Java: The Complete Reference, Ninth Edition

Some reviewers have said this book is too big to read through. I'll put that to the test. This book is BIG but written very nicely. It is a reference book, yes, but can be read through comfortably. It is clear and succinct without embellishment. There are plenty of examples throughout each section to apply the outlined knowledge. I especially like how some sections include the *why* of the way things are. It helps with understanding. I am an experienced programmer coming from many other object-oriented languages and wanted a way to learn Java without the fluff. This book is perfect in that respect. It is in no way a novice guide to programming. If you are not familiar--at least conceptually--and experienced with OOP/OOD (among other things), come back later for this massive text. Otherwise, it's worth the splurge at ~$45 for nearly 1300 pages. It is well-organized and written with great clarity.TOC (At a Glance):__ Part I The Java Language __1. The History and Evolution of Java 32. An Overview of Java 173. Data Types, Variables, and Arrays 354. Operators 615. Control Statements 816. Introducing Classes 1097. A Closer Look at Methods and Classes 1298. Inheritance 1619. Packages and Interfaces 18710. Exception Handling 21311. Multithreaded Programming 23312. Enumerations, Autoboxing, and Annotations (Metadata) 26313. I/O, Applets, and Other Topics 30114. Generics 33715. Lambda Expressions 381__ Part II The Java Library __16. String Handling 41317. Exploring java.lang 44118. java.util Part 1: The Collections Framework 49719. java.util Part 2: More Utility Classes 57920. Input/Output: Exploring java.io 64121. Exploring NIO 68922. Networking 72723. The Applet Class 74724. Event Handling 76925. Introducing the AWT: Working withWindows, Graphics, and Text 79726. Using AWT Controls, Layout Managers, and Menus 83327. Images 88528. The Concurrency Utilities 91529. The Stream API 96530. Regular Expressions and Other Packages 991

I'll preface that I've received my BA in Computer Science almost 10 years ago and I purchased this book as a review of the basics that I had not used in a long long time. So far in the first few chapters I've recovered that long lost knowledge and really solidified some foundation that I lost over the years. I thoroughly approve of this text book as a review to the advanced programmer and as an entry into the language. I do highly recommend having some prior knowledge to any kind of programming, minimal if any.The approach to Java and the description and examples really are wonderful with this book. The author does a superb job of communicating the intricacies and advanced features of Java and its evolution over the last 2+ decades.

I have been developing with Java for quite a few years. I bought the kindle edition of this book in order to get handle on some of the 7 and 8's new features. I have only read part one of this book so far, however I have found it mostly very succinct and easy to understand. I think they could have put a little more effort as far formatting. The code samples are all in mono spaced fonts with no markups or special formatting whatsoever. Another really strange thing about this book is that seems to cover just about all of the important portions of Java API, be it servlet, Java applets, Java Bean, Swing or Java FX, with the glaring exception of JPA. In fact a kindle search for 'jdbc' in the book yielded "no results". Really quite puzzling since most of the Java code I write involve databases, and plus this book is actually from the oracle press.

Very good. I wrote to Herb and recommended me to read 1st Beginners Guide, then The complete Reference. Very good. The only complain I have is: 40% of book is the same as Beginners Guide, it is ok if you don't remember what you read on 1st books, but I had prefered not repeat contents. As title says, it is a Reference because you lear some advaced topics and some missings data type like DATE, CALENDAR, LAMBDA review, etc. You read fast, you can skip some pages if before you read fundamentals on Beginners guide.I would like the price of e-book were cheaper than papeback, but there is only $1 of savings, I disagre with Amazon on this bad strategy to sell books in same price, because e-book must be cheap due to no paper, no ink, no physical delivery are need. Some years ago all was ok, now I prefer to buy a paperback version among all books from Amazon. You pay the Kindle and the ebook as a paperback price...no savings.

This book is a clearly written reference manual. It is thorough, easy to read, and an excellent text to for learning Java 8 programming. Those familiar with the layout and appearance of the old Ivor Horton Beginning Java 2 will enjoy this book. I would like to have seen more examples that relate abstract classes and interfaces to real life object oriented design, but overall, this is an informative and useful text. I am not an expert, but having knowledge of the Java class structure will help with understanding the contents of this book. It covers all aspects of the new Java SE8 and will prepare the reader for further client/server development.

This is a very good Java reference book. It augments Java: A beginner's Guide Sixth Edition by the same author (Herbert Schildt), providing in-depth development of many subjects and in the second part of the book provides a Java library reference. I was unsure whether to purchase Java: The Complete Reference as a paper or e book. I went with paper, and I'm glad I did so. Although a CS graduate, I'm new to Java and the harder aspects of the language require more quality reading than an e-book provides me. I suspect I will also purchase an e-book version when I'm more in the camp of "I know the language well but I need help with the syntax details occasionally - often likely."

Esse é um livro recomendado para aqueles que já possuem familiaridade com alguma linguagem de programação e que têm bom entendimento de algoritmos. É uma obra abrangente e recomendada para profissionais de TI que desejam iniciar o aprendizado da linguagem Java ou que desejam conhecer a linguagem de modo mais amplo.

It is an awsome book to understand the Core as well as Advanced concepts fully. Every concept has been explained with precision and a reader friendly way therefore it makes it very easy for the reader to understand Java. It will take you from absolutely no knowledge of Java to a level at which you can create High-end Java Applications on your own(though you also need to have some knowledge of other languages also based on your Application). The delivery from Amazon was awsome and as usual the packaging was very good.

E' semplicemente un capolavoro. Esiste la versione pdf gratuita su internet, ma preferisco la versione cartacea per poterlo consultare quando e dove voglio con facilità. Manca una parte di esercizi... per il resto credo che sia ottimo sia per chi inizia sia per chi è già esperto. Lo consiglio vivamente

I really like this book as reference since it provides wide range of examples. It focuses from a-z including the major parts of Java API.Must buy for anyone who needs to learn more.

Este libro está indicado para programadores de otros lenguajes o antiguos programadores que necesiten ponerse al día en Java. No es un libro de iniciación, aunque los temas avanzados están muy bien explicados. Tiene tres partes: el lenguaje, las bibliotecas importantes y los GUI. La organización es muy buena, las explicaciones excelentes y está redactado en un inglés muy fácil. Hay lógica y orden por todas partes y eso se agradece mucho en un manual de referencia.Ya me gustaría encontrar un libro como éste para otros lenguajes y sistemas. Es muy largo, pero Java es muy grande. No tiene carácter enciclopédico. Tampoco tiene las pretensiones de otros libros que evangelizan mucho, como por ejemplo Thinking in Java. Totalmente recomendable si se necesita saber lo que hay que saber sobre el lenguaje y no se tiene mucho tiempo.