THE JAVA LIBRARY OF
CHARLES R. LYTTLE
BOOK REVIEWS
BEGINNING LEVEL -- no prior programming experience
- "JAVA Gently", Judy Bishop, Addison-Wesley, Harlow, England, 1997, 391pp
A very good first book on programming. Suitable for advanced placement in secondary school, lower division university, or self study. Introduces Java and Object Oriented Programming. Updated 2nd edition fixed many problems with the first and adds more pages.
- "JAVA in a Nutshell, 2nd Ed", David Flanagan, O'Reilly, Cambridge, 1997, 610pp
The basic reference from O'Reilly. The second edition covers JAVA 1.1. You won't be able to teach yourself programming from this book, but it is a basic reference.
- "JAVA Examples in a Nutshell", David Flanagan, O'Reilly, Cambridge, 1997, 397pp
Companion to "JAVA in a Nutshell". Expands upon the examples from the first book and takes a more tutorial path.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL -- Some prior programming experience required
- "Core Java, 2nd Ed", Gary Cornell & Cay S. Horstmann, Sunsoft Press, 1997, 766pp.
- "Core Java, 1.1, Vol 1 - Fundamentals", Gary Cornell & Cay S. Horstmann, sunsoft Press, 1997, 630pp.
Both have CD roms with a JDK for several platforms. If you are starting out on a budget, try the older version. It is available at the local Microcenter store for $4.00. You don't get the latest and greatest Java, but you get enough to do serious work. There will probably be a newer edition next month anyway :^)
- "Java Network Programming", Merlin and Conrad Hughes et al., Manning Publications, Greenwich, 1997, 517pp
Assumes some knowledge of Java and little knowledge of networking. Does a very good job of explaining networking concepts using Java code. Comes with a CDROM full of code.
ADVANCED LEVEL -- Prior programming experience plus some Java required.
- "JAVA Virtual Machine", Jon Meyer and Troy Downing, O'Reilly, Cambridge, 1997, 426pp
Introduces the Java Virtual Machine. Comes with a diskett containing the Jasmin Java Assembler. Assembly Language programming experience helpful.
- "Modern Compiler Implementation in Java", Andrew w. Appel, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1997, 398pp
More basic than the AHO books, but covers all the necessary theory and practice of writing a compiler. Code available for download.
If you would like to comment or share a review of an interesting book e-mail it to
lyttlec@flash.net
SOME USEFUL SOFTWARE:
UPDATED jDump.java rev2 - Classic hex dump for files. Now in peer review. Please try on as many platforms as possible and send comments to my email.
jDump2 - Like jDump but with a GUI. Source and class files zipped rather than jared. Please try on as many platforms as possible and send comments to my email.
sdiff.zip - Updated version of a Java diff utility winzipped. This version illustrates the application and functioning of the differencing engine. Writing the user interface requires a Java version of getopt.c. Usage for this version is : java simplediff file1 file2 [>file3] where file1 and file2 are the files to compare and file3 is an optional outputfile. Please try on as many platforms as possible and send comments to my email.
USEFUL JAVA LINKS :
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