Mastering Java 1.2 [With Packed with Java Tools & Utilities]

Excellent book that explains the principles and underlying architecture of various Java technologies. Provides the full understanding of the features with simple examples focused on the topic. Easy to read and understand without too much surrounding words. I own a couple of Java books for different levels but I always end up going back to this book if I want to really understand the solution. Also has excellent index. It is easy and quick to find answer to any Java related question.

Having worked with Java technologies since 1995, I feel this is a brilliant book. Agreed - it does not go in depth into many of the topics it covers, but I do not feel that is its intent. The book is aimed at imparting a decent level knowledge of all the essential technologies behind the Java 2 enterprise platform.The book does unfortunately contain a number of typing errors and non-compilable examples, mostly due to the fact that it was written before Java 1.2 was available (so the Swing package changed, for example) - check the errata list for this sort of thing.If you are looking for a book that takes you through Java from the beginning to the end, without going too deep into any one topic, then this is the book. Business programmers especially will find this an invaluable aid. Hackers and people wanting to use fancy tricks and get the maximum power out of a particular part of Java should read the Java Docs distributed with the JDK, or get specialised books.

I use this book as a reference for all topics. It covers everything from Swing to CORBA so when I need a little bit of information on a subject, I check it first. You can find plenty of in depth information online, so what else do you need?