Java Software Solutions: Foundations of Program Design (4th Edition) (Addison-Wesley's Codemate),   ISBN:9780321245830

Customer Rating: 

I'm very pleased with my purchase as in spite of being used this book arrived in a very good state and it didn't take a very long time. thanks

Customer Rating: 

I got this book for my freshman level Java programming class. Although the teacher was totally uneducated in programming and didn't belong there, I feel like the book guided me pretty well. Reading this I was able to read other advanced books and teach myself the language better and with the right mentality of how a computer programmer should think.

Customer Rating: 

I've gone through the first three chapters (6th Edition) and I've found quite a few errors, which I will summarize here:

page 66, Listing 2.5: Attempts to define a class with only the name of the class (no "public" or "class"). This will not compile as written.

page 68, Listing 2.6: Attempts to define a class with "publicclass" (yes, as one word). This will not compile as written.

page 96, Listing 2.10: Attempts to define a JApplet class with "Einstein JApplet" (again leaves out necessary reserved words, and most importantly I have no idea where to put the "extends" reserved word). This will not compile as written.

page 102, Listing 2.11: Same problem as the last one.

page 129, bottom paragraph (refers to writing code to solve a quadratic equation): "Note that this program assumes that the discriminant (the value under the square root) is negative. If it's not negative, the results will not be a valid number, which Java represents as NaN, which stands for not a number." This claims that you can only take the square root of a negative number, which is in fact the opposite of what anyone with a high-school math education could tell you.

I'm pretty worried about what other errors lie in wait for me as I continue through the book. This is some really terrible proof-reading work. The only reason I didn't give it one star is that the end-of-chapter projects are quite useful for learning to write your own code and practice the different techniques presented. So it's not completely useless.

Customer Rating: 

I am about half way through this book and so far it gets two thumbs up from me. This is my second programming book, my first was 'Python Programming for the absolute beginner(2ed)' by Michael Dawson, which i thought was excellent, especially for the price! If you are utterly new to the programming scene and don't want to learn a particular language i would recommend that book because it's great at explaining basic programming concepts, and Python is a relatively easy language to pick up. But enough about that, let's talk about this book and why i think it's a great learning resource and have no idea why some people gave it one star(even after reading their explanations).

the GOOD:
~no BS, no "let's add jokes to every other paragraph in the book when it's not necessary to make it appeal more to the masses" who the publishers must think are idiots or dummies;) This is a textbook, it reads like one, there is no program jargon that isn't explained in the text. Wow, a book that treats me like an adult, yaya.
~great layout, before every chapter you're given bullet points of what that chapter consist of
~all chapters are layed out in a clear fashion
~lots of color, great examples, charts, etc
~Tons of examples, and the examples are in color, similiar to how they will look in your IDE(i use NetBeans).
~key concepts throughout every chapter
~end of chapter programming projects to work through(actual hands on coding)
~end of section word problems(all answers supplied in back of book)
~comes with a cd including different IDE's and the java language
~and probably my favorite feature(which no one has mentioned); VIDEO NOTES! Usually about 5-6 a chapter, accessed through the website provided by the book. These video notes are the author actually working through some of the sample code and atleast one of the programming projects at the end of the chapter. Again, there are video notes for all chapters, very well done, he takes you through the most important aspects of each chapter by using code, very hands on. There are about 5 mins a video, and he doesn't rush through it. I found the feature to be extremly beneficial when ever i felt lost.

the BAD:
~none really come to mind, maybe more video notes would be nice.

Bottom line: This is a great book, java is an interesting and beneficial language to learn, i definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning java. This book doesn't treat you like a child, nor an expert, just an adult who wants to learn java.

Customer Rating: 

I needed this book for my JAVA college class and the price at the college store was outrageous! I searched online and found the same book for MUCH cheaper. The shipping was right on with the estimated delivery date, and the product was as promised as stated in the description. I will definitely buy a similar item next time I'm in the market. It's sad that good customer service is hard to come by these days. Fortunately, Amazon is one of the few business who stand by their word of great customer service and ultimately make e-commerce enjoyable. Thank you!