Reference Books

Regular Expression Pocket Reference: Regular Expressions for Perl, Ruby, PHP, Python, C, Java and .NET (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))

Tony Stubblebine

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: O'Reilly Media, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $6.89

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Microsoft -> Word Processing

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This handy little book offers programmers a complete overview of the syntax and semantics of regular expressions that are at the heart of every text-processing application. Ideal as a quick reference, Regular Expression Pocket Reference covers the regular expression APIs for Perl 5.8, Ruby (including some upcoming 1.9 features), Java, PHP, .NET and C#, Python, vi, JavaScript, and the PCRE regular expression libraries.

This concise and easy-to-use reference puts a very powerful tool for manipulating text and data right at your fingertips. Composed of a mixture of symbols and text, regular expressions can be an outlet for creativity, for brilliant programming, and for the elegant solution. Regular Expression Pocket Reference offers an introduction to regular expressions, pattern matching, metacharacters, modes and constructs, and then provides separate sections for each of the language APIs, with complete regex listings including:

• Supported metacharacters for each language API
• Regular expression classes and interfaces for Ruby, Java, .NET, and C#
• Regular expression operators for Perl 5.8
• Regular expression module objects and functions for Python
• Pattern-matching functions for PHP and the vi editor
• Pattern-matching methods and objects for JavaScript
• Unicode Support for each of the languages

With plenty of examples and other resources, Regular Expression Pocket Reference summarizes the complex rules for performing this critical text-processing function, and presents this often-confusing topic in a friendly and well-organized format. This guide makes an ideal on-the-job companion.

Java: The Complete Reference, Seventh Edition (Complete Reference Series)

Herbert Schildt

Amazon Price: $31.49 List Price: $49.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $23.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Comprehensive but painfully dry 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

If you're looking for the one-stop reference book --- this is it. But like other reference books, this one may sit, unused on your desk gathering dust. It's a painfully dry read guaranteed to put you to sleep at night.

Great Introduction to Java 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a nice book for Java beginners, especially for those who have some experience with C++. The first part discusses the basic Java language syntax and features. Mr. Schildt illustrates each of his points with some short pieces of codes and gives some insight about the reason why Java works the way it does. The second part of the book is about the Java libraries, and the third part goes into advanced topics about building applications with Java. I think reading the first part will get someone started with programming in Java. The second part serves better as a reference. This book is a good first step in one's study of Java programming before delving into more advanced books.

Editorial Review:

The world's leading programming author offers comprehensive coverage of the new Java release 

The definitive guide to Java has been fully expanded to cover every aspect of Java SE 6, the latest version of the world's most popular Web programming language. This comprehensive resource contains everything you need to develop, compile, debug, and run Java applications and applets.

Murach's Java SE 6: Training & Reference

Joel Murach, Andrea Steelman

Amazon Price: $33.08 List Price: $52.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Mike Murach & Associates Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $27.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Incredibly bloated and shallow. 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

What a weird book. I don't program Java, have never been but I've got quite a few years of C++ and C# under my belt. We needed to use some Java-only open source libraries for a project at work, so I figured having a Java reference book would be handy: after all, it can't be 100% identical to C# as they say, right?

Well, this book couldn't fulfill even this modest role: it covers very little, but wastes nearly 6 pounds of dead trees to do it. It takes two pages to explain how to assign a number to a variable. The author uses Windows (!) as a platform of choice and the word "DOS" pops up many times, over and over. It even contains section that teaches you how to use DOS commands like "dir", "copy" and "cd". I am not kidding or exaggerating.

I would understand if it was marketed to teenagers who want to start programming in something, but a book of such shocking size and wall penetrating power can't be possibly aimed at that audience: if someone needs 2 pages explaining the "magic of assigning a value to a variable", one's probably too young to lift this book off the floor.

I covered first 225 pages without seeing any useful information there: every topic is explained in such a shallow manner, that it could be compared to a common-sense knowledge of Java of someone (like me) who never wrote a line of code, but heard other people talk about the language. The book, like many others, uses a sample project that a reader takes on in the beginning and keeps improving upon as he learns new material, but guess what - this book uses a number multiplying program for that purpose: that's right - read two numbers from a console, multiply, print out, repeat.

I am speechless. This is the first time in my life I had to return a book. Yes, Java isn't supposed to be a brain grinder and I expected a super-easy read, but this book is beyond "easy", it redefines an "easy read" by insulting your intelligence, it's that dumb. Heck, one of the exercises calls for documenting a code written for the previous exercise!

It says $52 on the cover, Amazon sells it for $32 and it's available used for about $14 - isn't that telling you something?

Editorial Review:

This book teaches how to develop Java applications at the professional level. It starts by showing how to code, test, and debug everyday business applications that won t crash. It presents object-oriented features like classes, inheritance, interfaces, and polymorphism in a way that s both understandable and useful in the real world...perspective that s often missing in Java training. It presents essential Java skills such as working with data types, control statements, arrays, collections, generics, enumerations, exceptions, threads, Swing components, applets, and text and binary files. It covers new Java SE 6 features such as new JDBC features, the StAX XML API, and the built-in Derby database. And it s all done in the distinctive Murach style that has been training professional programmers for more than 30 years.

Java All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

Doug Lowe, Barry Burd

Amazon Price: $23.09 List Price: $34.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: For Dummies Amazon Marketplace: 57 new & used starting at $17.74

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Buy it, Buy it, Buy it 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

By far the best intro to Java I have ever encountered, detailed explanations of java programming concepts, followed by example code. Written in the tongue-in-cheek humor typical of Dummies books, even after becoming a highly experienced java programmer, you'll always keep this book within an arm's length of your computer.

don't waste your time 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 5 people found this review helpful.

when i took c programming, i tried the all in one desk reference for c. it was a godsend. so when i took java a semester later, i eagerly bought this book hoping it would work the same miracles. it did not. it doesn't focus so much on the OOP aspects of java, and frankly is very confusing. i was quite dissapointed.

i tried two other java books after that, and finally got it right on the second try. 'head first java' is the holy grail of java books. don't waste your time, or money.. just get 'head first java' and thank me later :)

Editorial Review:

• Eight minibooks comprising nearly 900 pages give developers the tips and techniques they need to get up and running on the new J2SE 6 (Java Standard Edition 6) and JDK 6 (Java Development Kit 6)
• This friendly, all-inclusive reference delivers the lowdown on Java language and syntax fundamentals as well as Java server-side programming, with explanations, reference information, and how-to instructions for both beginning and intermediate-to-advanced programmers
• Minibooks cover Java basics; programming basics; strings, arrays, and collections; programming techniques; Swing; Web programming; files and databases; and fun and games

Java Enterprise in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (Nutshell Handbook)

David Flanagan, Jim Farley, William Crawford

List Price: $29.95 Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $3.77

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Nothing is as constant as change, and this is as true in enterprise computing as anywhere else. Since Java Enterprise in a Nutshell was first published in September of 1999, a dozen or more new APIs have been added to the platform, reflecting the new and different ways developers implement their enterprise objectives. And now developers are being called on to add even greater, more complex levels of interconnectivity to their applications, as the concepts behind Web Services solidify and implementation decisions need coding. Java developers today need a clear understanding of the new APIs, tools, capabilities and pitfalls in J2EE 2.0 so they can plan a technology and implementation strategy for new enterprise projects. Fortunately, this is exactly what they get with the new Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, 2nd edition! Completely revised and updated for the new 2.0 version of Sun Microsystems Java Enterprise Edition software, Java Enterprise in a Nutshell 2nd edition covers all of the J2EE APIs, including RMI, Java IDL, JDBC, JNDI, Java Servlet, and Enterprise JavaBeans, with a fast-paced tutorial and compact reference on each technology. Then Java Enterprise in a Nutshell goes even further, providing a classic O'Reilly-style quick reference for all of the classes in the various packages that comprise the Enterprise APIs - covering the core enterprise APIs as well as numerous standard extensions.

JDBC(TM) API Tutorial and Reference (3rd Edition) (Java Series)

Maydene Fisher, Jon Ellis, Jonathan Bruce

Amazon Price: $54.68 List Price: $64.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall PTR Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $29.67

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> Relational Databases
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> Java & Databases
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book provides the definitive tutorial and reference to the JDBC API, the technology that enables universal data access for the Java programming language. This new edition has been updated and expanded to cover the entire JDBC 3.0 API, including the java.sql package and the javax.sql package, the package that facilitates building server-side applications. Containing in-depth explanations that go beyond the specification, this complete resource pairs a step-by-step tutorial with a comprehensive reference to every class and interface. For those new to Java technology, the book includes an introduction to the Java programming language and to SQL. It builds on this basic knowledge to walk you through the creation of a JDBC application--from setting up a database and establishing a connection to retrieving values from result sets and using prepared statements. In addition, the authors provide many examples along the way that demonstrate how to execute common tasks.The book then turns to more advanced topics, focusing on features such as scrollable and updatable result sets, batch updates, SQL99 data types, custom mapping, savepoints, statement pooling, automatically generated keys, and more. In addition to in-depth coverage of the JDBC metadata API, the book gives you the latest information on rowsets, the technology that makes it possible to handle data sets as JavaBeans components. As an added bonus, you get a preview of the standard implementations for JdbcRowSet, CachedRowSet, WebRowSet, JoinRowSet, and FilteredRowSet objects. From Array to XADataSource, an easy-to-use alphabetical reference provides concise but complete information on each class and interface in the JDBC API. Each entry includes an overview with usage examples as well as a comprehensive explanation of the methods and fields. A chapter on mapping SQL types and types in the Java programming language, an appendix for driver writers, a summary of the new features in the JDBC 2.0 and 3.0 APIs, and a glossary complete this indispensable resource for all database programmers.The Java Series is supported, endorsed, and authored by the creators of the Java technology at Sun Microsystems, Inc. It is the official place to go for complete, expert, and definitive information on Java technology. The books in this Series provide the inside information you need to build effective, robust, and portable applications and applets. The Series is an indispensable resource for anyone targeting the Java 2 platform. 0321173848B05222003

Java(TM) Message Service API Tutorial and Reference: Messaging for the J2EE(TM) Platform (Java Series)

Mark Hapner, Rich Burridge, Rahul Sharma, Joseph Fialli, Kim Haase

Amazon Price: $41.01 List Price: $49.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall PTR Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $16.78

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Networking -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Java Message Service (JMS) represents a powerful solution for communicating between Java enterprise applications, software components, and legacy systems. In this authoritative tutorial and comprehensive reference, Sun's Java Message Service architects offer start-to-finish coverage of peer-to-peer JMS development with Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, Release 1.3. JMS is now fully integrated into the J2EE platform -- and this is the first book to show how to make the most of JMS in the context of sophisticated J2EE application development. The authors begin by introducing the JMS API to developers who are new to it. Then, with the help of extensive programming examples, they demonstrate key JMS techniques for enabling applications to create, send, receive, and read messages, and for integrating with existing back office and enterprise systems. Coverage includes: consuming messages asynchronously with message-driven beans; producing messages from application clients; accessing entity beans from message-driven bean; producing messages from session beans; and much more. For all Java developers building applications that must communicate and share information.

Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition (2nd Edition)

Laura Lemay, Rogers Cadenhead

List Price: $49.99 By: Sams Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $0.38

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 88 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Very nice 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I just wanted to increase the rating of the book from the 3.5 stars it has. I disagree with the majority of complaints people had earlier on. This book is very good, and very friendly. It is broken into days, and each new day is a new section which builds upon previous days while improving upon the information you need to know. It repeats some information as you progress thru the 21 sections, but in a clever way. It may be a bit hard for a novice programmer, but programming is not an easy task to begin with. For someone coming from a background in C/C++ or .NET, you can probably get thru half of the book in a week. Overall, this book is very well designed.

Editorial Review:

Sams Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days continues to be one of the most popular, bestselling Java tutorials on the market. It has been acclaimed for its clear and personable writing, for its extensive use of examples, and for its logical and complete organization. The Professional Reference Edition of the book includes an extra seven chapters covering advanced topics like object serialization, remote method invocation, accessibility, security, JavaBeans, JDBC, and advanced data structures - as well as a 200-page reference section detailing the most commonly used aspects of the Java language. The book's CD-ROM will include all the source code for the book's examples, a fully functional Java compiler, and demo versions of leading Java development tools.

Java 2: The Complete Reference, Fifth Edition

Herbert Schildt

List Price: $49.99 By: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $14.39

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 73 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Begineers Delight !!! 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

The best way to learn a new programming language is to churn a lot of code and get familiar with the language semantics and richness. Mr. Schildt follows the same teaching paradigm and initiates a novice in the world of OOPs programming using Java.

The book is of course not suitable for a person who has some background in Java. The book definitely targets the uninitiated in the OOPs concept and builds up considerably upon the concepts gradually. Some pros about the book:
* The book covers the language basics very neatly.
* Numerous examples make the comprehension better.
* Chapter on 'Multithreading' and 'Exceptions' are well written and neatly illustrated with working examples.
* Treatment of Java Event Delegation Model is one of the best among all the available texts.

Some cons for the same:
* Less focus on Swing and more on AWT.
* Very little coverage of important topics like 'RMI' and 'Serialisation'.
* Poor treatment of important topics like 'Inner Classes'.

All in all from a novices' perspective, the book presents a good starting point. But from an advanced programmers' point of view - the book has still miles to go.

Editorial Review:

This book is the most complete and up-to-date resource on Java from programming guru, Herb Schildt -- a must-have desk reference for every Java programmer.

The Java(TM) Developers Almanac 1.4, Volume 1: Examples and Quick Reference (4th Edition) (Java Series)

Patrick Chan

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Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Thousands of expert Java developers rely on The Java Developers Almanac for the fast answers they need to save time -- and the authoritative guidance they need to build great applications. Together, the Part A and Part B volumes are twice as big as the previous edition, The Java Developers Almanac Version 1.4 offers up-to-the-minute, thorough quick-reference information for every major version of the core Java Class Libraries, from JDKs 1.0/1.1 through the brand-new J2SE Version 1.4. You'll find updated coverage of 2,100 classes and 24,000 members -- all formatted, organized, and cross-referenced for easy lookup. No other quick ref includes as much information. The book is now printed in 2-color -- so it's even easier to find what you're looking for. The Java Developers Almanac Version 1.4 presents detailed analyses of API changes for each release, and 300+ "examplets " succinctly demonstrating each package's key operations. This, Part A, and its companion Part B, are logically divided in a way programmers will understand. Both volumes are essential resources for every Java developer.