BOOKS: TECHNICAL
Thinking
in Java (3rd Edition)
Bruce Eckel (Prentice
Hall, 2002)
 Bruce Eckel, author |
What is Java, exactly? For some, it’s just another programming language; for many others, it’s an application development and service delivery platform; for Bruce Eckel, it’s a philosophy. Java technology is one of the most complex and most successful software projects ever built. In Thinking in Java, Eckel (who also won a 1995 Jolt Award for his Thinking in C++) uses Java itself as the ultimate example to teach software architecture, object-oriented programming (OOP), best practices and design patterns. Now in its third edition, which covers JDK 1.4, Thinking in Java is a must-read for both novices and experts who want to delve deeper than the language and APIs.
Java is a premier language in the OOP world, so it’s fitting that the book’s first 10 chapters are dedicated to OOP concepts and implementation. The author explores difficult subjects such as interface-based reuse and polymorphism, then moves on to illustrate their usage in several core libraries: the Java collections library, the standard and new (1.4) Java I/O library, the concurrency library and the Swing GUI library. The book’s final two chapters focus on agile software development processes (can any author resist these days?) and Java-centric tools such as JUnit, ANT and Doclets.
This third edition of Thinking in Java continues to delight. And as
the Java community adds new features and APIs to the core platform, we hope
further editions will keep track with this evolution. 1998 Productivity Award
winner (1st edition).
—Michael Yuan
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Core Java 2, Vol. 1: Fundamentals (6th edition)
Starting from the language’s underlying tenets, developer tools
and basic programming structures, Core Java 2 moves into two crucial
areas: the OO programming concepts informing the entire Java class and
interface structure, and the Java GUI programming model (Swing)and its
design patterns. The authors use abundant code examples and sidebars to
illustrate not only API usage, but also patterns and designs. Other important
language features, such as the deployment model, error and exception handling,
and standard I/O libraries, are also discussed. This edition also covers
such J2SE 1.4 features as new I/O libraries, preferences, logging and
regular expressions. For Java newbies, this book helps to establish correct
programming habits and offers an unencumbered path to Java expertise. —Michael Yuan |
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Understanding Web Services
“Today, software remains essentially a craft business, as automobiles
were at the start of the twentieth century,” writes Eric Newcomer
in the preface. “Having widely adopted standards has remained elusive
despite many attempts: Web services may finally do the trick.” This
book, from someone with firsthand knowledge of the W3C and industry efforts
to establish universal XML-based protocols for distributed computing,
is the single best introduction to the field that I’ve seen. Dispensing
with lengthy explorations of XML minutiae, the author instead offers a
clear explanation of the concept of Web services and the three XML applications
(WSDL, SOAP and UDDI) that form its foundation. Furthermore, Newcomer’s
book is firmly grounded in practicality and informed by his experience
with CORBA and other standards. —Chris Minnick |
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PHP and MySQL Web Development
This volume is a great example of the kind of programming book most developers
want and need: It offers practical, immediately usable, hands-on advice,
with just enough theoretical, overarching material to prevent misapplication
of the technology. Unlike many books that aim for this kind of result
but lose their way in hundreds of pages of unimportant information, Welling
and Thomson present two different technologies clearly, with a keen sense
of their audience’s needs. In addition, they offer plenty of information
about using the technologies together—material that clearly has
been hard-won from their own experience. Developers will benefit from
this practical, balanced exploration of the two technologies, and other
authors can use this volume as a model for their own efforts. —Andrew Binstock |