Rating: 
Summary: Great for a former Fortran programmer.
Review: No book can be perfect for everyone, but I found this one a helpful, easy introduction to object-oriented programming using Java 2. If you know C++, don't buy it - it's too elementary. But if you have never coded objects, you won't understand the other books. You need to slowly absorb the syntax of object-oriented programming, and this is an excellent place to learn to do that. You will need other books - especially if you plan to code applets - but no book could really be expected to take everyone from wherever they are to wherever they want to go. This book works for those with some programming experience but who have never delt with OOP.
Rating: 
Summary: Gives you what you pay for..
Review: Not much of an advanced book, however if you are switching between programming languages and want to get back in java, it helps you jump right in. All the code typed in by me compiles without a problem. the answer lies at javasoft where you can check the current implementations to the java language. Those readers having a problem compiling the code should first check their code for minor bugs and if everthing is bug free, check at javasoft.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat amusing but not very helpful
Review: The code used in the lessons is outdated and won't even compile in many cases. The so-called 1 hour lessons take several hours to complete. I usually just gave up and went to the next lesson! Not a very good way to learn programming.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for those already familiar with programming concepts
Review: The other reviews are right; this is not a book for those who are beginning programmers. In order to fully appreciate this book, you have to at least understand object-oriented programming in theory, if not actual practice. Having taken courses in Visual Basic, Java and C++, I'm hardly a begginer. I bought this book so that I could keep fresh on my programming skills between Java classes (no pun intended). This book served as more than a simple refresher, however; I can honestly say that I have learned more about Java 2 in the first half of the book than I have during my entire last quarter at school. This book digs deep into event procedures and error handling; it goes a bit lighter on making the user geenerate multiple interacting classes, and it also goes a bit lighter on the web side (applets) of Java. I would have preferred to switch the chapters on applets with newer ones dealing with ArrayLists and Iterators. The amount of time devoted to GUI's was just about right. One of my biggest complaints with programming books is that they tend to be dryly written and haphazardly orginized, digging too deep into some matters, while glossing over more intimidating concepts while not providing real-life code examples. Thanfully, that is not the case with this book. I find the authors humor, while a bit esoteric for my tastes, refeshing, and the style of writing agreeable. The topics are all dealt with fairly evenly, and the more intimdaaating concepts were alll given thier fair due. While I know that 24 one-hour lessons may not be that much time in which to cover such topics as ArrayLists and Iterators, perhaps squeezing a bit more into the introductory chapters and glossing over applets (as you can tell, I'm not a big fan of Java applets, and too many books spend way too much time on them anyway) might have helped to introduce (or refamiliarize) readers to these two powerful features.
Rating:
Summary: Great for those already familiar with programming concepts
Review: The other reviews are right; this is not a book for those who are beginning programmers. In order to fully appreciate this book, you have to at least understand object-oriented programming in theory, if not actual practice. Having taken courses in Visual Basic, Java and C++, I'm hardly a begginer. I bought this book so that I could keep fresh on my programming skills between Java classes (no pun intended). This book served as more than a simple refresher, however; I can honestly say that I have learned more about Java 2 in the first half of the book than I have during my entire last quarter at school. This book digs deep into event procedures and error handling; it goes a bit lighter on making the user geenerate multiple interacting classes, and it also goes a bit lighter on the web side (applets) of Java. I would have preferred to switch the chapters on applets with newer ones dealing with ArrayLists and Iterators. The amount of time devoted to GUI's was just about right. One of my biggest complaints with programming books is that they tend to be dryly written and haphazardly orginized, digging too deep into some matters, while glossing over more intimidating concepts while not providing real-life code examples. Thanfully, that is not the case with this book. I find the authors humor, while a bit esoteric for my tastes, refeshing, and the style of writing agreeable. The topics are all dealt with fairly evenly, and the more intimdaaating concepts were alll given thier fair due. While I know that 24 one-hour lessons may not be that much time in which to cover such topics as ArrayLists and Iterators, perhaps squeezing a bit more into the introductory chapters and glossing over applets (as you can tell, I'm not a big fan of Java applets, and too many books spend way too much time on them anyway) might have helped to introduce (or refamiliarize) readers to these two powerful features.
Rating:
Summary: A good book to begin learning Java 2
Review: This book is a solid learning tool. I have to agree with the reviewer that said the book does get tough after chapter 9. The vast majority of the code I've tried works. This book does a good job of getting you up to speed on Java. I would suggest using this book as a starting point and going else where to get really indepth information. As far as getting a clue about Java, this book is definite buy.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book to begin with!
Review: This book is a very good introdcution to JAVA and help you LEARN the LANGUAGE rather that give you examples. I learn better with doing a lot of examples, but this book does a great job for the way it was meant to be, a Language teaching book, rather than an exersice book. It does have examples, wich I've found good in order to test your knowlege. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR COPY AND PASTE ME (STEAL ME) script, don't get this book. This is for someone who wants to be able to wite their OWN scripts in a matter of days.
Rating:
Summary: Author is dead on
Review: This book is not for everyone and was never meant to be. The Author is trying to hit individuals who have never programmed. He succeded in this. It does drop off a little bit in Chapt. 10 but JAVA programming does this to everybody. This book is not meant to be a reference. See O'Rielly for that. My only complaint is that he stuck to Swing to teach readers hot to create GUI's. There are other, older, and more stable methods than Swing.
Rating:
Summary: before hour10 is ok...
Review: This book is ok from hour 1 to 9, but as soon as i go to hour 10, something is getting me confused. I have only read up to 12, so i don't know how it will be after 12....
Rating:
Summary: Will not make you a programmer
Review: This is a good starter book to read to become familiar with the concept of Java. It is a book you go through to prepare you to learn to program in Java so that when you go to actually learn Java it will not be totally foreign to you. From here you can buy Ivor Horton's Java 2 book to learn the language and will actually know what he is talking about. A good first step in the process, but certainly not the last.
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