Murach's Beginning Java 2: Includes Versions 1.3 & 1.4 Andrea Steelman

This introduction to Java programming covers the basics and frequently used features, with instructions on installing Java and using it to design, code, test, and debug applications. It also provides guidance for GUI, processing files, and working with databases and threads. A companion CD-ROM contains a Java 2 software development kit for Windows, Forte for Java, a trial version of TextPad, and the source code and data for examples used in the book. Steelman is a programmer. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

If you’re new to Java or object-oriented programming, this book gets you started right. By the end of chapter 2, you’ll be writing programs that use Java classes. By chapter 4, you’ll be developing your own classes. And by chapter 6, you’ll be able to design, code, and test object-oriented programs in Java.

But this isn’t just a beginning book. By the time you finish this book, you’ll know how to develop graphical user interfaces with Swing components; how to read and write data that’s stored in files; how to use JDBC to work with the data in databases; how to develop applets that are run from Internet browsers; and much more. In short, you’ll have a set of professional Java skills that you can use for developing real-world business applications. Can one book do all that? Yes...but it has to be better than the competing books in more ways than one.

5 WAYS THE CONTENT IS BETTER If you’re a beginner, you’ll learn how to code, test, and debug object-oriented Java programs in the first four chapters. No other book gets you started that fast.

In chapter 5, you’ll learn how to work with inheritance and interfaces since they are critical to the effective use of the hundreds of classes that are available with Java. Unlike other books that present theory without application, this chapter focuses just on what you need to know to use Java classes effectively.

In chapter 6, you’ll learn how to design and test object-oriented programs. Although you can’t do an effective job of developing a Java program without knowing how to design one, no other beginning book has a chapter like this.

Figuring out how to create a graphical user interface can be a nightmare with other books, but this one has you create your first GUI from start to finish in chapter 11. Then, chapters 12-14 show you how to enhance that interface. And chapter 15 shows you how to use these skills as you develop Java applets that can be run from a web browser.

Because stored data is critical to most business applications, chapters 16-18 show you how to work with files, and chapter 19 shows you how to work with databases. In particular, chapters 18 and 19 teach you how to use files and databases to provide the data for the business objects of Java applications. And no other book has content like that.