Rating: 
Summary: Most used Java book in my library
Review: This book certainly covers many important topics in a clear and well written manner. You will find excellent and very clear advice to follow. My only gripe with this book is its rather lengthy treatment of Swing. Swing is covered in enough detail to give you a flavor, but that's all. In total the coverage of swing takes up a lot of pages, and makes the book a bit too thick to read comfortably in bed. Without the Swing part I think it would have been possible to have this book as a bedside companion.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not top notch
Review: This book certainly covers many important topics in a clear and well written manner. You will find excellent and very clear advice to follow. My only gripe with this book is its rather lengthy treatment of Swing. Swing is covered in enough detail to give you a flavor, but that's all. In total the coverage of swing takes up a lot of pages, and makes the book a bit too thick to read comfortably in bed. Without the Swing part I think it would have been possible to have this book as a bedside companion.
Rating:
Summary: Very good value for the money
Review: This book covers many Java-related topics, and although there is some overlap, I found it to be a good follow-up to Wrox's Beginning Java 2. Some of the topics covered in this book weren't covered in as much depth as I would have liked, but even in those cases, there was enough useful information to give me a basic understanding of the subject. Prior to buying this book, I had a difficult time finding much information on some of the topics that it covers, such as how to add help capabilities to a Java application, printing, cut & paste, drag & drop, etc. I was happy to find in-depth coverage of those topics, and the fact that they're all in one book makes this title a bargain in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: A 'must read' for Java programmers
Review: This book is really well written and it takes a bunch of Java topics and goes into alot of detail on them. What I liked the most was that it was easy to read (even though its about 1000 pages) and gives a lot more information than most other books. This is the third book I've read that covers layout managers and it offered the best coverage by far. I also really liked the XML chapter because it helped me to understand what XML is all about and how to use it in a Java program. It also explains really well how to use Java Help, which I'm going to be putting using on a project soon.Some people dont like Wrox books but I do and and I think this one is great. It was really clear and informative and I highly recommend it to anyone doing serious Java coding.
Rating:
Summary: Good Client/Server Development book!
Review: This book walks you through the steps of building a client/server application. It's a no-fluff, show-me-the-stuff good reading. Not theoretical but written by, an obviously, hands-on IT guy. Probably helps that this guy is an SCJP, SCJD and SCJ2EE Architect Certified. Would recommend it to anyone who has the syntax down but needs help understanding the development approach. If you don't know your syntax don't buy this book. It's not for beginners. In that case try Java Certification by Khalid A. Mughal. Khalid gives you the syntax hands down - no fluff. Beware that Khalid is textbook oriented but quite precise. GG - SCJP2
Rating:
Summary: Thorough and well-written, demystifies important topics
Review: This is a great reference book that covers both simple and more advanced topics in Java. I bought this to help me prepare to teach a Java programming class, and now plan to recommend it to all my students. The writing is clear and to-the-point, unlike some other titles that tend to be a bit on the wordy side. Code samples are sprinkled liberally throughout most of the chapters, and like the writing, they are simple, easy to understand, and effective. In addition to a chapter on JDBC, this book includes a chapter that describes the various persistence options available to Java programmers, and nicely frames JDBC's role as one such option. That chapter also describes the InputStream, OutputStream, Reader, and Writer classes in the java.io package, along with an in-depth discussion of serialization. Another favorite of mine was the chapter on creating custom GUI components, a topic that I've not seen covered in many other places. My only complaint is that this book doesn't come with a CD-ROM, but the code listings in the book are at least downloadable from the publisher's web site.
| 
