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Summary: Very insightful and educational
Review: This is one of the two or three best books on Java out there. It really does live up to its title and teaches you the semantics of the language, rather than just the syntax.
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Summary: Best overall Java Book
Review: I have many Java books; this is the best. Each new version replaces the last one, sitting on the near-end of my bookshelf.
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Summary: Clear and complete
Review: This is easily the most accessible Java introductory text around. The author goes through numerous examples for each topic and shows the why as well as the how, so that in the end the reader comes away with a more solid understanding. Each chapter contains exercises worth doing to become more comfortable with the code and the thinking behind the code. A lot of books today don't bother with exercises, and it's a nice addition to the text. The code included is simple, but adequate for its purpose, and it all works, unlike that in books from many other "experts" out there. If you are looking for the best book to get you started in Java, this is it.
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Summary: The thinking person's Java book.
Review: Thinking in Java leads you from almost absolute ignorance of programming and plants you neatly, and more enlightened, on the path to viable Java programming. All the contrivd metaphors aside, TIJ is the de facto bible of Java programming and continues to speak to ideas that later become standards. The book discusses (and this is what makes or breaks any good programming book) not just how one would accomplish something, but more pertinantly, why someone would do something. Modern-day programming can be a haze of buzzwords without justification. This book does that, and it does it well.
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Summary: Overrated
Review: I bought this book because of its winning several awards but have not found _Thinking_In_Java_ particularly useful. I find I usually use _Java2_The_Complete_Refereence_ (Schildt) for my Java needs. In addition the Servler/JSP section does not mention the prevalent Apache Tomcat Servler/JSP archetecture. Try it before you buy it.
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Summary: Best Java book I've seen
Review: This book combines the clearest explanations with the most accurate and in-depth coverage of the topic. Even Java experts should probably read it at least once.
If you're just learning Java you simply can't do better.
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Summary: Disorganised
Review: I have a background in several computer languages. This book has a lot in it but is very disorganised. You keep reading phrases like "you'll learn about it in future chapters". It addresses issues like Garbage collection early on (if you're just trying to learn the syntax, why do you care about this so early in the book?). The example codes are long and tedious-trying to find the example buried in the code can be difficult.Definitely not a beginners book on Java...even if you have other experience. I'm looking for a more concise and simple Java book now...
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Summary: Concepts and specifics explained well
Review: Bruce Eckel has found the model to produce a near-perfect book. The evolutionary approach of "publishing" on the web with the "release early and often" open source paradigm has served well. Indeed, this is a wonderful example of stepwise refinement.As a longtime programmer, getting re-acquainted with Java, Eckel is able to fuse conceptual theory with practical examples. The code is just the right nugget size to make each example fully understandable. His writing style is professional, authoritative yet doesn't suffer from condescension. In addition, the "simpletest.Test" class is a welcome bonus that can be leveraged for unit testing in real-world applications. My only criticism involves the presentation in hard-copy form. Perhaps because he used MS Word XP, some of the characters weren't rendered properly in the camera-ready pages he provided to Prentice-Hall. (See the table at the top of page 87 for an example). That aside, this is a a must-have in your Java library.
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Summary: ALL-LEVEL BOOK!
Review: What can I say about this book? This book is great. I have based all my experience/career as software/systems engineer with Microsoft's line of products and when I had to turn on with JAVA Bruce Eckel's book was the book to go on and read and read. Never dissapointed. I found "Thinking in Java" really interested because it is a book for the all-level programmer and developer. All chapters and revisions are good, but I found really fascinating the chapter about Inner Classes and Interfases. On the other hand, the only thing that has mars the perfection of this 3th Edition is that it mention a lot another book (Thinking in Enterprise Java) which hasn't been published yet... not even a draft at Bruce Eckel's website.
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Summary: ALL-LEVEL BOOK!
Review: I keep a copy of all the 3 editions of this book and every revision that was posted on Bruce Eckel's website. As a Software Engineer and Java Developer/Programmer, I think the author has a great point of view and focus very carefully the details of OOP and let us access an excellent reference. I based my career on Microsoft's software but when I had to turn a 360ยบ degrees with Java Mr. Eckel's book was the definitively resorce to go on. What can I say? Mr. Eckel has taught me what I know of the Java language. All chapters are great, but in my case I found really interested Chapter 8 (Interfaces & Inner Classes), which I think has a deep and interesting analisys. On the other hand, what I don't like about this book is the very commont reference to a book that does not exist (at least has not been published ...as the author says). I hope the "Thinking In Enterprise Java" book to be available soon, or I will be dissapointed with this author. Also, I hope a final printed revision of "Thinking In Patterns with Java", although I know the author is planning the book with Python instead of Java.
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