Black Art of Java Game Programming

Rating:
Summary: Black Art of Java Game Programming
Review: I thought this would be great book according to all those reviews. I had this book for just some days and I really think it is out of date actually. The code examples are really not structured and there are methods written that do not even exist. Package imports and access modifiers do not seem to be of the authors knowledge. I know this book should learn people to think object oriented and so on; but to extend the Object class in every example is just confusing for new programmers. There are more things to complain about, but I leave it. However, the book is good concerning the examples and illustrations and sometimes interesting on those pages without mistakes or confusions.

Rating:
Summary: Black Art of Java Game Programming
Review: I thought this would be great book according to all those reviews. I had this book for just some days and I really think it is out of date actually. The code examples are really not structured and there are methods written that do not even exist. Package imports and access modifiers do not seem to be of the authors knowledge. I know this book should learn people to think object oriented and so on; but to extend the Object class in every example is just confusing for new programmers. There are more things to complain about, but I leave it. However, the book is good concerning the examples and illustrations and sometimes interesting on those pages without mistakes or confusions.

Rating:
Summary: Java not a solution...
Review: I was given this book by a friend, who received it from a friend, who received it from a friend. Now I'm going to give it away too, because it's useless. We are all professional programmers and two of the friends who have owned this book are now professional game programmers (using C++). We were hoping that this book would prove java to be a great way to code games for other platforms, but it doesnt even come close. If anything it's proved that java is not a game programming option.

The book itself is a good intro to java programming, but the game examples are just too basic...so basic that you dont even want to look at them. I have a stack of commodore 64 game programming books with arcade games written in line basic that would put this book to shame... with only 32k of memory. Dont even get me started on the speed. The best game in the book is "javaroids" but it's choppy on my p3-500 with 512mb of ram. It doesnt matter though because it would be a challenge to want to play it for more than 10 seconds,especially in a 200x300 window, and I *love* asteroids and classic arcade games. How sad.

Whats java good for? Moving data around between servers... but not games. If this book is offered to you for free, think hard about it but then decline.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome coverage of game principles
Review: I was impressed by this book's coverage of the principles (such as double-buffering) behind professionally written games. Of course, it was great that these principles were implemented in Java, with an OOP paradigm! The book makes these complicated ideas as easy to understand as possible. Highly recommended.

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Summary: From Zero to 3D-combat flight sim creator
Review: I wish my textbooks were written like this! This book is the complete package for anyone who always wanted to write a game but didn't have an idea where to start. 'Black Art' begins by assumming you >*don't even know Java*<, and teaches all about variables, methods, object construction and inheritence in the first tenth of the book with incredibly compact examples that are both fun (bouncing rectangles and a sushi chef, cool!) and encourage you to mutate the code (the sushi chef burps when he bounces off walls!) to create other effects. Building a full game is not easy, but building a Galaga-type vertical shooter is covered over several chapters, with the game increasing in complexity each time. Collison detection, animation, mouse and keyboard imput, anti-flicker techniques, multiplay over the internet..it's all there, and the examples run on my Java 2 compiler with few quibbles. For icing, the last half of the book shows how to construct several arcade classics (Asteroids, Daleks, Growing Snake and Treats, Trivia match) ending in a 3D combat sim that automatically adjusts the framerate to avoid flickering. Forget classes, get this book!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I've only read the first few chapters and I am already impressed with the presentation of the material, I can't put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: An exelent book for all Java programmers.
Review: If you were to only buy one book for all information on Java game programming, then this book is for you! It is an exelent book for both experianced and novice programmers and should be declared the "Bible" of all java game programming knowledge

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Reference
Review: It's very informative and covers many advanced subjects, but not all you need for Java game programming. The 3D section assumes advanced math experience... They could provide the methods and explain how to use them. All the unneeded classes -- gunManager, for example -- make the examples hard to understand... A Sprite class should handle everything related to it. There are other minor errors -- IE: An asteroid example runs in a Frame that won't close the normal way -- which make it a big resource instead of a complete learning book. All in all, there's a lot of good and a little bad. Strong points are its concise, easy to understand writing and wide range of subjects (being like 1,000 pages long). Overall, it's a comprehensive resource that no Java game programmer should be without. In comparison to the other available books, this one's by far the best. Get it if you have any interest in Java game programming.

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Summary: The Code Kills It
Review: Okay, this book is good and I do want to be a java game programmer, but THE CODE DOESN'T COMPILE! I even took all of the .java files from the CD and tried to compile them with my JDK1.1.8 and there were up to 17errors and they wouldn't link to the "Superclasses". Unless I'm doing something wrong, I don't think I am, then this book isn't so great.

Rating:
Summary: Hopelessly, hopelessly outdated.
Review: The Java world has passed this book by. Black Art is based on
a completely outdated version of Java. It amazes me that this
book is even still on the shelves. I am a professional Java
developer and I simply cannot recommend a book that relies on
obsolete technology like this.