Comments about O'Reilly Media Java Swing:

I've read a lot of technical books, and they seem to fall into one of two categories: swimming in unorganized detail or well-organized explanations with a frustrating lack of detail. This book strikes the balance perfectly. One of the joys of reading it is that I know I don't have to be sitting beside a computer with a Web browser to call up the JDK documentation for every new class that's mentioned, as I must for so many other books.

I'm new to Java, having taken only a few courses, and I must say that this is the only book I've found so far that I can read anywhere and get a complete picture of some aspect of Swing. It's so good that I often find myself absent-mindedly looking up core Java information in the book only to remember that it covers only Swing. Now what I need is a core Java book with the same layout and thorough coverage!

I notice that several people complain that the code examples don't work. I'm willing to give the book five... whatever they are... because I never try to run the examples; that's not my learning style. I study the examples as illustrations of the theories presented, and I study them thoroughly, but like written English I don't sweat minor errors. If I get the concepts, that's enough for me. So, if you learn by typing the code into your system and trying it out, perhaps you won't be so enthusiastic about this book. However, if you're like me and want to read a definitive explanation of all things Swing, then you need this book.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Java Swing:

I was much relieved to find other reviews which commented about the buggy code. I too have a rather large investement in O'Reilly books - of which I am proud, but this book is not one of them. I will be glad to change that when I can work through the code and the book simultaneously.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Java Swing:

Great Job!

As i pondered through several bookshops in search for a nice complete book on Swing i came across this one. And remebering my good past experience with O'Reilly books i decided to buy it.

I had not done any GUI programming before, only progs with horrible interfaces but since i have bought and read this book all my apps have this little something that they didn't have before.

In my opinion this book is great for anyone who knows Java well and wants to get into making Java look good and adding an easy-to-use interface to their applications. It gives a very detailed account of the different classes and how to use them, with useful examples (thinking back in horror to Bjarnes C++ reference :-)).

I would like to thank you again for a job well done. And am happy about money well spend. :-)

Comments about O'Reilly Media Java Swing:

I'm in the first chapter and I find it very frustrating that I cannot get the first example to build (or the second). Granted I'm new at Java, however, I do expect to have examples work. These examples are designed to teach and provide direction. If I had the Java skills and the time to debug these examples I would not need this book! While many readers may find it enjoyable to debug the examples, I do not. I have neither the time nor the inclination to perform the work that I've paid the authors to perform. If any of the authors purchased a device and then had to debug it to get it to work, would they be happy with it's quality? I doubt it.

I have purchased and live by other O'Reilly books, however, this one will be used as a bookend and I will look at other Java Swing books. This one does not live up to the O'Reilly standard and I will recommend that others avoid it as well.

Tom Matthews

Comments about O'Reilly Media Java Swing:

That book is just the Bible !!!

Swing is the most powerful way to increase the GUI in Java applications.

It includes many new controls, a larger number of pannels and containers, the ability to create moveable boxes of icons, viewports... and many new other features !

What should be said is that this book is NOT for Java beginners !!! There are too many deep aspects of Java that must be known before to read this book...

In general, I had a lot of pleasure to read this book, I learned a lot of stuff and will surely apply this knowledge as soon as possible...

Comments about O'Reilly Media Java Swing:

Sirs,

I am unclear as to why you have not officially 'fixed' errors in code in your book 'Java Swing'. Let me initially state that I am not writing to 'bash' you, I am simply expressing my disappointment and surprise.

Case in point.....

pg.35 'Sim......Frame'.... Excuse me, but there are three authors of this book, correct? Doesn't it bother any of you that since 1998 (first printing?) no repair has been done to the code here? Make this code work as is.... go ahead.. guess what.... you can't!!!!! (How about internalFrame.setVisible(true);)??????

I'm a beginner at this, it's true, but so are many other people who spend their money on a book the three of you wrote. I'm not declaring myself an expert by any means, but I don't understand why things like this aren't addressed and fixed.

The next example..... 'Web Site Manager'

It is described as 'a bit of fun' and 'robust error checking gets in the way of having fun, and that's all we're really trying to accomplish with this application.' Fun for who??? Didn't you put yourselves in the shoes of your readers?? This example is a monolith. Yes, I'm impressed that there are methods and classes flying all over the place, but how does it help me if I can't get it to run??

This book cost me $44.95 at Barnes and Noble. I'm not writing to get my money back, I'm trying to let you see this book from the perspective of a non-expert.

(And why write with experts as your target audience? I'm willing to bet you that the majority of people buying this book are anywhere from 6 to 12 months into Java.)

I've purchased other Java books, in Horton the code is bare for the sake of teaching, and the code runs. In Deitel and Deitel the code and concepts progress through many levels, but the code runs. In Java Black Book the code runs. In Core Java2 the code runs. Why do I assume that as I continue through your book I'll be visiting this web page for errata in each chapter???

Ken Gorman

Comments about O'Reilly Media Java Swing:

I've read a large number of technical computer books, and I've found that the quality of writing

varies enormously from book to book (Wrox). And so, too, does the overall comprehensibility.

This book, however, really made my life easy. In the project I was working on, I knew pretty much

what I needed to do, and this book facilitated my understanding of Swing greatly. The text is filled

with examples and thoroughly documents each of the Swing components. I found it very helpful as a

supplement to the official Java documentation.

I hadn't read an O'Reilly book until this one and I have to say that I'm impressed. I'll be trying out some of their other books in the hopes that the quality carries over.