There is a lot to like about this book." It provides excruciatingly detailed coverage of Java, written in a clear, intelligent way. The author does an effective job of tempering the extensively technical content with a friendly writing style that is never flip or insulting to the reader. I also appreciate the abundance of examples, illustrations, and diagrams, which support the text well and are easy to read. Pertinent code samples are well documented, which enhances readability. Diagrams are clear and and are supported with well-written callouts.

Although the book's title is "Java : A Framework for Program Design and Data Structures".it could be daunting to readers with little or no programming background, especially as they progress beyond the first two chapters. Chapter 1 provides an excellent introduction to Java and object-oriented programming concepts. The first part of Chapter 2 provides a good introduction to variables and data types. About the middle of Chapter 2, however, when the author begins discussing additional mathematical concepts, the reader is led into deeper waters and at this point, "absolute" beginners may start to feel overwhelmed. This doesn't mean that they should abandon the book, but they may need to take additional time to absorb the concepts.

Each chapter concludes with a summary of its content and several practice exercises. Although such practice is certainly valuable, I would have liked to see an additional appendix with "answers" to the exercises so that readers could check their work and benefit from the author's expertise. Without such author feedback, the exercises are less effective as learning tools.

Overall, I see the book as a potentially valuable addition to the bookshelf of any programmer new to Java especially to data strutures. I recommend it with some caution to "absolute" beginners -- although with patience, determination, and a commitment to learn, they, too, may find the book very beneficial

This book attempts to address two needs and fails at both. First, as an introduction to basic computer science, the author's ambiguous style of writing seems to confuse most students. A poor sense of English grammar permeates the book. Secondly, as an introduction to Java, the book glosses over important details such as how to handle Strings properly. Don't bother... it is not worth your time.

This book is a good intro for those who want to start learning computer programming in general and Java specifically. The authors ease you through basic programming concepts, including control statements, user defined methods, and loops. Eventually the get into heavier subjects like object-oriented programming, inheritance, and abstract data types.

The authors have even created their own library called BreezyGUI, which helps make web/GUI programming easier. While this is o.k., I would have prefered that they focused more on Java's AWT instead.

Although I thought this book was good as an intro to programming, if you're an experienced C or C++ programmer, this book probably won't work for you. I have a year's C++ experience, and the only reason I used it was to do an independent study comparing C++ and Java as a first programming language. I probably would have selected a more advanced text if not for the nature of my independent study.

That being said, I still think the book does a good job of presenting programming/Java concepts, and I do like the fact that the authors decided to go with a GUI approach instead of a CLI (Command Line Interface) approach. This will help keep the interest of those learning their first language, because they can make "cool" looking apps quickly.

This book doesnt baby you, its simple and can be easy if you apply yourself and it comes with its own builder software (make sure the book you get has the disk or you are screwed!! you need it to do the work).. you will not be disappointed!

Compared to other Java books I have used, I find this one rather poor in comparison. The program examples are not helpful at all unless you are trying to create an exact copy of their program. The diagrams are not helpful, there is a lack of color. Also, the binding on this book is not secure. I purchased this book new and just about everyone in my class complains that theirs is falling apart as well. For the price, this book is not worth it.

I'm teaching from this book for the second time this semester, and
I'm mostly happy with it. I have a few comments, though, that
don't really come out in the other descriptions and review here:

1) The book has a very good set of exercises, though some have
typographical errors.

2) The number of typos is high for an intro text (not surprising
for Thomson/ITP, though), so make sure students are aware of the
on-line errata.

3) The authors make a few unfortunate, incorrect remarks which,
fortunately, aren't critical to learning Java. A particularly
egregious example is their claim that "a thread is a process."

4) The index is very poor, making me disagree with the reviewer
who said the book is a good reference. For example, buttons are
introduced on p. 17 and used extensively throughout, but the only
mention in the index is of p. 368. In general, classes and
methods are given very short shrift in the text.

5) The text uses its own GUI API, which is ok, but not very well
documented. The on-line documentation is vague on a lot of
points, which is unfortunate since the index is so bad.

There are probably better texts for complete beginners, though
this isn't really bad. The layout and typography remind me of a
high school text, which is really not a problem. Anyone with
prior programming experience, though, will want to go elsewhere,
e.g., Arnold, Gosling, and Holmes.

This book provides the new-novice Java programmer with some practical examples for using Java for the study of Computer Science. Unlike many of the Java books out there this one does not skimp on the instruction of Computer Science principals in parrellel with the instruction of the Java language. As a plus it has some pretty useful breakdowns of classes that will be useful to a new Java programmer(such as String, Math, etc.) If those reasons were not enough, it also makes an excellent reference because of the way the book is written. The logical progression between chapters allows you to remeber almost without looking at the index exactly where that one snipit of code to do something was. I think that this is a must for any programmer who is teaching themself to program, because one cannot learn just to program without the theory behind how it should be done.