ISBN0-13-149202-0

This book was written by someone who truly knows how to teach and not merely transmit knowledge from brain to paper. His treatment of object oriented programming concepts in chapters 4 and 5 is FLAWLESS. No other author does such a thorough job (this includes Deitel, Horton, Schildt, Cadenhead, etc) and I speak as the owner of these (and other texts). Let this book be your first stop towards obtaining the Sun Java Programmer and Developer Certifications as well as IBM's Websphere Certifications. But don't forget to purchase the Java Language Specification as well.

I have just completed (i need only two more chapters) the first of edition of this book. While not as exhaustive as the the edition for sale here I can tell you the author is good at what he does. I haven't decided if I am going to purchase this edition but let me say that the author's prose style reminds me of the best computer programming books I read while I was an undergraduate at the University of Florida in the early 90's. This book is suitable for teaching a first or second year class of computer science students at a university. Unlike those silly "Teach yourself Java programming in 24 hours" this is the kind of programming book that really teaches you something.

The author, Savitch, writes some of the best-written, easy-to-read computer language books. The fourth edition is a concisely-written, enjoyable book with excellent examples and coverage of Java 5.0, which is the newest, latest revision as of January '06.

I used this book to supplement a Java course on Game Programming and got an A in the class.

The "Absolute Java" book, also written by Savitch, is a bigger book and probably more comprehensive. However, I enjoy reading this one more.

This book is excellent. The author writes about programming in a clear and concise way that makes Java make sense. While Java may not be the simplest language to start with, it is widely used throughout the industry and provides a solid stepping stone to other languages. Savitch provides many examples of code and explains how it works, step by step. Too many programming books assume the reader will fill in missing pieces. Finally, an author who fills them in for us!

But buyer beware: the access code to the website that the book promotes as free is missing. If you go to the website you will find that you actually have to pay for the privilege. Sounds like the classic bait and switch to me, and in a book this price, it's a real disappointment.

I exchanged many emails with the publisher, Pearson. Finally they admitted that some booksellers do not include the access code in their books. Well, why can't they make this clear in the book and on the website, instead of luring people to spend money for what is supposed to be free access?

So it's the same old story: the author is excellent but the publisher, Pearson, is unethical.

and I've seen a lot of programming books(Computer Science student)This book will have you learning Java almost effortlessly. I'm the kind of person that needs to read something several times to fully understand it, but with this book, I immediately understood the material. The author's writing stlye and simple explanations of complex problems make this book a pleasure to read. Also, you not only understand what the author says, you remeber it as well, unlike other textbooks, where you've forgotten the material 2 seconds after you close the book.

He makes the subject matter so simple and easily understood, you will know how to write Java programs after only an hour of reading. They'll be small, simple programs, but you'll be a programmer. And when you do get to more complex topics, you'll breeze through those as well.

I wish there had been a Java compiler( a compiler is what you use to write programs) included with the book, but a Google search will give you some sources for free Java compilers you can download, so no big deal.