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Professional Java Fundamentals by Shy Cohen

ISBN: 1-861000-38-3       Publisher: Wrox Press       Pages: 490pp       Price: £32-49

Categories:   java

Reviewed by Ruben Galea in C Vu 9-3 (Mar 1997)

The book starts with a quick guide to the Java language and syntax, which is very similar to C++. After these introductions, the book moves on to discuss the implementation of object-oriented programming principles in Java and a look at some of the fundamental Java classes. Inheritance, abstraction, polymorphism and Java's comprehensive exception handling are also discussed.

The rest of the book concentrates on advanced techniques, starting with a look at how multithreading can enhance the performance of Java applets and applications. File input and output and the use of pipes complement the thorough study of advanced Java features.

Five chapters are devoted to the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), an integral part of the Java class library. Event handling techniques are analysed together with the graphics potential of the AWT, including fonts, colours, drawing primitives and animation techniques. Finally, an in-depth look at the GUI building blocks and the respective layout managers are illustrated.

A whole chapter is devoted to the networking capabilities of Java, showing both the principles and practice of implementing a library of network-related functions. A close look is taken at the interfacing capabilities between Java and C++. This chapter looks at the way Java can make use of C and C++ in application development to rectify current deficiencies in the Java language.

The book is well structured and the advanced Java features are illustrated throughout by practical examples. This book is also supported by the WROX web site at http://www.wrox.com/and all source code can be downloaded from the web site.

However, apart from the material available at the web site there is little to recommend this book above other Java titles. Personally I would shop around for something better, especially as this is not a book for the Java novice.