Thinking in Java

This book goes way beyond the "tips and tricks" explained in so many other Java books. It explains in exhaustive detail how and why one should use the object oriented features of the language to produce professional-grade code. It explains many finer points of scope resolution, syntax, and class design which I have never seen covered anywhere else.It covers the most important parts of the standard libraries to illustrate good object-oriented design and coding practices. The whole idea is that, once you understand the underlying principles of the language, you'll be capable of using the free Java API documentation without needing everything to be explained to you any further.In my review of the first edition, I complained that the examples weren't always as realistic as I would have liked to have seen, and that the writing was occasionally not as clear as it might have been. I think that the writing has gotten clearer in most places, but the examples still sometimes leave me thinking "That's really fascinating, but when, why, and how would I use this in an actual development project?" Nevertheless, I have learned to love even the code examples for their authoritative demonstrations of object-oriented coding techniques that even most expert Java developers probably don't know, and probably should know.As a programmer, I often get depressed when I see how much really atrocious code is being pumped out. After a ten-hour day of wading through swamps full of incomprehensible spaghetti, it is like a breath of fresh air to open Bruce Eckel's masterpiece and realize that there are others out there who care about the quality of the software being developed today.Do yourself and the programming profession a favor and buy this book, or at least download it. You must then devote yourself diligently to following along with each chapter, typing the examples out and experimenting with them, and then doing the excercises at the end of each chapter. Even if you consider yourself an expert Java programmer I think you'll quickly discover, even in the early chapters of the book, that there is an awful lot that you didn't really understand about Java! It will probably take you more than one time through before you really have it down, and you should allow a good three months of evenings and weekends for each time through. There are no shortcuts to a deep understanding of OOP in Java, I'm afraid. The acid test is that if you can't do all the excercises with aplomb then you don't really know the material. It's a long journey, but it's worth the trip. Good luck!--Erik

If your are new to Java or just the whole OOP programming concept, this is the book for you.Here is my story: In the beginning of Sept. of 1999 I started read Bruce's Thinking in Java with only a structured programming background. I had previously done some programming in a language called CSP (a Cobal generator) on the mainframe and had some experience with VB and C. A friend and I made a commitment to get java certified by January of 2000 or around then because if we were going to learn java, might as well do it the right way. So, through five month of reading and doing almost every example in the book, I was java certified on January 14. The point I am trying to make is 1. use this book as a launch pad into the java and OOP world, 2. I would recommend learning Java with a friend because it is easier for you to stay focused on the true goal, and 3. do all of the examples in the book. This, obiously is not the only way to learn, however, it was a way that helped me.Note: I was working full time.So, I would recommend "Thinking in Java" for beginners and intermediates programmers

If you're new to Java or Objected Oriented Programming buy the Teach Yourself in 21 Days book first. If you want a deeper understanding than any other Java book I've seen buy this one. Most Java books spend way too much time on Applets which is very little what Java is used for now. Java is a full application development language and this book is one of the few that actually gets past the Java Applet stuff. Companies such as Novell and Oracle are now writing their applications (not cute web applets) using Java. Very few books teach Java as a language but rather only teach how to make cute web applets. If you really want to learn Java you need this book. Plus he offers electronic versions in PDF, RTF, HTML, and Word formats. What more can you ask? I read this book cover to cover (much of it twice) and found it to be excellent. Again however you need a basic understanding of OOP first. (C++ and Java syntax are not enough, this book really goes into the OOP stuff pretty detailed and it would do you well to get the basics down first. This book is rather in depth and I thank the writer for a very well written book.)

The book is great! I particularly enjoyed the following chapters:- inner classes (this chapter kicks serious butts; far better than even Core Java 4th edition's chapter on them) - the Class class and its usage (same stands for reflection) - discussing the Collection classes just kicks ass - Just Java 1.2, the only book Ive read that contains SOME info on these classes is far less comprehensive. Bruce kicks ass! - I also loved the chapter on threads - this book is the only one (I've read several Java2 books) to discuss WHY suspend/resume/ stop are deprecated in Java2 (actually, the reason for deprecating stop() is a bit misleading - the author should have stressed that it's exiting run() from _inside_ an atomic operation that causes the problem here). Just Java 1.2 doesn't even try to discuss the problem of these three methods. - I really liked it that Bruce Eckel always prefers experimenting to repeating what the Language Specification says - the remarks scattered in the book are particularly cool. Even Core Java 4th ed lacks the number and depth of remarks, not to speak of other books (Just Java 1.2 is even worse in this respect) The bad points of the book: - the Swing chapter sucks... it needs REAL update. There are no other JFC libs, either - there is no Java2D, accessibility, drag-and-drop etc. - the discussion of sing the clipboard is far worse than that of Core Java 3rd ed. vol.2. - the same stands for 1.1/1.2 security - both Core Java 3rd ed. vol.2. (1.1) and Just Java 1.2 (1.2) are better in this respect - the same stands for i18n - the introduction to CORBA was particularly weak (not that other Java-books are good in this respect) - the author pays too much attention to the 1.0 event model - it's unnecessary. Most widgets are presented first using the 1.0 even model - do NOT teach your students 1.0 event model. At least, we at Sun Microsystems do NOT teach it any more - why would we confuse our students? So, all widget presentations should be rewritten to use the 1.1 event model. - nextToken()'s return value when there are no more tokens is NOT an empty String but a NoSuchElementException - there is no GridBagLayout in the book (not that I use it.. I dont even teach it at our courses). - PipedOutputStream's constructor param is NOT an PipedInputStream instance (only the other way round) I still LOVE the book and recommend it to my students. You should get Core Java Foundation Classes and Core Java in addition to this book, though.