171 pages in two days. This book really looks like a notebook complete with notes in the margins, graph paper and coffee cup stains! There is also plenty of room in the margins for the reader to add notes. This book is informative, useful and looks really cool! A guru narrates the book. He tells you about Java 1.5 and answers your questions. Each chapter discusses several labs in a task/how to I do that?/what about ... format. It is like the author walks you through doing the labs. It really does read like a conversation. As the authors put it - "All lab, no lecture." The code examples begin on page two and are prevalent throughout the book. The authors give warnings about common pitfalls and tasks that you cannot do - just like you would expect a guru to do. The authors also give opinions and recommendations. The book assumes a working knowledge of java 1.4 (or earlier.) This is especially important in the conncurrency section. There is excellent cross-referencing so the chapters and tasks can be read in almost any order. This was an amazing book!