I'm starting in the JavaFX world and this book is helping me on this. I'm using some JavaFX tools and the Netbeans JavaFX plugin.
James L. Weaver is always in the jfx discussion lists and is very accessible. Thanks. :)

This book is poorly typeset. The block structure of the code is almost impossible to discern because the indentation varies. APress, there's a reason that code is usually typeset with constant spacing courier fonts. It's much easier to read.

This book has no index rendering it absolutely useless as a reference.


I had intended to use JavaFX Script to create simple guis for displaying data. Perhaps, JavaFX Script is capable of doing this, but if it is, you certainly couldn't prove it from this book.

Maybe I'm just an old entrenched Java programmer, but quite frankly, after reading this book, I just don't get why somebody would want to use JavaFX. First off, you are forced to use Netbeans if you want to program in JavaFX. I don't use Netbeans and I'm not interested in doing so. I don't know many Java programmers who are interested in doing so either. Second, the JavaFX language itself doesn't parallel well with the Java language. Many simple constructs are completely different from what is done in Java. In short, I'm having to learn yet another language. Finally, it just doesn't deliver what I'm looking for - a simpler faster way of writing reliable multimedia applications. Sure you can put up some nice 2D GUIs and displays, but Sun had been promising a Java answer to Flash, or at least the beginnings of one. The problems with pure Java solutions to multimedia - runtime startup time, resource usage, and a lack of complete multimedia solutions including audio, animation, etc. is a problem that has existed since the early days of Java Media Framework and its eventual orphaning by Sun. JavaFX doesn't solve any of these problems or even put a real dent in it.

However, to the author's credit, I learned all of this by reading his book. He doesn't editorialize on the language, but his examples make clear the shortcomings of this new language and therefore prevent you from wasting anymore time than necessary on it. I commend him on that.

JavaFX is a great tool to leverage the advantages of all the vast Java class libraries and Swing in a declarative but statically typed style. I had come to this conclusion when I first noticed JavaFX through stumbling across a link on Sun's Java web-site and portal.

The one thing that JavaFX lacked was a basic, get up to speed tutorial or book which didn't assume you were a programming dunce, didn't assume that you were somehow clueless about how Swing or SWT (or any modern) user interface library worked.

This book filled the gap for me.

I am a reasonably adept Swing GUI developer, can understand SWT and write it (but can't see any particular advantage to SWT unless you're using a product that already uses it or it's an Eclipse based product) and understand GTK+. Hence, I don't need a lecture on how GUIs work, what an event model is, what a widget is; nor do I need a how to program, what does Java syntax look like.

This book gives you sufficient information to: determine if JavaFX may fit into your GUI needs, how to use JavaFX and Java classes together and how to put together a small, JavaFX application. Others have stated the application isn't real-world: I challenge them - I wrote a "real world" word place program for a client...games aren't "real world" but they contain very real concepts both in their play and in their creation.

The book doesn't: teach you how to program Java or any other programming language; it's a fairly tutorial style book. JavaFX is the type of tool where you can bring up a small(ish) example and fiddle with bits to work out what changes. It doesn't teach you a heap about Swing but gives pointers to Swing documentation where appropriate. Those not used to programming or Swing may find it difficult to translate Swing documentation into what JavaFX does. It will show you how to make classes, but not why you'd make them and it presupposes you know a little about programming.

That said, I do know these things and it was certainly worth my money.

I think this book would suit anyone who wanted to peek at JavaFX to see what a basic, but functional example does. It would also suit someone who knew Java, who wanted to add JavaFX to their toolset. It would be less suitable for someone who didn't know what a "for" or "while" loop does and it doesn't go into great detail about "classes", "class hierarchies" and such.

It's a good book and it augments and isn't, by any means, a regurgitation of online documentation.

If you are looking to have fun with programming, JavaFX is a good place to start. And if you want to learn JavaFX Script, this book can help. The book starts by giving you an overview of JavaFX and its future. Then we get a classic Hello World example which is used to explain declarative programming and how to split up source files and begin binding to a model. Then we get to do some code by example. The main example chosen was a word search program. This gives us a chance to exercise a lot of the features of JavaFX. There is even a section on 2d animation and translation. Throughout the book there are practice problems and challenges to help you exercise your programming muscles. The book also makes a great reference with detailed tables for most of the language features. Overall this is a great introduction to this exciting language. There is a slight learning curve when you get to the Hello World example. I would take it slow after that and make sure you have the foundations of declarative language down. It's just a thought hurdle you have to make, but well worth it in the end.

I was lucky enough to win a free, as in beer, copy of the book in PDF format from the author Jim Weaver.

After reading it from front to back my overall opinion is it's a great resource to get started. It covers everything you need to get up and running from downloading, installing and setting up your Java FX (JFX) Script deveopment environment. The book also discusses the basics that any programmer needs to know to get rolling. The book also provides examples of creating custom widgets, which is certainly helpful.

I give the book 5 out of 5 stars as a starting reference point. Hopefully someone, *hint hint* (Jim), adds to the JFX book collection with a more advanced coverage of the language and perhaps use real world examples.

This book definitely covers the basics of the JavaFX language. The first two chapters deal primarily with background information and the basic syntax of the language (which interestingly feels like a lot like JavaScript with some Java tendencies) while chapters three and five cover basic UI constructs and event handling. Chapter four (the longest chapter) covers some of the more advanced constructs provided by the language.

Scattered throughout the last three chapters are tables summarizing the information presented plus related contructs that are very similar and don't require much extra detail to understand and use. There are many examples demonstrating how the language parts work, and if you do all of the many exercises (which I have to admit I did not), you should be well on your way to writing basic JavaFX applications easily and quickly.

The book does move along a little on the slow side for my tastes, but what it lacks in speed, it makes up in thoroughness. Where something can be done multiple ways, each of those ways is illustrated by one or more examples. The tables mentioned before cover the operators and standard classes (including their attributes) of the language in great detail--so much that a skilled programmer could probably read chapter 2, flip to the tables in the later chapters, and begin working on a rich-client application using the tables as sort of an API.

Overall, this book provides a great primer and reference on what seems to be a language with a lot of potential.

Read the book last night: It was much better than I expected - normally texts that appear less than 6 months after the product announcement are rushed and full of errors. I found this one to be good quality, concise, and would make me consider using JavaFX (I was buying the book to evaluate the language for a future project).

My main disappointment is not to do with the book itself, but the reason I bought the book; I was looking for a solution to package up a Java App, then deploy it over the web (like a modern version of a Java Applet, but using Java Web Start to overcome it's drawbacks). For this , it would have been nice to have a section on Deployment (as part of an Enterprise app).

However, this was clearly stated to be a JavaFX book so this is a 'nice to have request' rather than a complaint!