markstarmer's Full Review: Cay S. Horstmann and Gary Cornell - Core Java 2: A...
Background
Whilst studying for my computer science degree in the UK in 1999, I was introduced to the basics of the JAVA programming language. As the JAVA course had an early start and I was a student, somehow I managed to miss 75% of my lectures (possibly due to mass alcohol consumption, I was too hung over to remember). I decided rather than tarnish my social life I would teach myself JAVA.
After browsing through many books the gleaming white cover of the ‘Sun Microsystems: Core JAVA 1.2. Fundamentals’, stuck out in front of me. After browsing through it’s 742 pages I decided this was the book for me, and took it home.
About the Book
The Core JAVA book was written for people who already have some knowledge in programming, so if your just starting out or are not a very competent programmer, than I’m afraid this book is not for you.
The book starts off with a detailed introduction to JAVA what I found quite an interesting read. Chapters 2 & 3 cover the very basics (such as structures and loops etc). The next section of the book introduces object technology and covers basic OO programming techniques. After that the bulk of the book covers GUI programming, covering both AWT and SWING. There is also a small section on applets.
Overviw
Apart from including all the source, the CD-ROM which comes with the book also contains all the software needed to start using JAVA. Included is the complete API and compiler for JAVA 1.2 and also tools for running, editing and compiling programs, I was impressed with the shareware version of ‘Text Pad’ (Version is unregistered – If you use the software please respect shareware and register the software.),
which can be configured to both run and compile JAVA source. The book is very indecisive and covers a great deal of information although it has a strong learning curve and is NOT recommended for the technically frail.
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