The Elements of Java Style

by Allan Vermeulen, Scott W. Ambler, Greg Bumgardner

The Elements of Java Style, written by renowned author Scott Ambler, Alan Vermeulen, and a team of programmers from Rogue Wave Software, is directed at anyone who writes Java code. Many books explain the syntax and basic use of Java; however, this essential guide explains not only what you can do with the syntax, but what you ought to do. Just as Strunk and White's The Elements of Style provides rules of usage for the English language, this text furnishes a set of rules for Java practitioners. While illustrating these rules with parallel examples of correct and incorrect usage, the authors offer a collection of standards, conventions, and guidelines for writing solid Java code that will be easy to understand, maintain, and enhance. Java developers and programmers who read this book will write better Java code, and become more productive as well. Indeed, anyone who writes Java code or plans to learn how to write Java code should have this book next to his/her computer.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Nonfiction, Reference

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Martynas Petkevičius]

The book is written for early Java without generics or enums, thus is terribly outdated. The suggested style conventions are rather... unconventional: I'm yet to see a large enough Java project which uses two-space indentation or which breaks a line before else statement. Also, the examples in the book don't adhere to its own coding standards. Though, I found a few useful tips with regards to software architecture.

[Henock Zewde]

It was a busy tube ride into work, and the guy opposite me had is nose buried in this. It piqued my curiosity, and I bought on a whim. After reading it I wrote code with a lot more thought towards the guy (probably myself) trying to understand it some time later.

[Jack Repenning]

Good treatment of a topic that, ideally, should be treated quickly yet well. Particularly handy as a basis for a team style standard ... "Vermeulen, but with all open-braces on their own lines" or like that.

[Scott]

Nice pocket book on Java style

[Laire]

great to see some examples of code