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Java In Easy Steps
Book by McGrath, Mike
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
14 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
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Mike McGrath
76 books5 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 22, 2018
What a great book, what great designs and what great explanations
This is by far, the best introductory book on programming with Java. I don't have any complains, except for replacing Swing with JavaFX.
Other than that i highly recommend it to anybody starting with Java, this will be of great help and benefit to them.
It seems like i'm thirsting to read other publications from this author/publisher.
This is by far, the best introductory book on programming with Java. I don't have any complains, except for replacing Swing with JavaFX.
Other than that i highly recommend it to anybody starting with Java, this will be of great help and benefit to them.
It seems like i'm thirsting to read other publications from this author/publisher.
August 6, 2020
I used this book as a beginner primarily for a reference. I love the color coded chapters and I found it easy to find syntax examples quickly. The index is useful as well. I did not attempt to practice the code. The code is not printed exactly in the book, but instead tells you in a prose style what to write. It is downloadable online. I think that not seeing the exact code would have been helpful. When I got to the section on Swing Java I tested some of the code and found it would not run as written. There were explanations later in the book that might have explained why, however it was frustrating, and makes it not useful for a beginner. Overall I recommend as a reference for a beginner. I do not think it would be useful for someone with more experience.
July 27, 2014
Had a difficult time finding a good book to help my 14 year old learn Java. While this book is short and relatively friendly, I wasn't entirely satisfied with it. However, it gave material for him to read when I wasn't around to work on Java projects with him.
I have the 4th edition, and I see that (as I type), a 5th edition is slated to come out in two months. If this author McGrath is reading this review, I hope he fixes the following:
1) Page 30: McGrath writes "The == equality operator compares two operands and will return true if both are exactly equal in value. If both are the same number they are equal, or if both are String values containing the same characters in the same order they are equal."
Yikes! Please add the idea of String literals to the discussion, since, yes, two matching String literals could be found to be the same with ==, but Strings in general cannot. == is for String reference equality, .equals() is for String value equality. Note, the author later gets this right on page 90.
2) Page 86: "...Math.random() method, which returns a double precision random number between 0.0 and 0.999. Multiplying the random number will specify a wider range. For example, multiplying by ten will create a random number in the range of 0.0 to 9.999."
Doing good so far, but then the author writes "Now rounding the random number up with Math.ceil() will ensure it falls within the range of 1-10 inclusive." He goes on in code to do just that.
However, there's a rare case of random returning 0, since the range is [0, 10), and this would cause his approach to fail. That's why coders write Math.floor(Math.random()*10 + 1) instead of Math.ceil(Math.random()*10).
3) The rest is more nitpicking. Might be nice to drop the applets section, or at least describe how they now (don't) work with all the new security constraints. Perhaps beginners don't need to think that jumping to label names is the only way to achieve flow control within double-nested blocks. Etc.
I have the 4th edition, and I see that (as I type), a 5th edition is slated to come out in two months. If this author McGrath is reading this review, I hope he fixes the following:
1) Page 30: McGrath writes "The == equality operator compares two operands and will return true if both are exactly equal in value. If both are the same number they are equal, or if both are String values containing the same characters in the same order they are equal."
Yikes! Please add the idea of String literals to the discussion, since, yes, two matching String literals could be found to be the same with ==, but Strings in general cannot. == is for String reference equality, .equals() is for String value equality. Note, the author later gets this right on page 90.
2) Page 86: "...Math.random() method, which returns a double precision random number between 0.0 and 0.999. Multiplying the random number will specify a wider range. For example, multiplying by ten will create a random number in the range of 0.0 to 9.999."
Doing good so far, but then the author writes "Now rounding the random number up with Math.ceil() will ensure it falls within the range of 1-10 inclusive." He goes on in code to do just that.
However, there's a rare case of random returning 0, since the range is [0, 10), and this would cause his approach to fail. That's why coders write Math.floor(Math.random()*10 + 1) instead of Math.ceil(Math.random()*10).
3) The rest is more nitpicking. Might be nice to drop the applets section, or at least describe how they now (don't) work with all the new security constraints. Perhaps beginners don't need to think that jumping to label names is the only way to achieve flow control within double-nested blocks. Etc.
March 18, 2013
Although slightly dated in a few areas, this is an excellent introduction for people new to programming, Java or both. It walks you slowly through each aspect, with plenty of explanation and documentation for every example, and gives indications of best practice.
It would be wise to obtain a more current version, if available, just to make sure everything is still the same, but on the whole this is a good, non-threatening book for those just starting out.
It would be wise to obtain a more current version, if available, just to make sure everything is still the same, but on the whole this is a good, non-threatening book for those just starting out.
December 21, 2019
Lesson plan in a book
Whether you're teaching yourself Java or teaching it to others, the pace, repetition, and clarity of Java in easy steps make it enjoyable. I recommend dedicating a chapter per two hours of instruction, or a little less for the self-guided learner. You'll want to start exploring official documentation early, alongside the guides practice in this book. Relax and explore! Java is easy when you take it in small steps!
Whether you're teaching yourself Java or teaching it to others, the pace, repetition, and clarity of Java in easy steps make it enjoyable. I recommend dedicating a chapter per two hours of instruction, or a little less for the self-guided learner. You'll want to start exploring official documentation early, alongside the guides practice in this book. Relax and explore! Java is easy when you take it in small steps!
July 20, 2013
Although this is in easy steps, understanding it still takes programming knowledge, and the writing style is grad school level (I typed a few paragraphs into Word and let it do the spell and equivalency tests.)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews