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Your search returned 1 matching documents
Wicked Cool Java
by
Brian D. Eubanks
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No Starch Press
1 edition
November 2005
248 pages
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Reviewed by Katrina Owen, October 2007
      (6 of 10)
Wicked Cool Java reads like a blog. I'd probably visit the blog regularly. Some days I'd skim, some days I'd read through thoroughly, and occasionally I'd bookmark for future reference. I'd probably go to the blog and do searches now and then when attempting to approach new (to me) problems, and I'd browse the archives some days while procrastinating.
Topics covered range from generics and String manipulation to MIDI and harmonics, from graphs and graphics to scientific applications, from semantics to logic, artificial intelligence and neural networks to programming lego robots.
I'm sure every single bit covered is Wicked Cool to someone... though it is difficult to imagine any one person finding ALL of it to be Wicked Cool. Except maybe the author, who expresses an admirable amount of enthusiasm and interest!
The target audience is people who have a good basic familiarity with Java, and are ready to see what wonders will pop out if you poke it in unexpected places.
If you are very new to programming, a lot of the discussions might be difficult to follow.
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More info at Amazon.com
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No Starch Press
1 edition
November 2005
248 pages
|
Reviewed by Jason Menard, March 2006
(6 of 10)
"Wicked Cool Java", by Brian D. Eubanks, bills itself as "an idea sourcebook" for Java developers who are "looking for interesting and useful APIs or for project ideas." This book serves as an introduction to a hodge-podge of APIs covering a breadth of topics. Eubanks devotes sections of the book to such overarching topics as processing XML and HTML, the semantic web, scientific and mathematical applications, graphics and data visualization, and multimedia among others.
I do have a couple of problems with the book. The first two chapters are "Java Language and the Core API" and "String Utilities." Given the stated objectives of the book, I have a hard time seeing where the first two chapters fit in. My other gripe is that URLs aren't given for most of the APIs under discussion. Instead the author expects us to visit the book's website for this information. While this isn't a big problem, it certainly is annoying.
Complaints aside, I did enjoy reading about many of the APIs that I was unfamiliar with. The text does inspire me to want to try out some of the material presented therein, which is after all what Eubanks was trying to accomplish. So while I might not call it "Wicked Cool", "Kinda Cool" might be a bit more appropriate.
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More info at Amazon.com
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No Starch Press
1 edition
November 2005
248 pages
|
Reviewed by Mark Spritzler, January 2006
 (7 of 10)
So what should I make of Wicked Cool Java. This Book has a bunch of "Code Bits, Open-Source Libraries, and Project Ideas", and it does. However, some of the bits and libraries might not be of interest to me or you at this moment, and just cool to look at, but misses on the wicked side.
There are core Java stuff, String stuff, parsing stuff, Math neuro net stuff, RSS feeds, and more. So, there isn't any one thing that is covered completely throughout the book. This is where I think this book misses. Because you might use an example and not use another till years later, or never.
I'd rather do a Google search. These items could be split into articles and posted on one web site.
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