java

If you are buying a book you need to ensure you choose the appropriate one. This is not a Java reference book. This is not a learn java in 24 hours or 21 days type [thing].

If you are an experienced programmer, and want to learn Java, or have hacked around with Java and want to get a really good introduction to lots of the core aspects of java then this book is really good.

The book teaches not just the syntax of Java instructions, it does more. It introduces the reader to OO style programming from a Java perspective. It encourages the reader to understand UML and the common notation used by OO designers. It also encourages readers to take advantage of experienced people by referring to Patterns.

The bad. It is not a reference book. Don't buy this if you want to look up a snippet of code around a specific instruction or Java concept. There are better books for reference use.

Overall this is an excellent book for learning to program with Java and doing so with an OO perspective and using common OO design notation.

All the exercises run without bugs, and are meaningful for what they are trying to demonstrate.

Deitel & Deitel books are impressive. They are impressive in size and scope (not to mention weight). How can one describe a book that starts with "What is a computer?" and ends with a discussion of the Java Media Framework? The book is as complete as you would want in an introduction to Java. It is more than 1500 pages plus bonus chapters on the included CD. The book covers virtually everything in J2SE, gives a good primer on object oriented programming, and covers design patterns and UML. There's enough information in this book for two semesters of Java. Perhaps this is the problem with this book. All this scope, all this information is just too overwhelming. Trying to use this book to self-teach Java would probably be too much. This is the kind of book that needs a steady guiding hand to point out the important information. The book even starts out hard, throwing the reader right into Swing which is used throughout the book. But this book is good. Code examples are everywhere and they are very well explained. The publisher even uses multi-color syntax highlighting to make it easier to read the code. Virtually every line of code is explained. It is almost impossible to turn a page and not find either code samples or a diagram. If you are planning on teaching a Java course and you are looking for a textbook this is one book that would make a good choice.

This book is simply amazing. I had an incredibly difficult time with the "other" book I used to attempt to learn Java for class. This book absolutely walks all over it. It teaches in a style that I easily grasp. The authors went to great lengths to specify the "why" of each new line of code, and give very detailed explanations of the methodology of programming, along with "good practices" for programming. I recommend this to ANYONE with a desire to learn their first programming language, as well as those who are looking to learn more.