David Flanagan (1)Critiques

See my review of Web Design in a Nutshell.

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Indeholder "Preface", "Part 1. Introducing Java", "1. Introduction", " What 1s Java?", " The Java Programming Language", " The Java Virtual Machine", " The Java Platform", " Versions of Java", " Key Benefits of Java", " Write Once, Run Anywhere", " Security", " Network-Centric Programming", " Dynamic, Extensible Programs", " Internationalization", " Performance", " Programmer Efficiency and Time-to-Market", "An Example Program", " Compiling and Running the Program", " Analyzing the Program", " Exceptions", "2. Java Syntax from the Ground Up", " Java Programs from the Top Down", " Lexical Structure", " The Unicode Character Set", " Case-Sensitivity and Whitespace", " Comments", " Reserved Words", " Identifiers", " Literals", " Punctuation", " Primitive Data Types", " The boolean Type", " The char Type", " Strings", " Integer Types", " Floating-Point Types", " Primitive Type Conversions", " Expressions and Operators", " Operator Summary", " Arithmetic Operators", " String Concatenation Operator", " Increment and Decrement Operators", " Comparison Operators", " Boolean Operators", " Bitwise and Shift Operators", " Assignment Operators", " The Conditional Operator", " The instanceof Operator", " Special Operators", " Statements", " Expression Statements", " Compound Statements", " The Empty Statement", " Labeled Statements", " Local Variable Declaration Statements", " The if/else Statement", " The switch Statement", " The while Statement", " The do Statement", " The for Statement", " The for/in Statement", " The break Statement", " The continue Statement", " The return Statement", " The synchronized Statement", " The throw Statement", " The try/catch/finally Statement", " The assert Statement", " Methods", " Defining Methods", " Method Modifiers", " Declaring Checked Exceptions", " Variable-Length Argument Lists", " Covariant Return Types", " Classes and Objects Introduced", " Defining a Class", " Creating an Object", " Using an Object", " Object Literals", " Arrays", " Array Types", " Creating and Initializing Arrays", " Using Arrays", " Multidimensional Arrays", " Reference Types", " Reference vs. Primitive Types", " Copying Objects", " Comparing Objects", " Terminology: Pass by Value", " Memory Allocation and Garbage Collection ", " Reference Type Conversions", " Boxing and Unboxing Conversions", " Packages and the Java Namespace", " Package Deciaration", " Globally Unique Package Names", " Importing Types", " Importing Static Members", " Java File Structure", " Defining and Running Java Programs", " Differences Between C and Java", "3. Object-Oriented Programming in Java ", " Class Definition Syntax", " Fields and Methods", " Field Deciaration Syntax", " Class Fields", " Class Methods", " Instance Fields", " Instance Methods", " Case Study: System.out.println() ", " Creating and Initializing Objects", " Defining a Constructor", " Defining Multiple Constructors", " Invoking One Constructor from Another ", " Field Defaults and Initializers", " Destroying and Finalizing Objects", " Garbage Collection", " Memory Leaks in Java", " Object Finalization", " Subclasses and Inheritance", " Extending a Class", " Superclasses, Object, and the Class Hierarchy", " Subclass Constructors", " Constructor Chaining and the Default Constructor ", " Hiding Superclass Fields", " Overriding Superclass Methods ", " Data Hiding and Encapsulation", " Access Control", " Data Accessor Methods", " Abstract Classes and Methods", " Important Methods of java.lang.Object", " toString()", " equals()", " hashCode()", " Comparable.compareTo()", " clone()", " Interfaces", " Defining an Interface", " Implementing an Interface", " Interfaces vs. Abstract Classes", " Marker Interfaces", " Interfaces and Constants", " Nested Types", " Static Member Types", " Nonstatic Member Classes", " Local Classes", " Anonymous Classes", " How Nested Types Work", " Modifier Summary", " C++ Features Not Found in Java", "4. Java 5.0 Language Features", " Generic Types", " Typesafe Collections", " Understanding Generic Types", " Type Parameter Wildcards", " Writing Generic Types and Methods", " Generics Case Study: Comparable and Enum", " Enumerated Types", " Enumerated Types Basics", " Using Enumerated Types", " Advanced Enum Syntax", " The Typesafe Enum Pattern", " Annotations", " Annotation Concepts and Terminology ", " Using Standard Annotations", " Annotation Syntax", " Annotations and Reflection", " Defining Annotation Types", " Meta-Annotations", "5. The Java Platform ", " Java Platform Overview", " Text", " The String Class", " The Character Class", " The StringBuffer Class", " The CharSequence Interface", " The Appendable Interface", " String Concatenation", " String Comparison", " Supplementary Characters", " Formatting Text with printf() and format()", " Logging", " Pattern Matching with Regular Expressions", " Tokenizing Text", " StringTokenizer", " Numbers and Math", " Mathematical Functions", " Random Numbers", " Big Numbers", " Converting Numbers from and to Strings ", " Formatting Numbers", " Dates and Times", " Milliseconds and Nanoseconds", " The Date Class", " The Calendar Class", " Formatting Dates and Times ", " Arrays", " Collections", " The Collection Interface", " The Set Interface", " The List Interface", " The Map Interface", " The Queue and BlockingQueue Interfaces ", " Collection Wrappers", " Special-Case Collections ", " Converting to and from Arrays", " Collections Utility Methods ", " Implementing Collections", " Threads and Concurrency", " Creating, Running, and Manipulating Threads ", " Making a Thread Sleep", " Running and Scheduling Tasks", " Exclusion and Locks", " Coordinating Threads", " Thread Interruption", " Blocking Queues", " Atomic Variables", " Files and Directories", " RandomAccessFile", " Input/Output with java.io", " Reading Console Input", " Reading Lines from a Text File", " Writing Text to a File", " Reading a Binary File", " Compressing Data", " Reading ZIP Files", " Computing Message Digests", " Streaming Data to and from Arrays", " Thread Communication with Pipes", " Networking with java.net", " Networking with the URL Class", " Working with Sockets", " Secure Sockets with SSL", " Servers", " Datagrams", " Testing the Reachability of a Host", " I/O and Networking with java.nio ", " Basic Buffer Operations", " Basic Channel Operations", " Encoding and Decoding Text with Charsets", " Working with Files", " Client-Side Networking", " Server-Side Networking ", " Nonblocking", " XML", " Parsing XML with SAX", " Parsing XML with DOM", " Transforming XML Documents ", " Validating XML Documents", " Evaluating XPath Expressions", " Types, Reflection, and Dynamic Loading", " Class Objects", " Reflecting an a Class", " Dynamic Class Loading", " Dynamic Proxies", " Object Persistence", " Serialization", " JavaBeans Persistence", " Security", " Message Digests", " Digital Signatures", " Signed Objects", " Cryptography", " Secret Keys", " Encryption and Decryption with Cipher", " Encrypting and Decrypting Streams", " Encrypted Objects", " Miscellaneous Platform Features ", " Properties", " Preferences", " Processes", " Management and Instrumentation", "6. Java Security ", " Security Risks", " Java VM Security and Class File Verification", " Authentication and Cryptography", " Access Control", " Java 1.0: The Sandbox", " Java 1.1: Digitally Signed Classes ", " Java 1.2: Permissions and Policies", " Security for Everyone", " Security for System Programmers ", " Security for Application Programmers", " Security for System Administrators", " Security for End Users", " Permission Classes", "7. Programming and Documentation Conventions ", " Naming and Capitalization Conventions", " Portability Conventions and Pure Java Rules ", " Java Documentation Comments", " Structure of a Doc Comment", " Doc-Comment Tags", " Inline Doc Comment Tags", " Cross-References in Doc Comments", " Doc Comments for Packages", " JavaBeans Conventions ", " Bean Basics", " Bean Classes", " Properties", " Indexed Properties", " Bound Properties", " Constrained Properties", " Events", "8. Java Development Tools ", " apt", " extcheck", " jarsigner", " jar", " java", " javac", " javadoc", " javah", " javap", " javaws", " jconsole", " jdb", " jinfo", " jmap", " jps", " jsadebugd", " jstack", " jstat", " jstatd", " keytool", " native2ascii", " pack200", " policytool", " serialver", " unpack200", "Part II. API Quick Reference", "How to Use This Quick Reference ", "9. java.io ", "10. java.lang and Subpackages ", "11. java.math ", "12. java.net ", "13. java.nio and Subpackages ", "14. java.security and Subpackages ", "15. java.text ", "16. java.util and Subpackages ", "17. javax.crypto and Subpackages ", "18. javax.net and javax.net.ssl ", "19. javax.security.auth and Subpackages ", "20. javax.xml and Subpackages ", "21. org.w3c.dom ", "22. org.xml.sax and Subpackages ", "Class, Method, and Field Index ", "Index ".

En noget tyk bog som introducerer java og hævder at den kan være i en nøddeskal.

Read for/at work to refresh my memory on Java. After 10 years back on C++ I'm writing Java again, so I needed to move my Java 2 knowledge up to Java 8. This is a good book for that kind of study and to use as a reference going forward.

Oh, this is going to be a tough one, I can see. The current cover is correct for later editions of this book, but I'm going to have to either scan in the cover for mine, or take a photo (and I'm only a so-so photographer). It was always referred to by O'Reilly & Associates as Volume 6C, but this is the first time I've ever seen it in print.

I'd just been wondering whether to add it in to the series, but with that official looking cover that Amazon has, I think that it won't raise any eyebrows.½

This is NOT a pick up and read kind of book. It's essential if you do a lot of X programming, and the potential set of commands can be inhibiting, if not downright intimidating. Flanagan went on to write some of my favorite X books. I hope to get all this section done in a week or so, and then on to the immortal Richard Stevens.

The Ruby Programming language is a quite good introduction to ruby. The authors first give a very brief example of the language, but after this they approach the language in a systematic way -- it being a formal language this means from lexical and syntactical structures to data types, expressions and so on.

The authors are not trying to be chatty, witty or funny, they just tell you what you need to know. The book is not a specification, but it is somewhat a dry read, which is fine. There's Beckett for comedy.

I was provided access by O'Reilly Publishing to an electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

This is an updated edition to the classic reference book on Javascript to include new information on new standards (such as HTML5 and CSS3), conventions, and frameworks. Although it is possible to learn Javascript from this book, its really meant more as a reference guide and an explanation of how and why Javascript works the way it does. For example, the 1st chapter explains in some detail how Javascript works on the client side and how each of the following chapters will relate to this. The book includes numerous examples of codes to illustrate the concepts and explains the concepts in a clear, easy to follow fashion that doesn't require a degree in astrophysics to understand.

As I said it's not really a book to learn Javascript from, for that I would recommend something like "Head First JavaScript" (also by O'Reilly press.) What I do really like about this book is that it is comprehensive in what is possible with Javascript. While it may not cover the concept in depth, such as the chapter on Jquery, it does give a starting point to the concept. I know it sounds odd, but I really liked the index. It is completely through and easy to find the concept or word that I need to make something work correctly in whatever I'm writing. It's even better with the book because of the hyperlinks that take you right to the section.

My advice? Buy the ebook version, it's much easier to search and to follow to specific links vs. trying to find the stuff in the print edition. Even better, O'Reilly provides multiple formats of the book to suit your needs. Overall, it's a good handy reference to have around to answer questions and introduce new concepts.

This review pertains to the Kindle edition.

I gave 5-stars to an earlier DTB edition of this book, starts which this edition deserves as well, except for this one thing, which Kindle users should be warned about: the text is laid out for a wider screen than a handheld Kindle and so code examples wrap lines. The author puts code comments in a faux-column, using table to line them up to the right of the code and on a narrow screen the wrapping throws the formatting off so the code becomes difficult to read.

Since this is a code book, that's a big problem.

Install Kindle and load the book on your development workstation, though, and the formatting is clear on the wider screen, so if you can do that I highly recommend the book. As has been true in past editions, Flanagan's writing is first-rate, lively without being lame, and the content is thorough, well-organized, and voluminous.

This review pertains to the Kindle Edition.

First, had Amazon or the publisher indicated that this was included as a chapter in Flanagan's recently published JavaScript: The Definitive Guide: Activate Your Web Pages, I wouldn't have bought it—but I downloaded both at the same time and didn't find out until a couple days later. If you are a DTB user then it makes sense to have both, but for a Kindle user with full text search available buying this is a waste of money if you are going to buy the other. That, in fact is my recommendation: buy the larger book and park it on your development workstation.

That said, this is a fine piece of work. Like many developers, I started using a JavaScript library for a particular project and settled on jQuery because it provided the features I needed at the time. I came to understand its value and used in increasingly, but always with a familiarity constrained by the requirements of my initial use. My skills grew as I used it, but slowly.

So, I really welcomed and valued the first 2/3 (or so) of Flanagan's book (or chapter), which is a narrative description of the library's features, with examples and detailed explanations of what's going on behind the scenes. Writing that sort of narrative about a programming language is hard, and Flanagan's only peer for that, in my opinion, is Friedl of Mastering Regular Expressions (also an O'Reilly book), and he succeeded here well enough that a person can actually read the whole thing with considerable understanding, thereby gaining a better overview of the library than can be had by searching out features when we bump up against something we don't know how to do. The last 1/3 of the book is a reference section: concise, simple, and well-organized, just what you need when you forget a particular syntax.

The book was written for jQuery version 1.4 and the current version is 1.6.1 (as of today), and quite a bit has been added to jQuery. I knew that before I bought the book and decided the reference retained enough value to be worthwhile even though the version had been superseded. You should bear that in mind, though.

very good read

Douglas Crawford, a JavaScript guru at Yahoo calls this book "the least bad of a very large class of very, very bad books". I believe him. I have not given JavaScript the respect it apparently deserves rather I Frankenstien my code together from the web page source code, web app widgets, open source libraries, and developer APIs. Thus, I have not used this book enough to rate or even review it. I am really using this review as an excuse to put a link to Dougs superb lecture online at http://video.yahoo.com/watch/111593/1710507 , truly entertaining.

The book concentrates on an introduction into the new language features coming with Java 5 (Tiger) available - not more, not less.

I've bought every edition of this book. It's an excellent tutorial as well as an excellent reference.

This was an excellent reference book in it's time, however as JavaScript 1.2 it is a little dated. I still use it and it is still very helpful. I would definitely recommend the updated version of this book for use.½

This is a great book. I give it a high recommendation. I'm an application programmer, not a systems programmer nor a software engineer. VB and SQL are just my speed and most 4GLs and scripting languages are too. I may not be a progamming genius but my attitude is 'how hard can it be?'. I will try to hack anything I can before I ask for help, but when I ask for help, I want the full complete definitive answer. That's why this book is for me. I have never coded a lick of javascript before, then one day I had to write some cookie stuff. Fine, how hard can it be? I go out onto the web and look for (and borrow) other cookie code. I find a little bit here and a little bit there. It looks very simple but ultimately none of it works for my problem. Finally I say, I'm going to have to learn this stuff. Might as well by the O'Reilly book. My attitude is that I may never have to do anything with Javascript again, but I'm also not about to waste money on a book if I'll have replace later if and when I get serious. And this book was worth it. I now have industrial strength overkill cookie code in my application plus I undertand why everything works as it does. If you have to ask, you might as well ask for it all. This book has it all. Now I can't give it 5 stars because it's outdated. There's a lot of stuff in it that doesn't apply to the latest browsers. There was nothing about Mozilla or IE 5, so that all needs to be updated. But what's there is good so you get to understand the development priorities of those browsers and what effect that has on ways you should code. All in all it's another home run for OReilly, but Flanagan needs to step up to the plate again. BTW you'll note that this book is often referenced in other good progammer's guides. "Definitive" is right.

Definitive, but read Crockford's JavaScript: The Good Parts first.

This is a listing of the Java documentation that is freely available in many and far superior formats. This waste of money is a lazy scam whose use of natural resources is a selfish and violent act against the environment. David Flanagan should be ashamed of himself.½

I have two copies.