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Core JSP
by Damon Hougland, Aaron Tavistock


Prentice Hall PTR
unknown edition
October 2000
500 pages

Reviewed by Madhav Lakkapragada, April 2001
  (4 of 10)


I would rate this book as below average. I found a lot of typos, confusing notation and words used too loosely. Terms like Java code (why not spell it as Servlet), JSP, Server are used interchangeably. I guess the authors were minimizing the use of the word Servlet since this book is titled as Core JSP. The CD has all the code, which is a plus so you don't have to be online or download from the web or search for the URL to download. But, out of the box the code hardly works. I had to do some patching to get the examples (though small) to work with Tomcat (changes are not related to Tomcat). JSP deployment is not discussed in detail. The book does an okay job on JavaBeans, JDBC, XML and JNDI. These concepts are explained as needed, so you don't have to know these before you use this book. I did like the Custom Tags chapter; however, I don't think this book justifies the cost I would pay.

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Core Jini
by W Keith Edwards


Prentice Hall PTR
second edition
December 2000
1008 pages

Reviewed by Frank Carver, October 2001
  (7 of 10)


At just over 6cm (2.5 inches), it's a thick, heavy, book and the spine bends alarmingly as you read it. Despite this it's surprisingly readable, but I wouldn't want to carry it about with me.

This book covers Jini 1.1, and takes great pains to spell out everything you need to do compile and run the examples, as well as listing the code. It's comforting to see complete command lines for Windows and Unix in every case. There are code listings for all of the major areas and a couple of non-trivial worked examples but for a book this size there is not a lot of code. A working knowledge of Java and at least a passing acquaintance with RMI is assumed, but you don't need to know any Jini.

Most of the book is given over to a detailed discussion of the standard Jini services , and how to use them. Each service is covered at two levels - using the basic APIs and using Sun's supplied utility classes. There is also a lot of discussion of the complexities inherent in distributed systems, and how to use Jini to build robust, scalable "self-healing" networks. Scattered through the text are "Core Notes" which offer more detail or different perspectives on the material, and these are always interesting.

Too big for a reference, but a detailed and well-structured book to get you up to speed on Jini quickly and efficiently.

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Core Java
by Horstmann, Cay S. / Cornell, Gary.


Prentice Hall PTR
5th edition
December 2000
832 pages

Reviewed by Johannes de Jong, July 2001
  (8 of 10)


If you want to learn Java and OO from scratch this book is definitely NOT meant for you. If however you want to get a deeper understanding of the Java fundamentals (yes this book has been aptly named) and how you implement OO in Java this book is a must. I kept on catching myself saying "hey that's neat" when I finally grasped an important fundamental (yes that word again) that has alluded me up to now. (I've been playing with Java for 5 months). What I especially liked about the book is that the authors explained why a specific solution was chosen. They did not just leave me in the dark. At times they even suggested alternatives.

My complaints:
They waste unnecessary pages with code that hardly gets discussed. A simple reference to the CD would have been enough, heck they even supply a great editor (TextPad) to read and compile it with. I still had to correct quite a few examples manually after I'd downloaded the latest version of their code. Surely they could have updated it ? The Core Java Web page can be found at Core Java. The rest of Mr. Hortsmann's site is also worth a visit.

"A solid foundation to improve your basic Java skills".

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Prentice Hall PTR
5th edition
December 2000
832 pages

Reviewed by Mary Jane Swirski, August 2002
  (8 of 10)


Beginner? Then this book is for you! I am a COBOL programmer & found this book very easy to read. Concepts are easily explained then example code is provided, great for anyone new to Java or OO concepts. I would recommend this to any green-horn who is trying to learn the java language without the benefit of an professional instructor. The only downfall of the book: it provides no exercises, and I fervently believe that to become a good programmer one must practice their coding.

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Prentice Hall PTR
5th edition
December 2000
832 pages

Reviewed by Paul Wheaton, January 2000
  (2 of 10)


When I had about eight months of Java experience, I read the Core series. After reading Just Java 1.1, the core series were awful by comparison. They had a lot of errors coming from taking a book on 1.0 and sticking in a few 1.1 paragraphs and calling it a 1.1 book. I don't know if the 1.2 series is better - I haven't bothered to look since Just Java 1.2 works so well for me.

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Core Servlets and JSP
by Marty Hall


Prentice Hall PTR
1 edition
May 2000
608 pages

Reviewed by Madhav Lakkapragada, April 2001
  (9 of 10)


A well written book with enough details. The author does a pretty impressive job to clearly describe everything that is required to understand the subject. All aspects of Servlets and JSP are covered at each step - right from the API till the deployment. Also, the author explains more than one deployment tool used. I like this approach very much. Most often I have seen people know about Servlets and JSP but they have trouble putting it together as an application. The approach here talks about creating your web applications and deploying them. Hence I feel this book is complete in itself. Discussion topics include Beans, Custom Tags, Forms, JDBC among other topics including some interesting Dilbert Cartoons. The only topic left out is XML, I thought, but then we know its an ocean on its own. I highly recommend this book.

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Core Swing: Advanced Programming
by Kim Topley


Pearson Education
unknown edition
December 1999
960 pages

Reviewed by Paul Stevens, November 2001
  (9 of 10)


This book gets into the details behind some of the swing components. It covers editors, highlighters, documents, renderers and drag and drop.

The author does a good job of getting behind the scenes explaining and showing with code real world examples. There are examples of validating textfields, formatted textfields, using HTML in JEditorPane, JTables and drag and drop.

This is definitely not a beginner book. You must have a good understanding of Swing. The only drawback to the book was the long explanations of what not to do (told at the end of the explanation).

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Core LEGO MINDSTORMS Programming
by Brian Bagnall


Prentice Hall PTR
1 edition
March 2002
560 pages

Reviewed by David O'Meara, March 2003
  (8 of 10)


This book is much more than I expected. I thought it was going to be a chapter on Lego Mindstorms, a chapter on Java, then a chapter on Java and Lego together followed by a bunch of projects giving a step-by-step trail to lead you from the Java world into the Mindstorms-with-Java world. You get this in the book, but in addition you also get a description of each piece including the item I thought was a pedal, several useful small constructions including gear trains, an introduction to robotics and behavior control, and electronics projects for anyone who isn't afraid of burning their fingers. All this before we get into the chapter on advanced topics! My favorite part was definitely the electronics projects. It gives numbskull instructions on how to assemble the electronic, Lego and Java components as well as excellent instructions on solving any problems you are likely to run into. If all you want is to get leJOS (the JVM for Lego Mindstorms) onto your RCX block and get it running, the first 4 chapters will be useful but the rest will be wasted. Maybe just check the resources on the net. If, on the other hand, you want your little yellow brick to be all that it can be and you aren't afraid of petty injuries or mangling a few Lego blocks, this book will serve you well. There are even instructions to control your robot via a web page!

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Core Java Data Objects
by Sameer Tyagi, Michael Vorburger, Keiron McCammon, Heiko Bobzin, Keiron McCannon


Prentice Hall PTR
1 edition
September 2003
576 pages

Reviewed by Thomas Paul, December 2003
  (6 of 10)


Java Data Objects (JDO) is an alternative to JDBC that allows you to treat rows from a database as Java objects. The simplicity of JDO removes many of the complications involved with developing JDBC applications. This book does a decent job of covering the JDO specification and explaining how to properly use JDO. The book starts with an introduction to JDO and shows some examples of how to write code with JDO. The section on the object lifecycle isn't clearly explained having too much concentration on lists and not enough on explanations. The following chapters do a decent job of explaining the pieces of JDO. In addition to the basics, the book covers using JDO in a J2EE environment with a look at Enterprise JavaBeans, security, and transactions. A later chapter shows a comparison of JDO and JDBC. The authors wrap up with some tips, take a look at what might be coming in the future, and show a case study.

The authors do not look at any JDO implementations, which leaves their explanations in essence, hanging in mid-air. Although they show how to code in JDO they don't show what a programmer needs to do to hook their code in to a database. This means that without further reading, you can't run any of the examples supplied. Although the book is not bad and might be worth a read, it is not as clear or as well written as one might like.

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Core JavaServer Faces
by David Geary, Cay Horstmann, David Geary, Cay S. Horstmann


Prentice Hall PTR
1 edition
June 2004
552 pages

Reviewed by Jeanne Boyarsky, July 2004
  (8 of 10)


"Core JavaServer Faces" introduces JSF to programmers only requiring HTML and Java knowledge. The first chapter explains how to setup the examples using Tomcat and Ant. The authors show everything needed to run all the examples, including the directory structure.

Most of the book is also appropriate for experienced web developers. The second half has involved topics. The authors include a few comparisons to Struts and comment on how to combine the two frameworks. The authors keep most of the technical/advanced concepts at the end of the chapters and mark them clearly.

The first half of the book explains JSF. It includes everything you should know to use a framework, such as lifecycle and tags. The second half of the book shows how to use JSF with longer examples. This includes Tiles, custom components, JDBC and LDAP. There is even a chapter of wireless devices and combining JSF with MIDP. The last chapter is 25 "How do I..." questions, like those here at JavaRanch.

The book highlights best practices where possible. It uses some, such as style sheets and message bundles, through the examples. It even mentions cross-site scripting attacks and how JSF can assist in preventing them. I had a copy of the first edition first printing. There were some minor typos and a missing reference, but the authors promise this will be corrected in the next printing. The reference is also on the book's website. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book.

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Prentice Hall PTR
third edition
June 2010
672 pages

Reviewed by David O'Meara, October 2010
  (10 of 10)


While I am still undecided about some of the virtues of JavaServer Faces, this is easily the best resource that I am aware of for those wanting to pick up the technology.

Part of the problem (in my opinion) with JSF are the changes between versions and the complexity when coexisting with other complimenting technologies like JSP, annotations and even HTML and containers. This is the main strength of this book since it provides a roadmap for navigating the intricacies and gotchas without making the core text illegible. Yes, the text is scattered with side comments but it still allows the knowledge to flow without being too distracting.

I also found the examples perfect in complexity and size. They highlight the points from the text without dominating the book and forcing the user to skip pages at a time. The code could have been reduced if the authors used more code snippets rather than complete listings, but the full code was often useful since the book is aimed at beginner to intermediate users that will benefit from having the big picture provided.

It is a Beginner to Intermediate JSF book, and users of that level will benefit from this book as both a learning and reference resource and in my opinion it is worth a place on the JSF-user book shelf.
---
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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Core Java 2, Fundamentals
by Cay Horstmann, Gary Cornell


Prentice Hall PTR
7th edition
August 2004
784 pages

Reviewed by Thomas Paul, December 2004
  (7 of 10)


This is the seventh edition of this book and in some ways it hasn't changed much since the first edition. The first edition was aimed at C++ programmers who were looking to transition to the new language. The seventh edition is still fast-paced and detailed and aimed for the experienced programmer. The authors assume that you already know the basics of programming even if it isn't with an object oriented language. The book might make a fairly good college textbook but not as a first language.

The book covers the main areas that you would expect in an introductory Java book with a few surprises. The book gives a little bit of the history of Java and shows how to install and run Java from the console and Eclipse (but not NetBeans). There is an early introduction to reflection but exception handling isn't covered until well into the book. Swing is covered in a fair level of depth. J2SE 5.0 changes are covered throughout the book with the many examples written to show off the new additions to the language. Threading and Collections are not covered.

Overall this is a well written book who is the target audience? How many C++ programmers can be left that don't already know Java? For an introductory tutorial this book may be a bit too advanced. Through seven editions, Core Java has changed little other than to reflect language changes. Perhaps it's time to rethink the franchise.

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Five Core Metrics
by Lawrence H. Putnam, Ware Myers


Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated
1 edition
May 2003
328 pages

Reviewed by Valentin Crettaz, August 2005
  (9 of 10)


One of the most notable differences between software engineering and other more mature engineering disciplines lies in the fact that actors on the former field recurrently have a very hard time estimating with high certainty and maximal accuracy how long it will take to complete their projects on time and budget. Without proper tooling, this failure to adequately calculate the duration of a project is not only unavoidable but it usually has dramatic effects on the project outcome.

Building on their combined 60+ years of experience on the field, Putnam and Myers tackle this very sensible issue by showing that there is absolutely no magic behind this estimation process. By gathering basic facts from more than 6,300 past projects, the authors have managed to factor out five key metrics, such as, development time, work effort, number of functionalities, defect rate and process productivity, which they then correlate in a couple of mathematical equations that uniquely define any kind of software development project. These equations provide a unique and powerful scientific means for correctly gauging the different metrics at hand and for successfully fine-tuning the software management process.

If you want to stop wondering whether you'll deliver your project five or six month too late and to start capitalizing on the knowledge from past projects, let this book show you the path. Be advised that this is not an academic book as the whole content is built around concrete data gathered by seasoned professionals from real-world settings.

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Core Java, Volume II--Advanced Features (9th Edition) (Core Series)
by Cay S. Horstmann, Gary Cornell


Prentice Hall
9 edition
March 2013
1152 pages

Reviewed by Mohamed Sanaulla, May 2013
  (9 of 10)



I always liked the approach Cay S. Horstmann takes in the examples in his Core Java books. He tries to follow good practices in all his examples which includes better naming convention, documentation and comments, identifying right classes. This book, Core Java Volume-2, is no different. You find examples which are in themselves mini applications. You dont find toy programs which illustrate the feature and do some printing on the console. The examples themselves include different concepts across Java.

There are very interesting topics covered in this book like: Steams and Files, XML processing, JDBC, Network Programming, Scripting and Annotations, Security, JNI, Advanced Swing and AWT. I see that few chapters which were originally in Volume-2 have been moved to volume-1 namely multithreading and collections. I see a very exhaustive coverage on Swing and AWT, what I feel missing is the coverage of JavaFX features for which I think a chapter would suffice. Not to forget this book covers the Java 7 features as well.

Otherwise this book covers lot of stuff and I would recommend to use it as a reference to pick chapters as and when you want to explore those features. Reading end-to-end may not be necessary because most likely we would not be using all of those features in one place together. Reading end-to-end might be an overkill as well owing to the number of pages.

Bottom line: Highly recommend book in your bookshelf of Java references.

---
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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Prentice Hall
9 edition
March 2013
1152 pages

Reviewed by Campbell Ritchie, September 2013
  (9 of 10)



I would always advise readers to try before they buy; look at the contents and sample pages on Amazon or similar. There you will find you get 1117 pages, 115 more than in my 2005 edition. That's even more of a change when you remember the threading chapter moved to Vol I. That extra space is full of information, in the inimitable Horstmann & Cornell (H&C) style. They teach object‑oriented programming throughout, with good coding style and emphasise correctness. The book has been updated and uses Java7 constructs throughout, even though the odd use of StringTokenizer escaped updating. And GridBagConstraints appears once instead of GBC (see volume I).
This book makes no pretence to comprehensiveness. There is relatively little about servlets, for example, and no design patterns; as I said about Vol I, they assume readers know patterns already.
The points for C++ programmers still appear; they are interesting but only of relevance to people coming from C++. Those points are probably important because there are many points where the apparent similarities between the two languages obscure differences.
I found the chapters about security and native methods particularly interesting.
The index is comprehensive. There are suggestions for further reading, e.g. about advanced graphics. When H&C are unhappy about something in the Java? platform, they say so without hesitation (policytool is criticised on page 833).
The only weakness I perceive is the lack of a proper bibliography, which I believe would enhance this book greatly. There is one place where it looks as if a reference had been forgotten.
Still, H&C has been a favourite of mine for a long time, and remains a favourite.

---
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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Core Java, Volume I--Fundamentals
by Cay S. Horstmann, Gary Cornell


Prentice Hall PTR
8th edition
September 2007
864 pages

Reviewed by Jeanne Boyarsky, October 2007
  (9 of 10)


"Core Java, Volume I -- Fundamentals" is meant to teach Java to developers who already know another language. Or as they put it, "serious programmers ... with a solid background in a language other than Java." This is important as the book assumes a knowledge of programming concepts. As such, the authors can explain OO rather than how a loop works. The syntax diagrams and flow diagrams offer concise explanations.



This edition (the eighth of the book) covers Java 6. I liked that each section was updated to reflect changes to the languages. The authors didn't just tack on some chapters about the new features. They integrated features as they made sense. More importantly, they updated existing examples to reflect the way they would be written if they were initially written today. This gives the reader appropriate exposure as to when to use new features. At the same time, the authors point out what was added in Java 1.4 so you can use it with an older version. There was even a screenshot of Windows Vista in the getting started section.

The book is about 800 pages. Some of this is long classes and API extractions. The authors do highlight important code snippets with explanations first, so it is possible to skip these parts. I did like the feature of the API extractions that showed when methods were introduced.

The authors explain Java in practice well including caveats. There are a few carefully labeled sections that are quite advanced. (proxys and new classloaders.) This is definitely not just an intro book! There was a bit of premature optimization. I don't see a need to worry about whether ArrayList is efficient unless it is a problem. At the same time, it is important to know why things work the way they do.

I recommend this book if you are looking to learn Java or have only used certain pieces of it. Just be sure to read the TOC carefully as the authors branch out. For example, the inheritance chapter covers var args and reflection.

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Core Java vol I-Fundamentals
by Cay S Horstmann, Gary Cornell


Prentice-Hall
9 edition
2013
974 pages

Reviewed by Campbell Ritchie, March 2013
  (8 of 10)



I was pleased to have a copy of this book to review. It is by no means a beginners' book, moving at a fast pace, and often referring to later chapters or VolII, and using a rather "compressed" form of code in its examples. Users of previous editions will recognise the writing style, updated seamlessly so one cannot see the join between "old" and "new". Unlike in some books, there is no "project" running through it, nor end-of-chapter exercises. Again reflection appears unusually early position in this book. It has ~220 more pages than my 2005 edition, but part of that increase comes from moving the threading chapter into VolI.
It is an object-oriented book, but assumes readers already know what objects are. It describes aliases, returning mutable references and pass-by-value. Also warnings about potential security hazards and pitfalls.
Much of the book consists of a detailed description of different features of the platform. It has probably the clearest description of Java generics I have seen. The threading chapter is also up to date, with Locks before synchronized.
This book takes it for granted than the reader already know the working of data structures, Singletons, Immutable classes or invariants, so they are not described. Many differences from C++ are mentioned; although many C++ programmers already know Java, those are potential points of confusion. These differences are less relevant to people who come straight to Java.
I disagree with a few things: throwing an unchecked Exception to enable an overridden method to compile, Scanner#nextLine reads the next line.
One thing I was disappointed by: the book has only few references.
A good resource to get you up to speed in Java. When VolII comes out it will probably also be a very comprehensive resource.

---
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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Core J2EE Patterns: Best Practices and Design Strategies
by Deepak Alur, John Crupi, Dan Malks, Deepak Alur, John Crupi, Dan Malks


Prentice Hall PTR
second edition
May 2003
528 pages

Reviewed by Thomas Paul, August 2003
  (9 of 10)


There are two obvious changes between this second edition and the first edition of this book. First, some new patterns have been added mostly dealing with web services. Second, the book has been released as a hard cover book, presumably because the publisher expects this to last on your shelf as long as the original "Design Pattern" book. The new patterns dealing with web services are a welcome addition to the book although anyone who is interested in this subject will probably want more detail such as found in Paul Monday's book.

Part 1 is an introduction to design patterns and the J2EE platform followed by a catalog of design considerations, bad practices and refactorings. Part 2 is the collection of design patterns and strategies. Each pattern is described in a format which will remind you of the GoF book. Since this has become the standard ormat for presenting design patterns this should not be a surprise. The patterns are well thought out, explained clearly, and demonstrated with some good code samples. If you have the first edition you will be very impressed with the improvements made in this new edition. It appears that virtually every pattern has been reworked to make the pattern easier to understand and use.

This is the book that every J2EE architect and programmer should have on their desk. Anyone designing, architecting, or coding with J2EE will find this book to be extremely useful.

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Prentice Hall PTR
1 edition
June 2001
496 pages

Reviewed by Thomas Paul, November 2001
  (10 of 10)


Not another line of code for Servlets, JSPs, or EJBs should be written by anyone who hasn't read this book and understood the concepts explained. This book is about best practices in designing and coding J2EE applications. The lessons explained here were developed by the Sun Java Center based on their work in the field. As they developed applications for clients they noticed that the same problems occurred over and over again. This book documents the standard solutions to solve these problems that were built as a catalog of design patterns and best practices.

Part 1 is an introduction to design patterns and the J2EE platform. Part 2 is a catalog of bad practices (the authors describe these as, "less than optimal ways to solve problems"), and refactorings (ways to correct these problems). Developers working with poorly designed J2EE applications will find this section especially helpful.

In Part 3, fifteen separate design patterns and strategies are explained. Each pattern is described in detail with the motivation for using the pattern and the design goals to be achieved. UML class and sequence diagrams are included along with detailed code examples that serve to further clarify the pattern. These patterns aren't theoretical constructs but rather are practical strategies that can be applied to real world applications. Using the strategies in this book will make you more productive and your code easier to understand and maintain.

Anyone designing, architecting, or coding with J2EE will find this book to be extremely useful.

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Microsoft Visual C# .NET (Core Reference)
by Mickey Williams


Microsoft Press
unknown edition
May 2002
784 pages

Reviewed by Thomas Paul, September 2002
  (8 of 10)


This is a nice introduction to the C# language using Visual Studio.NET. Although the book is referred to as a "Core Reference" it is not a typical reference. Microsoft Press also publishes a "Step By Step" book on the same topic which is a basic introduction for the inexperienced programmer. This book is a more advanced tutorial, more suitable for a programmer with Java or C++ experience. However, it is not a complete introduction to the language. Several major topics are missing including regular expressions, inner classes, and, most surprisingly, I/O. The book does cover a wide range of features in .NET and does a nice job of explaining how to use these features in Visual Studio.NET. The first half of the book is an introduction to C# starting with the basics and going up to threading and debugging. The second half of the book covers topics such as creating windows and web forms, ADO.NET, XML, and web services. The section on windows forms is the most complete while the other topics are covered lightly. Overall, the book is generally well written and well edited. I found no obvious mistakes. The book is in hardcover and comes with a CD containing all the code and a DVD with a 60 day version of Visual Studio.NET. The book is not as complete as the O'Reilly C# book but because it is more fully integrated with Visual Studio, may be more useful to most developers.

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Core JSTL: Mastering the JSP Standard Tag Library
by David Geary


Prentice Hall PTR
1 edition
December 2002
608 pages

Reviewed by Thomas Paul, February 2003
  (8 of 10)


The JSP Standard Tag Library is designed to simplify many of the difficult tasks encountered while creating JSPs. This book covers the new built-in tags and the expression language which are part of JSTL. The book describes itself as a "definitive" guide and that fairly well sums it up. JSTL is covered in excellent detail with lots of examples and sample code. The book is divided into three parts. The first part introduces JSTL and discusses the JSTL expression language. Examples of proper usage as well as common errors are shown. The next part covers the tags themselves (referred to as actions). This part is split over several chapters including chapters on conditional actions, iteration actions, i18n actions, database actions, and XML actions. Each action is covered in detail with at least one example of its usage. The final section is a short reference covering all the actions. Overall, I found this book to be very well written guide to JSTL. I think most Servlet/JSP developers will find this to be an excellent resource for learning JSTL. There were a couple of places in the book that I found the author's explanations a little confusing but overall he does an excellent job of helping to understand how to properly use JSTL. You should note that there is a misprint in the book that gives an incorrect URL for the site to download the source code. The correct site is: http://www.core-jstl.com.

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Professional JSP Site Design, Coding Core Web Applications
by Kevin Duffey, et al


Wrox
1 edition
November 2001
1000 pages

Reviewed by Ersin Eser, February 2002
  (9 of 10)


The book talks about Jakarta Struts, caching issues, coping with frames, navigation tips, security, search engines, and other very practical topics. This is a great book for the intermediate-level Java Web Application Developer (JWAD). If you are looking for a chance to get your hands dirty with the practical aspects of the topic, and get an understanding of the real-life problems, then the vast amount of the info and resources given in this book will definitely quench your thirst. Introductions to Jakarta Struts, Lucene, and Apache JetSpeed are great.

If you are an experienced JWAD or have read other related titles from Wrox's Professional books, you might want to take a peek at this book before buying it (or just buy the book to redirect the possible headache assets to it). Here are the downsides: chapters don't support each other (info given previously is not being used in the following chapters), and you might have a really hard time getting the downloaded code to work (too many different files are needed, too many set-ups, and why don't they provide ready-to-go *.war files?)

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Core Java(TM) 2, Volume II--Advanced Features
by Cay S. Horstmann, Gary Cornell, Cay Horstmann, Gary Cornell


Prentice Hall PTR
8 edition
April 2008
1056 pages

Reviewed by Michael Ernest, May 2008
  (10 of 10)


In my review of Professional Java JDK 6 Edition, I said I didn't think one book could cover so many topics and serve the reader well. This volume is an exception that proves the point.

It is a monster book, easily several months of steady work to get through, and an useful reference afterwards as well. It is well put together, clearly written, methodically presented. I wouldn't put it down if that were possible. The coverage is broad and the examples are interesting. The topics also feel complete, not because they are thorough, but because they leave off right where intermediate-level programmers could work out most details on their own.

I read the first and second editions years ago. I must say this title is a case study in steady, disciplined, tireless improvement and refinement of the original. It's 990 pages, but I haven't come across a useless sentence yet. The authors haven't just added on. They've refined their examples, improved and replaced others. Most importantly, they've realized a format that puts boilerplate and API tables to the side, allowing the reader to focus on the concept at hand. Complete code listings are presented in a way that's easy to pass over in favor of the files available by download.

If you need lots of code work on different topics to urn Java into your fingertips -- and there is no better way to do it -- this book is an excellent choice

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Prentice Hall PTR
7th edition
December 2004
1024 pages

Reviewed by David O'Meara, April 2005
  (8 of 10)


I've always been impressed with the quality of the 'Core' series and happily this book is no exception.

My first impression of "Core Java 2, Volume 2 - Advanced Features" (7th Edition) was that the book contained too much information and was too small for the task it had set itself. However it didn't long for me to revise this perception.

Java 5 includes a huge number of new features. This book does its best to expose you to the new features and doesn't give a definitive example for each part, but provides at least enough so you know what they're for and can spot them in the wild. The examples strike the right balance between length and detail so that you're onto the next topic before getting bogged down in the current one. There is a good mixture of code snippets and full source included, though sometimes I felt the excess could have been trimmed for a few of them.

Personally I loved the coverage of Threading, Collections, Security and XML, but there was enough in each chapter to make it worth reading.

This is an excellent resource for any programmer looking for a quality Java 5 text, although you'll want to consider pairing it with volume one if you lack programming experience. Whether you have experience with the features in the new version or not, the depth of information makes it an important book to add to your bookshelf.

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Core Servlets and Javaserver Pages: Advanced Technologies, Vol. 2
by Marty Hall, Larry Brown, Yaakov Chaikin


Prentice Hall PTR
second edition
December 2007
736 pages

Reviewed by Jeanne Boyarsky, February 2008
  (7 of 10)


"Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages, Volume 2: Advanced Technologies" targets developers who already know Java and basic servlets/JSPs. Note this book's second edition does not cover the latest technologies. It uses J2EE 1.3/1.4 and Struts 1.3.

The main topics are advanced deployment descriptor settings, security, custom tags, filters, event handling and JSTL. Then there are three very good chapters on Struts 1.3, although I'm not sure what they have to do with "core servlets." The browser screenshots were good for showing output and the examples were excellent.

As with "Core Java", the 700 page book contains some long classes. I could have done without the complete 5 page deployment descriptor at the end since it was gradually built up with new additions highlighted. Highlighting does help with spatial orientation.

I did notice a couple typos in the book. None of these affected the meaning, but it gives you the impression it wasn't proofread as carefully as other books. And (at least my copy) had a printing error where one page was missing a few lines.

The book mostly pointed out best practices. There were a few exceptions such as one chapter mentioning which jsp page should establish a database connection. Different chapters had different opinions on whether there should be scriptlets in a JSP as well.

Overall the book was fine although I would prefer to invest in a different title -- either fully on Struts or fully on servlets/JSPs.

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The iOS 5 Developer's Cookbook: Core Concepts and Essential Recipes for iOS Programmers (3rd Edition) (Developer's Library)
by Erica Sadun


Addison-Wesley Professional
third edition
January 2012
840 pages

Reviewed by Deepak Bala, February 2013
  (10 of 10)



iOS 5 Developer's Cookbook does a great job in covering all the fundamental and key concepts needed for anyone new to iOS development. It also gives you enough information to make good use the features of XCode for iOS 5 development. The "recipes" are very useful practical examples of little tasks one usually encounters in building out their apps. Good job on the basics of ARC, XCode and filled with great tips and tricks!

The recipes in the book also take a pragmatic approach. For example if you have problem A, the recipes / tasks even taken into account bugs on the platform framework and the solution works around the bugs. This can help save you precious time working around problems. Not to mention frustration.

For anyone starting out on iOS or looking for a book that covers advanced topics, this is it. It serves both worlds well. I would definitely recommend it.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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