This book is the most complete and up-to-date resource on Java from programming guru, Herb Schildt -- a must-have desk reference for every Java programmer.
Best-selling author Herbert Schildt has written extensively about the Java, C++, C, and C# programming languages. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been widely translated. Herb's books have been used in education, corporate training, and individual study. Although he is interested in all facets of computing, Herb's primary focus is computer languages, especially the standardization of languages. He was a member of the original ANSI committee that standardized the C language in 1989, and he was a member of the ANSI/ISO committee that updated that standard in 1999. He was a member of the original ANSI/ISO committee that standardized C++ in 1998 and he was a member of the ANSI/ISO committee that updated the standard for C++ in 2011.
Herb holds both graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign.
For a software engineer of any level, this book has a lot of great ideas to make your code more readable and maintainable. I wish I had discovered it earlier.
This review is for the fifth edition which isn't on goodreads yet.
"Java A Beginner's Guide" takes you through the language of no Java knowledge to what you need to know to start learning about libraries. It covers the core language and can be used to learn Java 5, 6 or 7. The book assumes you are new to the C++ family so parts are slow going if you already know those parts. The author does point out what is different from C++ for those with that background.
I liked the mix of text, explained code and "try this" exercises. Each chapter ends with a self test to test your knowledge. The author does a good job not dumbing things down for the reader while making it easy to follow. It even covers recursion.
The author usually explains when he does something differently than one would in the real world. There were a few cases where he didn't - not using "com... in a package name", using get_pwr as a naming convention and using StringBuffer over StringBuilder (in this case the text was probably old.)
Overall, I liked this book better than the Deitel book for a programmer new to Java.
--- Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.
Great book covers all the nuts and bolts of java, a single book covering the basic of Java language, syntax, programming and its packages.
Schildt puts it in one of the most easiest and simplest ways possible for somebody coming from C programming we can just skim the book and dwell into the advanced topics in a quick and easily in matter of hours and not days.