View Review Details
| Book: | Wicked Cool Java | |
| Subject: | Intelligent! | |
| Date: | 2005-12-30 12:32:13 | |
| From: | Anonymous Reader | |
|
Rating:
 
This book is brilliant! And now you want to know why I think it is brilliant. This book is unusual to start with. It aims at experienced Java developers, although the first chapter is devoted to the new language constructs in Java 1.5. But here comes the brilliance in: the author makes you fully understand rather abstract issues like generics and assertions in a single chapter. All other chapters are devoted to a single issue each, which makes it possible to browse the book in any sequence you like. The author introduces a new paradigma, construct or field on a high level, then demonstrates it's applicability in concise but very comprehensible code fragments, and concludes each topic with suggestions for further study, appication in projects. In each topi a Java library plays a central role. In addition to this the author uses some funny terminology although humor is always personal, but I liked it. So for who is this book? in the first place it is for all disciples of the Open Source Movement, since it very succinctly demonstrates the sheer power of the thousands of libraries which are available for Java, thus proving the adagio write once, run anywhere. In the second place this book is for all intermediate and experienced Java programmers who want to learn more about the world outside the standard Java library (which is incidentally rarely ever touched by other textbooks). For example the writer makes a case for all software which is still maintained in FORTRAN supposedly for the lack of numerical libraries outside FORTRAN. The writers makes a good attempt in proving this false, by demonstrating for example BigNum, Bit manipulation and various other libraries like Colt which are available for Java suited for scientific programming. And last but not least this book if for all project managers arount who still need to be convinced that Java is a very mature language now, with widespread usage and applicability in various area's. The book also comes with a very complete website with links to all area's discussed (although not completely filled as I write this in Dec/05). But I only gave this 1 star less than 5 since the book lacks a structure, apart from a collection of disparate chapters. But I see this only as a minor shortcoming in an otherwise very intelligently written book, which I recommend to all intelligent programmers! |
||
