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Summary: Advanced Java Knowledge for Real Programmers
Review: 'Practical Java' provides a valuable source of information for even the most seasoned Java programmer. It covers topics to a depth that is hard to find elsewhere. I found the chapters on performance and exception handling to be especially enlightening. I would recommend this book to any Java developer who wishes to have a deeper understanding of the Java language.
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Summary: A waste of your money - Way overrated
Review: A waste of your moneyI gave this book one star because it fell short of expectations! There's no expert advice here. In fact, it will all seem pretty obvious if you have a solid foundation in Java 2, like the one you get by prepping for the Programmer's Certification or thoroughly reading Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java (available in print from Amazon, or online). This is a book worth borrowing for a couple of days. I bet you'll skip most of the sections. Here is an example of what I mean: the author will write a method using the String "+" operator and another using Stringuffer's append(), benchmark them and show you the bytecodes (oh!). He'll advise you not to create unnecessary objects, not to initialize variables more than once, to avoid synchronization you don't need, and here's the best one: don't throw an exception as a means of ending a loop, use break instead. Come on, these are hardly insights from an "in-the-trenches expert"! Or take the multithreading section: there's less information there than in the JDK documentation. However, its main defect is not obviety or shallowness, it's its almost lack of coverage of Java 2 features, such as Collections, inner classes, and References (e.g. almost all examples use Vector). This book is highly overrated! Try to see a copy before you buy it.
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Summary: Not for seasoned programmers
Review: Admittedly, I was a little bit disappointed with this book. For one thing, of all of the Java-specific techniques not to illustrate (and key for new Java programmers), the book didn't draw attention to anonymous classes. For another, and not to sound arrogant, I found very little for me to learn in this book. To state where I'm coming from, I'm an experienced OO programmer (prior to working with Java) who now has 1 year of Java experience. If you fall into the same category, I would recommend against this book as you've probably already acquired most of the nuiances of the language.
Rating:
Summary: Very well written
Review: All I can say is that I will be watching for anything this guy Peter Haggar writes on java, and buy it right away. I ripped through this book in 2 days (cover to cover). This is the best book I've seen in terms of solid design advice. Very interesting reading. Good job Peter, and thanks!
Rating: 
Summary: Recommended highly for intermediate java students
Review: Bite-sized praxes, suitable for late-night reading, illuminates topics that you've heretofore understood poorly (eg: when exactly is that instance variable initialized?).
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Summary: A very good set of rules on using Java
Review: Captures many useful techniques that every Java programmer should know.
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Summary: Not difficult, but worth reading
Review: Compare this book with <<Java Pitfalls>> (refer to my review of <<Java Pitfalls>> as well) Pros: *)Covers more language syntax. *)Explanation is more detailed and clearer. *)Deep discussion about Equality, Exception Handling, Multithreading, Classes and Interfaces. Cons: *)Does not cover Java library, JFC at all. *)Examples in this book are too simple. *)Some items are not concise enough. Suggestion: Start from this book and read <<Java Pitfalls>> for topics not covered in this book and more complex examples.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and very useful
Review: Covers basic to intermediate topics and does a great job. This is a 'Must Read' book.
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Summary: there are better books on the subject
Review: Effective Java and Java Pitfalls are far, far superior. This is a simple book for beginners. Don't waste your money, instead buy both Blochs and Dacontas books listed above. The lessons this book presents are obvious to anyone with 6 months experience, and the more involved points are covered in the 2 books I mentioned. And they cover lots of things this one doesn't. Its not a terrible book, its ok, but there are far better ones out there.
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Summary: Melhore a qualidade de seu código Java!
Review: Foi uma agrádavel surpresa ler este livro. O autor é muito didático nas suas colocações conduzindo o leitor por territórios da linguagem geralmente obscuros. O livro pressupõem que vc conheça Java. O objetivo do livro é revelar algumas práticas de programação (consideradas cruciais) para se desenvolver um código eficaz e eficiente. Não é um livro para quem deseja aprender Java do zero. O estilo do autor é totalmente baseado em exemplos. De acordo com as próprias palavaras do autor "Não há teoria nesse livro (nada contra ela). Apenas que aqui não é o seu lugar". Numa época em que qualquer livro de programação tem no mínimo centenas de páginas, este livro, bem fininho e leve de carregar é um tesouro de joias que fica sempre ao meu lado durante o trabalho.
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