Comments about oreilly Java 5.0 Tiger: A Developer's Notebook:

Overall Java 5.0 Tiger A Developer's Notebook was a quick informative read. The subject was audience appropriate and, as promised, did not waste time rehashing a basic Java tutorial.

The examples were easy to follow and thorough though sometimes trivial. In particular the explanation of using parameterized Maps seemed too long considering the simple nature of the topic. One example on Enums on page 40 was fairly confusing due to an unintentional typo while, amusingly enough, describing the dangers of typos.

I found the explanation of Generics useful especially the section dealing with type wildcards. The Enum section was particularly useful to me as I am have been converting work code over to use Enums. Also, while I have worked with Enums before I have not added methods to them, nor did I realized this functionality existed before reading the book. The section on Auto Boxing was interesting though could have been shorter in length as not much has changed from a user's standpoint. Before reading the book, I did not know about the new variable length argument list feature. I found this section particularly helpful. I found that the book seemed too dwell for too long on annotations which did not hold much interest for me. The section on formatting was informative and the jab at C fans was amusing.

This book was very helpful in highlighting the new features of Java 5.0.

Comments about oreilly Java 5.0 Tiger: A Developer's Notebook:

Well done! I have been looking for this feedback coz multiple times the same has happened to me in case of orielly books. Not having the soft copy of code makes it impossible to cross check whether author is bluffing or not. And all those who have read exhaustively enough would know that some authors simply print out things which they aren't sure of themselves.

Comments about oreilly Java 5.0 Tiger: A Developer's Notebook:

This book provides a good overview of the new 1.5 language features. The only thing I did not like was the chapter on the new concurrent packages. I thought it was more confusing than helpful.

Comments about oreilly Java 5.0 Tiger: A Developer's Notebook:

"Java 1.5 Tiger – A Developer's Notebook" has all the information and quality we have come to expect from O'Reilly. However, the developer's notebook series has a very different style than the animal books. The book was a true page-turner and I read all 171 pages in two days.

This book really looks like a notebook complete with notes in the margins, graph paper and coffee cup stains! There is also plenty of room in the margins for the reader to add notes. This book is informative, useful and looks really cool!

A guru narrates the book. He tells you about Java 1.5 and answers your questions. Each chapter discusses several labs in a task/how to I do that?/what about ... format. It is like the author walks you through doing the labs. It really does read like a conversation. As the authors put it – "All lab, no lecture."

The code examples begin on page two and are prevalent throughout the book. The authors give warnings about common pitfalls and tasks that you cannot do – just like you would expect a guru to do. The authors also give opinions and recommendations.

The book assumes a working knowledge of java 1.4 (or earlier.) This is especially important in the conncurrency section. There is excellent cross-referencing so the chapters and tasks can be read in almost any order. I would not give a 5 unless a book was amazing. This one earned it!

Comments about oreilly Java 5.0 Tiger: A Developer's Notebook:

July 7, 2004:

Where are the code samples that are promised? The books says to check

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/javaadn/

but I don't see anything there.

-- Vladimir