The Java(TM) Class Libraries: Supplement for the Java(TM) 2 Platform, v1.2 (Volume 1, Standard Edition)

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Summary: it's the bible, what else can you say
Review: But like the bible, it's not something beginners can pickup and understand right away. If you are brand new to Java, make sure you get a good book aimed at novices as well.

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Summary: As essential as your compiler
Review: For a couple of years now I have lugged the two hefty volumes of The Java Class Libraries plus the 1.2 supplement to every job site. At each site, these three books immediately became the most-borrowed books from my shelf. What is especially appealing is the ordering the material in alphabetical order by class name, like a encyclopedia. The examples are copious, interesting and solve nontrivial problems. There's also terrific background material on the theory behind each class. I highly recommend purchasing all three books (the original Volumes 1 & 2 plus the JDK 1.2 supplement). You'll need them all.

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Summary: Nothing can describe Java classes better
Review: I strongly recommend this book to all Java users of all levels because no other book describes all classes of java.lang, java.io, java.net, java.util, java.text and java.math packages better. Every class, every method and every exception is explained by very understandable language with good and useful examples. There is no Java language problem you cannot solve with this book.

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Summary: The best
Review: I've been programming professionally for almost 10 years and this is the best book I've ever used. If I could only own one book for Java this would be it. The examples are insightful and clear.

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Summary: Gotta have it
Review: If your a Java 2 developer then you need this on your bookshelf. It contains an enormous amount of useful information, examples, etc. for all the classes in java.applet, java.awt, and java.beans. You gotta have it!

Rating:
Summary: A must have book for the beginner
Review: The 1.st sentence of the preface says: "This book is intended as a reference rather than a tutorial". Well for an experienced Java programmer this is certainly true, but for a novice who has just grasped the fundamentals of the language and starts to write down his first lines of code this book is an excellent tutorial. Every class has a description and practically every method of every class has its example code where nearly every line is documented, with links to related methods. Looking into these examples one can quickly learn tips and tricks smoothing the learning curve a lot. The Chan's book is miles ahead, in my opinion, the unuseful example codes one can freely download from the Sun's internet pages, full of magic words comining from blue skyes not documented at all, where one has to figure out what any of them is useful for and where you are on your own. One more time: what I say is true for a novice; the senior Java programmer may feel at his ease with the API's documentation of the Sun's JDK.
My last warning: since in Java things change often this kind of books goes into obsolescence quicky. For instance: my copy is the 5th edition (October 2001) and it lacks completely the new Collections class framework.

Rating:
Summary: A must have book for the beginner
Review: The 1.st sentence of the preface says: "This book is intended as a reference rather than a tutorial". Well for an experienced Java programmer this is certainly true, but for a novice who has just grasped the fundamentals of the language and starts to write down his first lines of code this book is an excellent tutorial. Every class has a description and practically every method of every class has its example code where nearly every line is documented, with links to related methods. Looking into these examples one can quickly learn tips and tricks smoothing the learning curve a lot. The Chan's book is miles ahead, in my opinion, the unuseful example codes one can freely download from the Sun's internet pages, full of magic words comining from blue skyes not documented at all, where one has to figure out what any of them is useful for and where you are on your own. One more time: what I say is true for a novice; the senior Java programmer may feel at his ease with the API's documentation of the Sun's JDK.
My last warning: since in Java things change often this kind of books goes into obsolescence quicky. For instance: my copy is the 5th edition (October 2001) and it lacks completely the new Collections class framework.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful, marvelous, buy, buy, buy
Review: There is a reason this book is rated so highly. It is worth every penny you will spend on it. I would pay double the price, but don't tell the publisher. This is my favorite reference book, and my Java programming would not be as productive without this book. The book is huge, because it covers every class within the standard library (io, net, lang, etc.). As much as I appreciate the O'Reilly Nutshell book, this is far superior to that book. This has something Nutshell doesn't. Context. Not only does it have all the classes with all their methods, it puts each method in context. It shows you how they are used by providing relevant example code and descriptions. And the descriptions in the book are wonderful. You will look up a class and find a related class that will work better for your needs. I especially recommending getting this book for a team of developers. Leave the book in the room for office use. If you can so afford, get it for each developer. This is like the Post-it note. You would never live without it, even though you managed and may have even done well before it came along.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful, marvelous, buy, buy, buy
Review: There is a reason this book is rated so highly. It is worth every penny you will spend on it. I would pay double the price, but don't tell the publisher. This is my favorite reference book, and my Java programming would not be as productive without this book. The book is huge, because it covers every class within the standard library (io, net, lang, etc.). As much as I appreciate the O'Reilly Nutshell book, this is far superior to that book. This has something Nutshell doesn't. Context. Not only does it have all the classes with all their methods, it puts each method in context. It shows you how they are used by providing relevant example code and descriptions. And the descriptions in the book are wonderful. You will look up a class and find a related class that will work better for your needs. I especially recommending getting this book for a team of developers. Leave the book in the room for office use. If you can so afford, get it for each developer. This is like the Post-it note. You would never live without it, even though you managed and may have even done well before it came along.

Rating:
Summary: Great reference!
Review: This book really helps with a huge amount of information and examples for all of the classes in java.io, java.lang, java.math, java.text, and java.util. Wonderful reference book!