Author: Y. Daniel Liang
Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2008
Pages: 1328
ISBN: 978-0136059660
Aimed at: Students on academic computer science courses
Rating: 4
Pros: Comprehensive treatment attractively produced
Cons: Does not cover modern IDEs or working with Windows.
Reviewed by: Mike James

This is a huge book and given that it has already reached its 7th edition it’s a successful book. As an academic book it has web-based resources for students (source code, answers to review questions and solutions to even numbered programming problems) and password protected ones for teachers (interactive and animated slides, full programming exercises. UML diagram solutions, quiz generator, LiveLab, and sample exams).

It starts simply enough but you aren’t going to get very far unless you have already managed to make the transition to “programmer”. The order of introduction of topics isn’t particularly suitable for the complete beginner. Once we get beyond the basics of Java we quickly move on to how to implement sorting algorithms and other topics of academic importance - which of course make it an ideal, if somewhat heavy,  text book for a Java course.

It doesn’t cover using Java under Windows and it completely ignores the use of any modern IDEs such as Eclipse or JBuilder – everything is done using the standard command prompt compiler and this edition covers only standard classes.

It is extremely well produced and if you want an academic and very complete book on Java this is your best choice. If you are a complete beginner, want to use Java for fun or for producing specifically Windows oriented programs, then look elsewhere.