Java in a Nutshell, Deluxe Edition is a Java programmer's dream come true in one small package. The heart of this Deluxe Edition is the Java Reference Library on CD-ROM, which brings together five volumes for Java developers and programmers, linking related info across books. It includes:Exploring Java, 2nd Edition, Java Language Reference, 2nd Edition,Java Fundamental Classes Reference, Java AWT Reference, and Java in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition, included both on the CD-ROM and in a companion desktop edition. Java in a Nutshell, Deluxe Edition is an indispensable resource for anyone doing serious programming with Java 1.1.The Java Reference Library alone is also available by subscription on the World Wide Web. Please see http://online-books.oreilly.com/books/javaref/ for details.The electronic text on the Web and on the CD is fully searchable and includes a complete index to all five volumes. It also includes the sample code found in the printed volumes.Exploring Java, 2nd Edition introduces the basics of Java 1.1 and offers a clear, systematic overview of the language. It covers the essentials of hot topics like Beans and RMI, as well as writing applets and other applications, such as networking programs, content and protocol handlers, and security managers.The Java Language Reference, 2nd Edition is a complete reference that describes all aspects of the Java language, including syntax, object-oriented programming, exception handling, multithreaded programming, and differences between Java and C/C++. The second edition covers the new language features that have been added in Java 1.1, such as inner classes, class literals, and instance initializers.The Java Fundamental Classes Reference provides complete reference documentation on the core Java 1.1 classes that comprise the java.lang, java.io, java.net, java.util,java.text, java.math, java.lang.reflect, andjava.util.zip packages. These classes provide general-purpose functionality that is fundamental to every Java application.The Java AWT Reference provides complete reference documentation on the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), a large collection of classes for building graphical user interfaces in Java.Java in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition, the bestselling book on Java and the one most often recommended on the Internet, is a complete quick-reference guide to Java, containing descriptions of all of the classes in the Java 1.1 core API, with a definitive listing of all methods and variables, with the exception of the still-evolving Enterprise APIs. These APIs will be covered in a future volume.Highlights of the library include:
- History and principles of Java
- How to integrate applets into the World Wide Web
- A detailed look into Java's style of object-oriented programming
- Detailed coverage of all the essential classes in java.lang,java.io, java.util, java.net, java.awt
- Using threads
- Network programming
- Content and protocol handling
- A detailed explanation of Java's image processing mechanisms
- Material on graphics primitives and rendering techniques
- Writing a security manager
System requirements: The CD-ROM is readable on all Windows and UNIX platforms. Current implementations of the Java Virtual Machine for the Mac platform do not support the Java search applet in this CD-ROM. Mac users can purchase the World Wide Web version (see http://online-books.oreilly.com/books/javaref/ for more information). A Web browser that supports HTML 3.2, Java, and JavaScript, such as Netscape 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0, is required.
The 3rd edition of the well-known reference,
Java in a Nutshell, covers the essential APIs of Java 1.2, including networking, security, input and output, and basic language and utility classes. Due to the size of the Java 1.2 API, graphics and graphical user interface classes are now examined in a volume called
Java Foundation Classes in a Nutshell, and server-side and enterprise programming are detailed in
Java Enterprise in a Nutshell.
Though primarily a reference, the book starts off with a thorough, fast-paced introduction to Java, exploring all the key topics, including syntax, object-oriented programming, security, beans, and tools. These discussions are brief and very information-dense, and if you are buying this book to learn the language, you will probably be overwhelmed by the speed of this initiation.
This book intends to document quite a bit of Java, and it easily succeeds with broad coverage of Java programming in Part I, and API cataloging broken down by package in Part II. For example, discussions in Part I explain Types, Reflection, and Dynamic Loading. The handling of these topics takes a little over a page, but the book gives a useful overview with code examples that clearly illustrate the points made. It is one of the clearest and most concise treatments of these three topics available.
The chapters in Part II include an introduction, diagrams, and sections for each class in the package. The sections for each class can be very informative, as in the discussion of the Socket class in the java.net chapter, which includes how to instantiate a Socket object, getting I/O streams from the object you instantiated, and how to alter the behavior of sockets. This discussion, like most in this book, is brief, clear, and to the point.
If you are looking for a Java reference, this is a solid volume that will provide lasting value. --John Keogh
Topics covered: Part I, "Introducing Java," provides broad coverage of Java programming topics, including data types, syntax, classes, and objects; Java file structure; inner classes; interfaces; packages; creating and initializing objects; destroying and finalizing objects; input/output; cryptography; networking; security; threads; JavaBeans; JavaDoc; and tools that come with Java 1.2 SDK.
Part II, "The Java API Quick Reference," includes chapters on the following Java packages: java.beans, java.beans.beancontext, java.io, java.lang, java.lang.ref, java.lang.reflect, java.math, java.net, java.security, java.security.acl, java.security.cert, java.security.interfaces, java.security.spec, java.text, java.util, java.util.jar, java.util.zip, javax.crypto, javax.crypto.interfaces, javax.crypto.spec, and a final chapter, which provides an index for classes, methods, and fields.
