Core Java (9th Edition) , Volume I and Volume II Book Reviews

This review covers both Core Java Volume I--Fundamentals (9th Edition) and Core Java, Volume II--Advanced Features (9th Edition). Both books are part of the Prentice Hall Core Series. I actually got Volume II first and liked it so much I ordered Volume I. I felt like I was missing the first half of the story. Especially when I downloaded the code and both volumes were included. These two books take you on quite a journey. The first volume starts off with a great overview and history of Java. It then goes into how to download, install, and configure both the JDK and Eclipse. The authors uses Eclipse throughout both volumes. The rest of Volume I is dedicate to covering the fundamental concepts of the Java language and the basics of user-interface programming. I have listed the chapters in Volume I below. Volume I Chapter 1. An Introduction to Java Chapter 2. The Java Programming Environment Chapter 3. Fundamental Programming Structures in Java Chapter 4. Objects and Classes Chapter 5. Inheritance Chapter 6. Interfaces and Inner Classes Chapter 7. Graphics Programming Chapter 8. Event Handling Chapter 9. User Interface Components with Swing Chapter 10. Deploying Applications and Applets Chapter 11. Exceptions, Assertions, Logging, and Debugging Chapter 12. Generic Programming Chapter 13. Collections Chapter 14. Multithreading Appendix A. Java Keywords As you can see the first volume covers a ton of topics. They are all covered in depth and without filler. It is amazing that in these two huge books the authors' no nonsense approach uses no blather to fill up pages with unneeded war stories and his personal views on how the language could be better. I mention that because I recently tossed a book on the pile of books I regret buying that was all filler. Volume II picks up where Volume I left off and continues into enterprise features and advanced user-interface programming. The topics are covered in great detail, but the authors' writing styles make the topics easy to understand, and a pleasure to read. Volume II Chapter 1. Streams and Files Chapter 2. XML Chapter 3. Networking Chapter 4. Database Programming Chapter 5. Internationalization Chapter 6. Advanced Swing Chapter 7. Advanced AWT Chapter 8. JavaBeans Components Chapter 9. Security Chapter 10. Scripting, Compiling, and Annotation Processing Chapter 11. Distributed Objects Chapter 12. Native Methods The authors also have a support site that has a List of Frequently Asked Questions, a bug list (Errata), and the downloadable code. The downloadable code is organized by volume and chapter. Each chapter has its own folder and each example in the chapter also has its own folder. The best part about it is it just runs. Lately that hasn't been the case with a few book I have purchased. The code along with the in-depth and clear explanations of the topics at hand provide the ultimate Java learning tools. There are a total of 2092 pages of pure Java learning material. The authors' writing styles make these a good cover to cover read for the beginner that needs to cover everything, but they very well organized and make great references. I highly recommend these books to beginners as well as advanced developers. When I am coding Java, these two books will definitely be by my side.

Core Java Volume I--Fundamentals (9th Edition) Core Java, Volume II--Advanced Features (9th Edition)