Java in a Nutshell 7e: A Desktop Quick Reference

I was already familiar with the Oreilly books, named (language-name) In a Nutshell. They tend to be written, not only for people who are already familiar with computer programming, but who are already familiar with the language in question. They aim to give a complete reference for the language in question. Since I was already familiar with Java 1.2, from the 1990s, I felt that this book was just what I needed, to bring me up to speed with Java 11. The book on Java 17 would presumably be just as good in quality, only, I happen to have Java 11 installed on my machines.The book has 13 main chapters, and I read all the chapters except for 10 and 13. I find that chapter 10 would have been too much of a memorization exercise, and if I need to know what is written there, I can just go back and pull this book out as a reference.I do not think I need to know most of what is written in chapter 13, because that covers the command-line, build tools. And I tend to use an IDE, which runs those tools in the background.-Dirk

This book is aimed at experienced programmers. It's concise because it doesn't teach programming, but instead focuses on the specifics of Java. I imagine this book would work very well for veterans of other object oriented languages such as C#, C++ or Python; however, I started reading this with 10 years of experience in C, and still found it a perfect balance of technical depth and brevity. (The JVM is written in C, and this book is very good at calling out how Java concepts were implemented -- perfect for C programmers.)This is one of only a handful of technical books that I've basically read cover-to-cover. (It's also been a terrific reference.) After reading this book, I was able to pivot directly from a senior C developer to a senior Java developer.If you're new to Java, I'd recommend following it up with a book on the Java ecosystem, such as "The Well Rounded Java Developer". If you're new OOP, I'd recommend following it up with a book on best-practices, such as "Effective Java" or "Clean Code". And, if you're one of the many Java developers who will be working with Spring, definitely check out "Spring in Action".

Great book!

Ich hatte einst vor ca. 20 Jahren die allererste Ausgabe dieses Buches gekauft und intensiv benutzt - mittlerweile mag es im Internet viel mehr Information geben, aber dieses Buch ist trotzdem noch sehr nützlich. Auf relativ wenig Seiten jede Menge Information zu Java als Sprache und Laufzeitumgebung, inklusive Praxistipps und auch Begründungen für manche Eigenheiten, die sich im Laufe der Zeit ergeben haben.Für moderat fortgeschrittene Entwickler eine gute Investition, aber auch für Wiedereinsteiger die nicht alle Neuerungen mitbekommen haben. Anfänger werden hier wohl etwas überfordert.

I already do coding in java, but this book has shed light on some features I didn't know.