I used this text for my Introduction to Java class at Yakima Valley Community College. Farrell gave good coverage to all the important topics and assumed little or no programming background. Students appreciated the in-chapter examples and scenarios. There is no such thing as a perfect text book, but I've used this one for five years because it's the best I have found. The only opportunity for improvement I can provide is that I wish she would include screen captures of the complete program code instead of point and click directions in the "You Do It" sections.

I used this book for a Java development class. I felt that it was a good book and overall I have little ill to say about it. The examples are well written and do a good job of reinforcing what you read in the chapter. You read a little then do an example, then read some more, then add to the example and so on. You don't need any Programming experience to use this book just a decent understanding of programming logic.
The only criticism I could offer is that the editor should have used arrows when content is being continued on a new line for reasons of page space so that readers will know and understand (beginners can have trouble with this). It's a good book for learning the whole language from the ground up and for this reason it's worth the money. It's not an overnight crash course (if that is what you are looking for).

First off... I am not a natural programmer. 70% of the class I am in are. Let it be known that I am not dumb either. I graduated with my first college degree in Biotechnology Magna Cum Laude. That's a 3.78 gpa for me, and pretty good for those who don't know the term. At least half of the students in your class already know how and why these programs work and function. That is where this book totally falls apart. I approach everything as a scientist would. I have to know the how, but more importantly the "WHY" and the thought process behind each new idea. Why do we set up the program this way? What is the reason for jumping around back and forth in every chapter??? She leads us through the exercises by the nose, but never shows the whole code or comments about the program as a whole.
She never goes through the following: This section of code will do this, we need a section to do that and a section to do this other thing. This feeds off that... etc.. What it totally misses is that logic involved with programming. When a problem is put forth, you stop and think about it. You lay out what this program needs to do. List all the variables you'll need, etc. Get the sections of programming ideas down, then start turning them into code.

This book ignores this thought process completely. I'm no slouch either. The exercises tell you to place your cursor here in the method of the class of the main... (if you can find it... there's no actual code listed in its entirety so good luck)
press enter... okay, now type this... Why??? Who knows, she never tells you why you want to place this little piece of code in this other part of the program... Then, you go to a totally different part of the program and type this... little snippet of codeWhy??? Who knows. You know what the individual line of code will do, but not WHY you put it in this particular part of the program. What makes it worse is half the time you're looking at the sections of code she had you make and you think to yourself, 'Self, What was she thinking, I wouldn't make it like that, who places code in that order?' What's the thought process behind these chunks of code?

If real programmers make their programs the way she takes you through them I gaurantee they'd all kill themselves by the age of 30.

At times you'll bounce around so much, you will go bonkers, I'm telling you.

I am learning more from the Java for Dummies books than I did in a class with an actual professor using this horrible book. Bring a different book to class, use the different book. If the programs your instructor wants you to write don't have to be done using this book, then, don't get it. Or at least get it but get another book and read them both. Trust me, it sounds like more work, but it's acually a lot less work as you won't waste hundreds of hours interpreting this confusing book.

I wonder if she made it confusing to maintain her own Job Security...

Thanks,

Even if this were a first edition, which is not, there are too many egregous errors that should have been caught before this book went to the printer. If this is the only book being used by a student, if the examples don't work, the student might not realize that it the book's fault, not theirs. Don't waste your money on this one.

This book is good for people who are beginners to programming with its simple style, but it should not be used for serious study of Java programming. This book does not cover Java in detail enough for you to use it for serious study. Beginners should use this text as a precursor to Java - How to Program and professionals should use this as a reference book. This book is more like a summary of the key features of Java. The price should be reduced to more like $19.99US.

In response to the reviewer that stated that anyone that wrote a bad review of this book probably failed their computer course. I take exception to that. I took a course using this book and I got an A in the course. I went to the instructor and informed him that the book was very confusing. I went to the department chair and informed him of the same thing. The instructor agreed with me that the book is confusing. The department chair became upset with me and told me if I don't like it to go to another school.

What ultimately allowed me to obtain an A in the class was going to the instructor and letting him know everything that I did not understand. After about 5 weeks in the class it started making sense.

Since I've taken that class I've bought other books on Java and they all make a lot more sense to me than this one ever did.

I think the way this book is put together is very poor. The author uses a snippet of code then trys to explain what is going on then goes on for a few pages then has you type in a bit more and then tries to explain what's going on. In the mean time you're pretty much lost.

Another book that I use, Sams Publishing Learn Java Programming in 21 days gives multiple examples in each chapter and then explains line per line what the code is doing. I don't think it's a great book either, but it does a better job of explaining what the code is doing.

This book is extremly confusing. Even now that I understand Java and can write code in Java, I look back at this book and it still confuses me.