Description:
Some of the best sources for learning Java are online. The Java Tutorial, Second Edition is an updated compilation of online resources from the JavaSoft Web site, edited for clarity. This guide gives you the advantage of having all you need to learn Java in one book (and includes a CD-ROM).The authors organize the book's sections around lessons and "trails" (which correspond to online tutorials). Beginners will find the sections on running simple Java applications and applets and on the nuts and bolts of the Java programming language especially useful. However, there is plenty of expertise here for the Java expert. (Because this is all "official" JavaSoft material, it gives excellent perspective on the ideal use of Java--100 percent pure programming that runs on all hardware platforms.) For example, the sections on using the JavaStream classes present some hard-to-find material on memory streams and pipes. Additional topics discuss how to get around the basics of creating user interfaces with AWT classes (though this is less useful because most programmers will use a Java compiler that handles the details of inner classes and adapters for them). Chapters on graphics programming benefit both beginners and experts and include a great explanation of image filters and animation techniques. Some of the niftiest stuff in The Java Tutorial is presented in the sections on network programming in Java, with a clear explanation of reading and writing to URLs and working with sockets. (These capabilities are all built in to Java, and this tutorial shows you how to execute them.) The book finishes up with a discussion of new features in JDK 1.2--still under development--and with the printed source code for all the examples in the book. This book makes a good argument that print still has its advantages. You'd spend hours digging up the relevant tutorials online. --Richard V. Dragan
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