Rating: 
Summary: A Good User's Guide
Review: First and foremost, it is important to recognize that this book is NOT an introduction to Java Programming. If you are looking for an introductory Java Programming book that leverages Sun ONE Studio 4 (formerly Forte for Java 4) then look at the book "Introduction to Java Programming with Sun ONE Studio 4" (ISBN: 0130092584). That book is clearly targeted at such an audience (I have not read that book and therefore can make no recommendation or review). If you are looking for just an introductory Java Programming book that doesn't leverage a specific IDE (Integrated Development Environment) then there are plenty to choose from (I personally recommend Beginning Java 2 by Ivor Horton).Contrarily, this book is targeted at being a Sun ONE Studio 4 usage guide. I personally am glad for that. As an experienced programmer, I often find that if I want to learn a particular IDE, the only books available for such are Introductory Programming books that casually talk about the IDE. I am therefore forced to skim through the book to extract the information I am after. Often only a small portion of the material in such books is about the IDE's features. Resultantly, when I saw this book on my favorite Java IDE, I was very excited. I found the book did a fair job overall. As a user's guide, the book does a good job in explaining Sun ONE Studio's features. Screenshots are plentiful. As stated in one review, it does leverage simple "Hello World" examples; I however interpreted that not as a shortcoming, but rather a chose by the authors so that the focus is not shifted from the topic at hand (the usage of the IDE) to learning Java. Most of the explanations of the IDE's features are clear-cut, but sometimes lack details, depth, and explanation of additional options. I found myself referring to the IDE's help function to obtain more detail on some subjects. While it is true that most of the information contained in this book is available in the help screens, this book organizes and interrelates the information, thus providing structure and direction. This makes it useful as a systematic guided tour to learning the IDE. Trying to do the same with the help screens would likely prove tiresome since it would involve significant jumping around the various help topic screens. Overall, this book would prove very useful to someone who knows Java development, but with little experience or knowledge of Sun ONE Studio. To someone familiar with Sun ONE Studio, it would make a fair reference guide to the IDE. For me - someone that has been using the IDE knowing that I was not leveraging all its power and functionality - it was very helpful in filling in the gaps, and pulling all the IDE's components together. It gave me a map to follow, as well as the core information, in learning all the IDE's components, preventing me from overlooking anything, which I may have done if I were to have just haphazardly jumped around trying to learn all the features.
Rating: 
Summary: Fulfills a long existing gap
Review: I am a programmer working on sun technologies. I do keep experimenting and testing new ideas. This also reflects on my habit of trying new books. Recently I chanced upon this book, and I'm glad I did! i feel this books takes a very hands-on apprach by way of screen shots and illustractions. the lanuage is also simle and lucid. Strongly recommended!!
Rating: 
Summary: No value...
Review: I am not very certain how there are so many 5 star rating for this book!!! Honestly, either all the ratings are rigged in some way, or the authors themselves are providing their own feed back. This book is an absolute waste of time in my opinion. I have been working on Java for almost 4+ years now. This is one of such books where the authors try to explain every thing on a pop-up menu, or why the menus are gray instead of blue (or whatever...). pun intended. Why would anybody waste time and resources to write such books? more so, i wonder why people read such books in the first place. Also, i have noticed that for every bad review, there will be 2 new good reviews (5 stars) added immediately!!! hmmm think about the odds.
Rating:
Summary: just what I wanted
Review: I have been working on the Java platform for quite some years now. I needed a hands on guide for Sun ONE Studio 4 usage and am glad to have chanced upon this book. The book is written in lucid, hands on style, withoud losing out on applicability and depth. It seems the authors are really conversant in the subject. I personally recommend the book as THE Sun ONE Studio 4 usage guide.
Rating: 
Summary: It does have one saving grace
Review: I have to agre with the other negative reviews here. My primary complaints: * The book is little other than the help section and tutorials repackaged.
* Even what has been repackaged is unclear. The authors do little other than describe procedural steps.
* No added value one would expect in a book like this, e.g. tips or tricks, hidden features, etc.
* This is a book on Sun One Studio, not Java. The authors should have realized this, and left out the poor Java examples and explanations. All of that said, the value that this book provides is that it *is* a book! I'm a reference book kind of guy, and I like to have this information at my fingertips, perhaps with several books open on my desk at any one time. You can't always do that with online help. That is the book's saving grace.
Rating:
Summary: What a shame
Review: I recommend not to buy this book. This book is almost a copyright breach of Sun's tutorial. I wonder how such books make the market and still continue to sell. The authors have not added any content except for few screen shots. I wasted my money on this book. Now i am trying to sell this on ebay... Hope i atleast get some of my money back
Rating:
Summary: nearly worthless rewrite
Review: I'm always suspicious of books with a few high ratings. I always wonder if it's not the author's friends and family writing them. In this case I was right to be leary. This book is very little more than a rewrite of the Sun ONE Studio online documentation with screen shots added. If you want a hardcopy of the online documentation or are a complete newbie to Java and IDEs in general then this book may be of some comfort to you, otherwise don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Nice and Heavy Door Stop
Review: If you are looking for an introductory Java book, there are LOTS better selections out there. If you are looking for a book that may help you through the darkened maze of Forte (sorry, Sun One) this won't help you a single bit. The book painfully goes through all of the drop down menus - something you can do for yourself using the IDE's help files. It also shows a wonderful example of "Hello World" - like anyone cares anymore. The book, however, fails miserably in providing any real information to anyone (like me) who wants to move their software environment to use this IDE - there are simple little things that takes a while to figure out in Forte and I was hoping the book would help. It did not. The book attempts to do too many things and gets them all wrong - at least quite incomplete. It would have been nice if the authors either stuck with "this is a started book" or "this is an advanced book" and either went with the "Hello World" metaphore or at least attempted to produce a book professional developers can use. All in all, another computer book designed to be sold by the pound.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for NetBeans, Forte, or Studio One
Review: If you use FORTE, NETBEANS, OR SUNS NEW NAME FOR FORTE (STUDIO ONE), you shold get this book. The CD has all three versions of Forte plus the PointBase database. The Community edition of Forte is free, the rest of the versions are 60 day trial versions. Each chapter begins with brief introductions that are worth the price of the book by themselves. The step by step instructions are clear, accurate and to the point. This book DOES NOT have the useless motherhook and apple pie that you normally find in most books on JAVA these days. Every page is useful.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant stuff!
Review: The book is amazingly good for a beginner like me. I always thought that the Forte for Java IDE(oops!, Sun One Studio Programming) was something meant for advanced technical people. But to my amaze, the applications given in the book are very easy to implement and execute even for a beginner. The concepts have been discussed and explained in a very effective manner. Each and every chapter of the book is informative and beautifully written.
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