Thinking in Java (2nd Edition)

Thinking in Java, Second Edition is the much-anticipated revision of Bruce Eckel's best-selling Java introduction: the book that won the 1999 Software Development Magazine Productivity Award! Eckel is as brash, opinionated, knowledgeable, and fascinating as ever -- and he's updated this new edition to fully reflect the power of Java 2. As always, Eckel doesn't just show you what to do, but why. He introduces all the basics of objects as Java uses them; then walks carefully through the fundamentals of Java programming, including program flow, initialization and cleanup, implementation hiding, reusing classes and polymorphism. Using to-the-point examples, he introduces exception handling, Java I/O, run-time type identification, and passing and returning objects. The new edition adds exceptional coverage of server-side Java, including servlets and JavaServer Pages; Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) database integration, transactions, and security; and much more. The AWT chapter has been replaced with a thorough introduction to the Swing GUI libraries, and there are new sections on Jini and JavaSpaces. All code examples are on the accompanying CD-ROM, plus electronic copies of the book in several formats, and the complete Thinking in C multimedia course, introducing key concepts all beginning programmers must master before learning Java. “Thinking in Java should be read cover to cover by every Java programmer, then kept close at hand for frequent reference. The exercises are challenging, and the chapter on Collections is superb! Not only did this book help me to pass the Sun Certified Java Programmer exam; it’s also the first book I turn to whenever I have a Java question.” —Jim Pleger, Loudoun County (Virginia) Government “Much better than any other Java book I’ve seen. Make that ‘by an order of magnitude’.... Very complete, with excellent right-to-the-point examples and intelligent, not dumbed-down, explanations.... In contrast to many other Java books I found it to be unusually mature, consistent, intellectually honest, well-written, and precise. IMHO, an ideal book for studying Java.” —Anatoly Vorobey, Technion University, Haifa, Israel “Absolutely one of the best programming tutorials I’ve seen for any language.” —Joakim Ziegler, FIX sysop “Thank you again for your awesome book. I was really floundering (being a non-C programmer), but your book has brought me up to speed as fast as I could read it. It’s really cool to be able to understand the underlying principles and concepts from the start, rather than having to try to build that conceptual model through trial and error. Hopefully I will be able to attend your seminar in the not-too-distant future.” —Randall R. Hawley, automation technician, Eli Lilly & Co. “This is one of the best books I’ve read about a programming language.... The best book ever written on Java.” —Ravindra Pai, Oracle Corporation, SUNOS product line “Bruce, your book is wonderful! Your explanations are clear and direct. Through your fantastic book I have gained a tremendous amount of Java knowledge. The exercises are also fantastic and do an excellent job reinforcing the ideas explained throughout the chapters. I look forward to reading more books written by you. Thank you for the tremendous service that you are providing by writing such great books. My code will be much better after reading Thinking in Java. I thank you and I’m sure any programmers who will have to maintain my code are also grateful to you.” - Yvonne Watkins, Java artisan, Discover Technologies, Inc. “Other books cover the what of Java (describing the syntax and the libraries) or the how of Java (practical programming examples). Thinking in Java is the only book I know that explains the why of Java: Why it was designed the way it was, why it works the way it does, why it sometimes doesn’t work, why it’s better than C++, why it’s not. Although it also does a good job of teaching the what and how of the language, Thinking in Java is definitely the thinking person’s choice in a Java book.” —Robert S. Stephenson Awards for Thinking in Java - 2003 Software Development Magazine Jolt Award for Best Book - 2003 Java Developer’s Journal Reader’s Choice Award for Best Book 2001 JavaWorld Editor’s Choice Award for Best Book 2000 JavaWorld Reader’s Choice Award for Best Book 1999 Software Development Magazine Productivity Award 1998 Java Developer’s Journal Editor’s Choice Award for Best Book Download seven free sample chapters from Thinking in Java, Fourth Edition. Visit http://mindview.net/Books/TIJ4. This book "has extraordinary clarity, careful organisation, and small, direct programming examples. From the fundamentals of Java syntax to its most advanced features (in-depth object-orientated concepts, multi-threading, automated project building, unit testing, and de-bugging), this book is designed to teach, one simple step at a time."--Back cover This text doesn't just show readers what to do, it also explains why they are doing it. The author introduces all the basics of objects as Java uses them, before providing step-by-step instructions to the fundamentals of Java programming. An overview of the programming language's fundamentals covers syntax, initialization, implementation, classes, error handling, objects, applets, multiple threads, projects, and network programming