Java in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference for Java Programmers

David Flanagan

ISBN 10: 156592262X / ISBN 13: 9781565922624

Published by OReilly Media, 1997

About this Item

Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Damaged cover. The cover of is slightly damaged for instance a torn or bent corner. Grubby book may have mild dirt or some staining, mostly on the edges of pages.

Seller Inventory # CHL5161651

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Java in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference for Java Programmers
• Publisher: OReilly Media
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 156592262X
• ISBN 13: 9781565922624
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: Used; Good

About this title

Synopsis

Updated to cover Version 1.1 of the Java Development Kit (JDK), this quick-reference guide to Java contains descriptions of all of the classes in the Java Core API, with a listing of all methods and variables. The cross-reference indices provide access to all of the details of the JDK 1.1 API. The book also describes the syntax of the Java language.

Review

The 3rd edition of the well-known reference Java In a Nutshell covers the essential APIs of Java 1.2, including networking, security, input and output, and basic language and utility classes. Due to the size of the Java 1.2 API, graphics and graphical user interface classes are now examined in a volume called Java Foundation Classes in a Nutshell and server-side and enterprise programming are detailed in Java Enterprise in a Nutshell.

Though primarily a reference, the book starts off with a thorough, fast-paced introduction to Java, exploring all the key topics including syntax, Object-Oriented programming, security, beans and tools. These discussions are brief and very information-dense but if you are buying this book to learn the language, you will probably be overwhelmed by the speed of this initiation.

This book intends to document quite a bit of Java and it easily succeeds with broad coverage of Java programming in Part I and API cataloguing broken down by package in Part II. For example, discussions in Part I explain types, reflection, and dynamic loading. The handling of these topics takes a little over a page but the book gives a useful overview with code examples that clearly illustrate the points made. It is one of the clearest and most concise treatments of these three topics available.

The chapters in Part II include an introduction, diagrams, and sections for each class in the package. The sections for each class can be very informative, as in the discussion of the Socket class in the java.net chapter, which includes how to instantiate a Socket object, getting I/Ostreams from the object you instantiated, and how to alter the behaviour of sockets. This discussion, like most in this book, is brief, clear and to the point.

If you are looking for a Java reference, this is a solid volume that will provide lasting value. --John Keogh

Topics covered: Part I, Introducing Java, provides broad coverage of Java programming topics, including: data types, syntax, classes and objects, Java file structure, inner classes, interfaces, packages, creating and initialising objects, destroying and finalising objects, input/output, cryptography, networking, security, threads, Java Beans, Java Doc and tools that come with Java 1.2 SDK.

Part II, the Java API Quick Reference, includes chapters on the following Java packages: java.beans, java.beans.beancontext, java.io, java.lang, java.lang.ref, java.lang.reflect, java.math, java.net, java.security, java.security.acl, java.security.cert, java.security.interfaces, java.security.spec, java.text, java.util, java.util.jar, java.util.zip, javax.crypto, javax.crypto.interfaces, javax.crypto.spec and a final chapter which provides an index for classes, methods and fields.