Java Cookbook, Second Edition

With the completely revised and thoroughly updated Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition, Java developers like you will learn by example, try out new features, and use sample code to understand how new additions to the language and platform work--and how to put them to work for you.

This comprehensive collection of problems, solutions, and practical examples will satisfy Java developers at all levels of expertise. Whether you're new to Java programming and need something to bridge the gap between theory-laden reference manuals and real-world programs or you're a seasoned Java programmer looking for a new perspective or a different problem-solving context, this book will help you make the most of your Java knowledge.

Packed with hundreds of tried-and-true Java recipes covering all of the major APIs from the 1.4 version of Java, this book also offers significant first-look recipes for the most important features of the new 1.5 version, which is in beta release. You get practical solutions to everyday problems, and each is followed by a detailed, ultimately useful explanation of how and why the technology works.

Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition includes code segments covering many specialized APIs--like those for working with Struts, Ant and other new popular Open Source tools. It also includes expanded Mac OS X Panther coverage and serves as a great launching point for Java developers who want to get started in areas outside of their specialization.

In this major revision, you'll find succinct pieces of code that can be easily incorporated into other programs. Focusing on what's useful or tricky--or what's useful and tricky--Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition is the most practical Java programming book on the market.

I'm impressed by how comprehensive the coverage is: 26 chapters covering such things as file i/o, Swing, RMI, applets, Java Servlets, JSP, e-mail, JDBC, XML, multi-threading... At 48 pages, the index is HUGE, just what you need to look things up!

The author assumes you know Java but not as well as you ought to! He explains all those things that I really should know but I never get around to figuring out properly: the correct handling of dates/times, internationalization, floating point numbers, etc. Thankfully, the book is concise and easy to read so you can quickly plug a bunch of gaps in your knowledge by browsing over chapters.

This book will quickly pay for itself. Enjoy.


My favorite type of supplemental reference manual...   August 1, 2004
Thomas Duff (Portland, OR United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I make no apologies about being an "R&D" developer... "Rob & Duplicate". I learn best by seeing something that works, and then adapting it to my own needs. Therefore, a book like Java Cookbook by Ian Darwin (O'Reilly) is the exact type of book I look for and use on a regular basis.

The chapter breakdown: Getting Started; Interacting With The Environment; Strings and Things; Pattern Matching with Regular Expressions; Numbers; Dates and Times; Structuring Data with Java; Data Structuring with Generics, foreach, and Enumerations; Object-Oriented Techniques; Input and Output; Directory and Filesystem Operations; Programming External Devices: Serial and Parallel Ports; Graphics and Sound; Graphical User Interfaces; Internationalization and Localization; Network Clients; Server-Side Java: Sockets; Network Clients II: Applets and Web Clients; Java and Electronic Mail; Database Access; XML; Distributed Java: RMI; Packages and Packaging; Threaded Java; Introspection, or "A Class Named Class"; Using Java with Other Languages

For those unfamiliar with the "Cookbook" style, the chapters have a series of real-life problems, such as playing a sound file, playing a video clip, and printing in Java. The problem is followed by a short one or two line solution and an expanded discussion of the issue complete with code. This approach makes it really easy to find something that is similar to the issue you're facing and to see how someone else would solve it.

For me, the quality of this book is really high. It's a second edition covering the Java 1.5 package, so it's fully up on the current technology. In fact, the Generics chapter deals exclusively with new features in 1.5. Some of the solutions are code classes developed by the author and made available for download. But unlike some books I've reviewed where the author supplies code, this isn't an attempt to push their company or product. It's just a clean way to use a solution that someone else has worked through.

This isn't a book you'd use to learn Java from scratch, but it's a book you'll use on a regular basis as you continue to expand your Java knowledge. Highly recommended.


Great source for how to code specific situations   October 10, 2004
Harold McFarland (Florida)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

Anyone who has been involved in programming very long soon comes to realize the value of the various programming cookbooks. The cookbooks are not for the person who wants to learn how to program in a particular language, but are very useful for programmers with a basic knowledge of the language. The idea is simple, take the most common problems people deal with and put the solutions into a book. Simply state the problem and then show the code to resolve it. So, if you need to know how to do something you can look it up, enter the code, and test it.

Some of the chapter subjects include Interacting with the Environment, Strings and Things, Pattern Matching, Numbers, Dates and Times, Object-Oriented Techniques, Directory and Filesystem Operations, Graphics and Sound, Network Clients, Server-Side Java, Database Access, XML, and Threaded Java. Typical of any of the programming cookbooks, it is a quick and easy source for answers. Each item has a short explanation of the problem and then goes straight to the code to demonstrate how it works. A great time saver and required resource for Java programmers, Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition is highly recommended.