I have gone through your book entitled "The essence of
object-oriented programming with java and UML" and I
must say that you wrote a very fine book.

To explain my point and let you know what is good
about it from my own perspective, I find it not quite
advanced in its treatment of the JAVA language but at
the same time it gives you a sense of knowing right
from the beginning the very essence of the language.
In addition, introducing in parallel the UML
methodology helps a lot to understand the software
"production" requirements.

I have gone through several books for the last 5
months. Each pretending to explain once and for all
JAVA or UML. But your book is the only one I found so
complete in its treatment of both OO, JAVA and UML
(even though it is only 290 pages long !).

Again, thanks for such a fine book and my best wishes
for all your future endeavors.

I have gone through your book entitled "The essence of
object-oriented programming with java and UML" and I
must say that you wrote a very fine book.

To explain my point and let you know what is good
about it from my own perspective, I find it not quite
advanced in its treatment of the JAVA language but at
the same time it gives you a sense of knowing right
from the beginning the very essence of the language.
In addition, introducing in parallel the UML
methodology helps a lot to understand the software
"production" requirements.

I have gone through several books for the last 5
months. Each pretending to explain once and for all
JAVA or UML. But your book is the only one I found so
complete in its treatment of both OO, JAVA and UML
(even though it is only 290 pages long !).

Again, thanks for such a fine book and my best wishes
for all your future endeavors.

The world of programming is changing, and in my opinion, the change is welcome. The Unified Modeling Language or UML used to be reserved for advanced programmers in large projects. However, the basics of the UML are easy to understand and provides an excellent way to represent classes and their interactions. Therefore, more authors of introductory programming texts are using the UML in their books. This is a welcome addition, and I am now puzzled when I see a book where it is not used. I do not understand why anyone would use the standard bubble tree diagram to describe inheritance when a UML diagram could be used.
The next question to settle then becomes how well the UML is used and integrated into the presentation of the principles of object-oriented programming. My response to that question is also an affirmative. Wampler uses the combination of UML and Java to explain the fundamentals of object-oriented programming in a way that anyone with programming experience can follow. He also does not commit the error of using too much code in the book. Code is used only when necessary and only enough to make the crucial point. If there is a flaw, it is that there is not enough code in the book. There are times when I thought that an extra example would have been beneficial. However, that is a debatable point and not a serious flaw.
If I were teaching an introductory course in object-oriented programming, this is the text I would use. The emphasis in such courses should be on the principles of object-oriented programming and not the features of a language. In my experience, students quickly learn the syntax of a language, but the organizational strategies used to make programs comes much more slowly. Wampler takes the right approach and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn object-oriented programming.

Learn the basics of MVC and UML in a movie catalog application. Clear representation of fundamentals of OOP.

Learn the basics of MVC and UML in a movie catalog application. Clear representation of fundamentals of OOP.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fairly swift read and a good introduction to object-oriented programming and methodologies. It could have been better, imo. I recommend it, in spite of the criticisms below :).

I wish the author had spent more time explaining how the example programs integrate with the MVC framework which he provided. Unfortunately he doesn't even provide that information with UML diagrams, much less discuss it in the text. It would also have been nice to have some discussion of how to extend the framework.

In chapter 6, it was a bit confusing when he used the class MovieModel to model not a movie but rather an application to catalog movies.

The included CD-ROM was missing the source code file for Listing 5.10, so I had to type in in by hand. Unfortunately the listing in the book has a couple of mistakes. The author's web site does not have the code available. Here's the corrected code:

I apologise for the lack of formatting. Space constraints.

/*
* WmvcChkMenuItemCtl - implements JCheckBoxMenuItem controller
* (c) 2001, Bruce E. Wampler
*/
import java.awt.*;import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;import javax.swing.event.*;
public class WmvcChkMenuItemCtl extends WmvcController {
private JMenu myMenu; private JCheckBoxMenuItem checkBoxItem;
// Constructor for JMenu item: JCheckBoxMenuItem
// public WmvcController( JMenu menu,
public WmvcChkMenuItemCtl(JMenu menu,String text,String icon,
char mnemonic,String accel,boolean checked,WmvcExecutor wExec )
{super((JComponent)new JCheckBoxMenuItem(), null, wExec); myMenu = menu;
//checkBoxMenuItem = (JCheckBoxMenuItem)myComponent;
checkBoxItem = (JCheckBoxMenuItem)myComponent;
if (text != null)checkBoxItem.setText(text);
if (mnemonic != ' ' && mnemonic != 0)checkBoxItem.setMnemonic(mnemonic);
if (accel != null){KeyStroke ks = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(accel);
checkBoxItem.setAccelerator(ks);}
if (icon != null){Icon theIcon = new ImageIcon(icon);
checkBoxItem.setIcon(theIcon);}
checkBoxItem.setState(checked); checkBoxItem.addActionListener(this);
checkBoxItem.addItemListener(this); myMenu.add(checkBoxItem);}
public boolean getState(){return checkBoxItem.getState();}
public void setState(boolean checked){checkBoxItem.setState(checked);}
public void setEnabled(boolean enable){checkBoxItem.setEnabled(enable);}
public JMenu getJMenu(){return myMenu;}
public JCheckBoxMenuItem getJCheckBoxMenuItem(){return checkBoxItem;}}

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fairly swift read and a good introduction to object-oriented programming and methodologies. It could have been better, imo. I recommend it, in spite of the criticisms below :).

I wish the author had spent more time explaining how the example programs integrate with the MVC framework which he provided. Unfortunately he doesn't even provide that information with UML diagrams, much less discuss it in the text. It would also have been nice to have some discussion of how to extend the framework.

In chapter 6, it was a bit confusing when he used the class MovieModel to model not a movie but rather an application to catalog movies.

The included CD-ROM was missing the source code file for Listing 5.10, so I had to type in in by hand. Unfortunately the listing in the book has a couple of mistakes. The author's web site does not have the code available. Here's the corrected code:

I apologise for the lack of formatting. Space constraints.

/*
* WmvcChkMenuItemCtl - implements JCheckBoxMenuItem controller
* (c) 2001, Bruce E. Wampler
*/
import java.awt.*;import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;import javax.swing.event.*;
public class WmvcChkMenuItemCtl extends WmvcController {
private JMenu myMenu; private JCheckBoxMenuItem checkBoxItem;
// Constructor for JMenu item: JCheckBoxMenuItem
// public WmvcController( JMenu menu,
public WmvcChkMenuItemCtl(JMenu menu,String text,String icon,
char mnemonic,String accel,boolean checked,WmvcExecutor wExec )
{super((JComponent)new JCheckBoxMenuItem(), null, wExec); myMenu = menu;
//checkBoxMenuItem = (JCheckBoxMenuItem)myComponent;
checkBoxItem = (JCheckBoxMenuItem)myComponent;
if (text != null)checkBoxItem.setText(text);
if (mnemonic != ' ' && mnemonic != 0)checkBoxItem.setMnemonic(mnemonic);
if (accel != null){KeyStroke ks = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(accel);
checkBoxItem.setAccelerator(ks);}
if (icon != null){Icon theIcon = new ImageIcon(icon);
checkBoxItem.setIcon(theIcon);}
checkBoxItem.setState(checked); checkBoxItem.addActionListener(this);
checkBoxItem.addItemListener(this); myMenu.add(checkBoxItem);}
public boolean getState(){return checkBoxItem.getState();}
public void setState(boolean checked){checkBoxItem.setState(checked);}
public void setEnabled(boolean enable){checkBoxItem.setEnabled(enable);}
public JMenu getJMenu(){return myMenu;}
public JCheckBoxMenuItem getJCheckBoxMenuItem(){return checkBoxItem;}}

This is a very basic and introductory book into some of the principles of object oriented programming with a nod to the Java language.

The intended audience is for semi-experienced Java programmers or programmers experienced in other languages who want an introduction to object oriented programming. If you are familiar with Java you can safely skip chapter 3. In trying to cater to other languages the book can be misleading in certain aspects of Java. If you are coming from another language, you can just skim that chapter to pick up the basics but they are not fundamental to the rest of the book.

Over all the book is a quick, simple, intro to some of the principles of OO analysis and design. At only 266 pages of actual text, it does not have the space needed to go into depth or to even give many examples. The author does do a good job of explaining the basics of UML and the notations used in different UML diagrams.

As an introductory text this book is sufficient, but if you are looking to learn more in depth you will need another book with more examples and a more detailed discussion of the various topics.

If all you are looking for is the basics or a good start into the subject then this would be a good book to start with. It will give you a solid foundation on which to build your knowledge of OO analysis and design.