Open Sources Resources

Product Details

* Paperback: 784 pages
* Publisher: Addison Wesley; 5 edition (February 15, 2006)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0321409493
* ISBN-13: 978-0321409492
* Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 1.3 inches

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
For almost a decade, Java Software Solutions has been the worldwide best-selling textbook for introduction to programming using the Java language. This text is renowned for providing a solid foundation in programming techniques that leads to well-designed object-oriented software. The authors’ emphasis on building solid problem solving and solid design skills is bolstered by their integration of a multitude of small and large realistic programming examples.

This is a very good book, to the right audience. It is first and foremost an introduction to programming, second an introduction to programming in an object-oriented language, and third, an introduction to Java.

So, the keys to liking this book are:

1. You have not programmed before, or only a little

2. You want to learn to program in an object-oriented language

3. You want solid skills, not to add Java to your resume

If your main goal is to learn Java, or to learn enough Java to apply for a Java programming job, there are better books. In this book Java is a means to an end, that of learning to write software. You’ll learn a fair amount of Java — nothing to sneeze at, definitely — but it’s only the first step of many towards mastery of the Java platform (which is *huge*, no one book will tell you all you need to know).

If, on the other hand, you don’t know how to program, and think you might like to learn, this is a pretty good book, and you’ll learn enough Java to be ready for the next level.

Java illustrated thoroughly for first year students

Java is arguably the best computer language to use when teaching programming, especially for first year Computer Science students. This is mainly due to the fact that Java is easy to learn, widely available and most importantly free to use. For first year students who are just getting their feet wet, and trying to break into the complex and vast field of Computer Science, Java’s wide acceptance in the real-world is certainly a big plus. But Java does have its flaws, and one of which is caused by the fact that it is free to use. Java is big, very big. A professional would have to spend his entire career trying to learn Java and its related technology in its fullness. For most professionals, however, one section is enough to build our careers on, whether it being Server Side Java, GUI and front-end, Wireless Java, Enterprise Java, Messaging, etc… The point is, if one is to understand and learn some of these advanced topics, one needs a good foundation and understanding of the core Java programming language.

Java Software Solutions by Lewis and Loftus IS that book. This book is self contained and had everything a first year Computer Science student would ever need. As I mentioned, Java is very big and there are lots of information available out there that a newbie would need to spend an unprecedented amount of hours making sense out of all the available information on this topic. The book contains the necessary Java API - the one’s that were used in the book and some extra one’s that are needed, so the student does not have to spend extra time searching for something rather trivial. The same goes for Regular Expressions, JavaDoc usage, GUI event handling procedures and many others. I agree that students need to be prepared and have to know how to find these types of information, but wouldn’t you, as the instructor, like to have the option of not having to spend your lecture time telling your students where to download JavaDoc’s usage guides? Wouldn’t you, as the student, like to have all the necessary information you need at the tip of your fingers instead of having to search for something new all the time? This book is well packed with all the necessary and extra information required for the first time newbie students going thru a programming class. For someone new, having to learn to program and all the new concepts and terms is overwhelming, and it is rather nice to be able to go to the end of the book and get the information you need. The book also gives enough background and introduction to the topic that even a person new to computers can come up to speed with all the necessary information to get going with topic at hand.

How about the rest of the book? In one phrase, this book is well illustrated. That’s right, illustrated. Code snippets, examples from simple to a large and rather complicated “PaintBox” project, using figures and graphs to demonstrate program flow and language syntax and inserting program outputs right after the program source code for easy access mark some of the illustrations of this book. The end of each chapter is used to wrap up the topic just covered with a “summary of key concepts” area, which is very thorough in fact, followed by “Self review questions”, “Exercises” and “Programming projects.” The answers to the “Self review questions” are given, and the exercises and the programming projects at the end of the chapter can be used by the instructors to further educate and teach the Java programming language to their students. Since this book is also CodeMate “enabled”, which means students can view, compile, run, and edit select programming problems and all code listings from the text book.

If you want your students to succeed as Software Engineers or even good programmers, you need to start them of on a good foundation of Software Engineering best practices and sound engineering and programming guidelines and methodologies. Lewis and Loftus’s Java Software Solutions promote best practices and object oriented techniques and methodologies throughout their book. Either it being simple UML class diagrams to further illustrate the design, talking about inheritance and why it’s required or even coding guidelines and code documentation, this book it field with the necessary tools, techniques and methodologies to get your first year Computer Science students on the right track.

This book also comes with the required slides, tests, lab manual, solutions set and instruction’s manual to aid the instructors in their teaching, and a CD packed with the source code, the latest Java (J2SE 1.5) and tools and goodies used throughout the book for the students.