Thinking in Java (3rd Edition)

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Summary: Essential Java Reference
Review: I have been programming for 15 years and have bought over a hundred programming books in that time. I have rarely encountered a book as concisely and clearly written as this one. The explanations are lucid and have many examples to back them up. The pace of the book is just right. It is on the edge of being too fast if you are just learning Java (and don't come from a C/C++ background), but still useful if you are using Java in your day to day work. But, hey, you don't have to take my word for it. The book is downloadable in Word '97 .

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Summary: Are you new to Object Oriented Programming?
Review: As a relative newcomer to programming, I have tried many books dedicated to OOP looking for the clarification and explanation to suit my needs. Almost all books have all the facts you need and use all the terms you need to know. ECKEL'S EXPLANATION OF OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMING CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES ACCORDING TO THE NEEDS OF NEWCOMERS ECLIPSES THE COMPETITION.

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Summary: review from non-english speaker
Review: I was wondering how can I settle myself down to read such a thick English book. This book is well writen and organized.I'm not new to the Java concepts but they were quite confusing before I read Thinking in Java which makes everything much clear in my mind now.

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Summary: In the spirit of TIC++
Review: Good explanations of what goes on underneath. Very practical as the source code provided follows the examples very well with some very good examples. The exercises are also good and I recommend anyone reading this book to do them. It was very enlightning to have examples that really worked. It was also very enlightning to have REAL examples and not just cheesey examples that do nothing.

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Summary: Thanks Bruce
Review: Well written. The MS Word and HTML versions of the book on CD were incredibly useful and set a new standard for all 1000+ page books. Printing one chapter at a time for the bus was perfect and kept me reading every spare minute.

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Summary: No solutions provided to exercises
Review: I think it stinks that there are exercises provided, but no solutions (unless you want to pay for them!)

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Summary: You want to master Java, buy TIJ?
Review: If you've done some programming(Learn python if you haven't done any programming and want to master Java, there is not a better book than TIJ. Buy it, read it, breathe it and experiment with it, I think you'll have a strong foundation in Java and OOP. in general. Another book that I recommend is Java in a Nutshell 2ndE by David Flanagan. TIJ and Java in Nutshell are a perfect couple.

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Summary: An excellent book for learning Java
Review: As a programmer experienced in C++ and Perl, I found this an excellent book for learning what Java had to offer as a language.

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Summary: A superior book that could have been so much better.
Review: This is definitely a superior book. However, it could have been so much better -- if the author had been able to explain his thoughts clearly and concisely, leaving his sample code to validate the reader's understanding. Instead, the sample programs are the basis of the book. The reader should be prepared to supplement most pages of this book with Sun's documentation (which too often has needed descriptions of not only the methods, but also of the class concepts).

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Summary: The best Java book for beginner!
Review: It is like the writer knows all the questions in reader's head. After describing something, he will soon make a question like "Why we do not do it this way?", and then will explain the reasons. All the examples are very clear and show the best usage of OOP. And if you don't have any experience in C or C++, you can spend some time to learn about them first from the CD-ROM included in this book. It has some lectures (including the sound file) about basic C which I found very useful. ...