Beginning Java Objects: Reason to have this book

[Nakata kokuyo]

hi, ms.Jacquie Barker , i would like to know what are the distint as compare to other java book ? what this book concern and focus actually ...thank you

[Jacquie Barker]

Thanks for your interest!

My book is somewhat unique among beginning Java books in that it spends as much time discussing fundamental object concepts -- which are OO language independent -- as it does the Java language. Many people are striving to master J2EE without a solid mastery of Java; and, many people who dive into Java missed the original OO "wave" of the early-to-mid '90s. My book is meant to to provide a solid jump-start for all three!

Please visit the Downloads page of my website, objectstart.com, to download a courtesy copy of the Intro to my book, which will give you a better idea of what its all about.

And, perhaps the best way to learn about a book is to hear what other readers say about it, so I encourage you to visit Amazon's website:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1590594576

Thanks again,

Jacquie

[Ashok C. Mohan]

Does your book cover concepts like class loading, instance initializers and stuff?

[Ankur Srivastava]

Hi, Ms.Jacquie Barker the one thing I am seriously looking for in a Java book is Java Memory Managment. I have read a few books on java and none of them talks about memory management in Java in detail. Does your book has enough details on this topic.

Thanks
Ankur

[Jayesh Malondkar]

I have read some of the books of APRESS and I guess this book is also good as those.
However I would like to know whether it stresses on Swing?

Also does it cover topics like RMI or CORBA.

[pankaj patil]

are there sample program (code ) in the book after theory is been explined . which will not only help to clear concept but also have practical knowledge

[Rishi Chopra]

hi sir,

Want to ask you whether your bokk covers the resons behind Java use of single inheritence model rather than using multiple inheritence like in c++?

and what is the theory behind using "INTERFACES"???

[Joe Vocioni]

Jacquie Barker,

You mentioned; people are striving to master J2EE without a solid mastery of Java. So how does your book differ from the Head First series? And is it as much fun to read? I only ask as I've spent hundereds of dollars on books in the last few months and nothing seems to getting through. I do plan to take my Java certification and if your book can offer a strong foundation so one can forge forth in there ventures, well then it's worth purchasing.

Be Well,

[moh sak]

Dear Ms.Jacquie,

i want to ask what did you feel when you write a book talking about java ? I know this question have nothing related to the java, but I want to know is it defferent to write about java? I notice that you write abook about C# in your openion which languages is more powerfull and interesting ??!!

thanx for sharing your knowledge.

[Georgy Bolyuba]

Hi, Jacquie.

I wanna ask you about the cover of your book. Have you took part in its developing? And what is located in the right top corner of the cover?

Thanks,
George.

[Manuel Moons]

I just read the reviews on Amazon and I have to say they have made me curious.

I'm going to put reading this book on my todo list (It is a long list however, maybe if the book accidentally falls into my mailbox...).

[ankur rathi]

I feel, You all are are misunderstanding the thought and purpose behind this book. This book explore Object Oriented world through Java Programming Language. It is not a Reference Book for Java Programming Language, if it is then the name is not conveying proper message.

It is just my understanding about book...

Anyway, Happy Reading!!!

[Nakata kokuyo]

what are the things introduce in second edition which beside introduce j2se5

[Sakthi Kani]

Will your book covers AWT and Threads explanation ??
Will it be helpful for SCJP1.5??

[alapati kirankumar]

Hi
Jacquie Barker
First of all i am congratulating U.
B'coz writing book is not a simple task.
You have achieved it..
Does the book contains all the stuff in detail like garbage collection and memory management, nested classes and about interfaces.
why i am asking all about all these topics is, i didnt see a single book which covered all these stuff with examples.Hope u covered all the topics in detail.
All the best..
Have A Nice Time..
kiran...
--------------------------------------
SCJP 1.4

[Jacquie Barker]

Originally posted by Ashok C.M.:
Does your book cover concepts like class loading, instance initializers and stuff?

Both of those topics happen to be covered in chapter 13 of my book, but the primary focus of my book is to orient folks new to OO (or, perhaps those for whom objects are a bit "shaky") on how to properly design a Java application from the ground up.

Regards,

Jacquie

[Jacquie Barker]

Originally posted by Ankur Srivastava:
Hi, Ms.Jacquie Barker the one thing I am seriously looking for in a Java book is Java Memory Managment. I have read a few books on java and none of them talks about memory management in Java in detail. Does your book has enough details on this topic.

Thanks
Ankur

No, I'm afraid I didn't consider it to be a beginning level OO/Java topic to delve into it in depth.

Best wishes in your search!

J.

[Jacquie Barker]

Originally posted by Jayesh Malondkar:
I have read some of the books of APRESS and I guess this book is also good as those.
However I would like to know whether it stresses on Swing?

Also does it cover topics like RMI or CORBA.

Chapters 16 and 17 are heavily devoted to Swing; and, as of this second edition, I also provide a conceptual introduction to J2EE at the end of the book, to demonstrate how the principles of model-data layer separation and model-view separation that I demonstrate with the Swing version of the Student Registration System are equally relevant when designing J2EE apps.

I do not cover RMI or CORBA, however.

Best,

J.

[Jacquie Barker]

Originally posted by pankaj patil:
are there sample program (code ) in the book after theory is been explined . which will not only help to clear concept but also have practical knowledge

One of the things that readers have loved about B.J.O. is the fact that I use a central case study (for a Student Registration System) throughout the book. Thus, by the end of the book, you'll see how a UML model evolves, and then how this model gets fleshed out into a fully functional Java application that illustrates model - view - data layer separation.


Regards,

Jacquie

[Jacquie Barker]

Originally posted by Rishi Chopra:
hi sir,

Want to ask you whether your bokk covers the resons behind Java use of single inheritence model rather than using multiple inheritence like in c++?

and what is the theory behind using "INTERFACES"???

In a nutshell, the languages designers deemed multiple inheritance one of the more confusing aspects of C++, and decided to drop it from the language in favor of interfaces. I spend a great deal of time discussing the importance of interfaces in Chapter 7 of my book; let's see if I can distill it down to a few paragraphs:

All classes are meant to serve as abstractions of real world objects. For example, there are an infinite amount of details that we can describe about a person: their height, weight, eye color; their hobbies; where they live; what they do for a living; who their parents, siblings, children, friends are; etc., etc. However, if we decide to model a person in the form of a Student (perhaps in building a Student Registration System (SRS)), we might only deem the following attributes to be important:

name

student id no.

grade point average (GPA)

major

address

phone no.

transcript

and the following behaviors:

registering for a course

dropping a course

switching a major

telling us their GPA

ignoring the many non-academic! behaviors that students are involved in. Thus, our Student class would only contain those details of a real live student that are relevant to the SRS; it is an abstraction (simplification) of a real student.

public class Student {
    private String name;
    private Department major;
    private Transcript transcript;
    // etc.
 
    public float getGPA() 
        // Pseudocode.
        step through the student's transcript to 
        compute his/her gpa ...
    }
 
    // etc.
}
 

The next step on the "abstraction spectrum" is an abstract class. With an abstract class, we leave out the details about how one or more methods is to behave, leaving it up to the deriving subclass to decide. Thus, we might change the Student class above as follows:

public abstract class Student {
    // Details omitted.
 
    // Making this method abstract.
    public abstract float getGPA();
 
    // etc.
}

so that a class derived from Student -- say, GraduateStudent -- can make up its own "mind" as to the private details about how GPA is computed: e.g.,

 
public class GraduateStudent extends Student {
    // We choose to add a gpa attribute ...
    private float gpa;
 
    // (details omitted)
 
    // ... and implement the abstract getGPA method 
    // as follows:
    public float getGPA() {
        return gpa;
    }
}

Now, what if we didn't want to prescribe ANY data structure -- only behaviors? After all, since the data structure of a class is typically private, we shouldn't much care what the data structure of a subclass winds up being -- as long as it performs all of the required public behaviors of its superclass, we'll be able to use it in our application.

We could certainly declare the Student class to be an abstract class, omitting all attributes:

public abstract class Student {
    // NO ATTRIBUTES!!! It'll be up to the derived classes to
    // figure out what data structure they'll need to implement
    // the desired behaviors.
 
    // All methods are abstract.
    public abstract float getGPA();
    public abstract void selectMajor();
    // etc.
}

However, if that's our intention -- to specify behavior without constraining the data structure necessary to support it -- then the preferred approach in Java is to declare Student as an interface. An interface may NOT declare any attributes -- only public static final variables as constants -- NOR may it declare concrete methods (methods with bodies):

code:

public abstract interface Student {
    // All methods are abstract, so we don't need to use
    // the "abstract" keyword.
    public float getGPA();
    public void selectMajor();
    // etc.
}

Then, rather than extending the Student superclass, GraduateStudent implements the Student interface:

public class GraduateStudent implements Student {
    // We choose to add a gpa attribute ...
    private float gpa;
 
    // (details omitted)
 
    // ... and implement the abstract getGPA method 
    // as follows:
    public float getGPA() {
        return gpa;
    }
}

Note that, from the standpoint of GraduateStudent, the code is the same.

The advantages of interfaces are that:

1. A single class may implement as many interfaces as it wishes, whereas the same class can only extend one parent (single inheritance);

2. We can design our applications to be more flexible when we declare variables to be of interface types. I can't do justice to all of chapter 7 here, but let's see if an example does the trick. Let's say that we define what it means to teach as follows:

 
public interface Teacher {
    public void assignGrade(Student s);
    public TextBook selectTextBook();
}

We can now declare a Professor to be a Teacher ...

public class Professor implements Teacher { ... }
 

... and a Student to be a Teacher, as well.

 
public class Student implements Teacher { ... }

Now, rather than designing a Course class as follows:

public class Course {
    private Professor instructor;
 
    public void setInstructor(Professor p) {
        instructor = p;
    }
}

which locks us in to only having Professors as Teachers, we'll design our Course class as follows:

 
public class Course {
    private [B]Teacher[/B] instructor;
 
    public void setInstructor(Teacher t) {
        instructor = t;
    }
}

This gives us more flexibility, because since Professor implements Teacher, a Professor IS A Teacher, and since Student implements Teacher, a Student IS A Teacher, as well. Thus, in our client code, we can do the following:

 
Professor p = new Professor(...);
Student s = new Student(...);
Course c1 = new Course(...);
Course c2 = new Course(...);
 
// Assign a professor to teach the first course:
c1.setInstructor(p);
// and a student to teach the second!
c2.setInstructor(s);

What's even more nifty is that any FUTURE class that implements the Teacher interface can be used as an instructor with the Course class "as is"!

I hope this helps ... and, that it gives you a sense for what Beginning Java Objects is all about: to help you understand the rationale/philosophy behind why Java/OOPLs in general are designed as they ar, and the benefits that result!

Best Regards,

Jacquie

[EFH: Fixed code tags]
[ July 12, 2005: Message edited by: Ernest Friedman-Hill ]

[Jacquie Barker]

Originally posted by Joe Vocioni:
Jacquie Barker,

You mentioned; people are striving to master J2EE without a solid mastery of Java. So how does your book differ from the Head First series? And is it as much fun to read? I only ask as I've spent hundereds of dollars on books in the last few months and nothing seems to getting through. I do plan to take my Java certification and if your book can offer a strong foundation so one can forge forth in there ventures, well then it's worth purchasing.

Be Well,

My book has been around a lot longer than the Head First series, and in fact B.J.O. was ALMOST an O'Reilly release -- TWICE!!! I've heard good things about the Head First series, but since I haven't had occasion to read the books, I can't comment in detail.

What I can say is that unless a book is specifically designed to prep you for a certification exam, it probably won't. I have a very strong opinion on the subject of certification: namely, it is intended to measure one's mastery of a subject area, and mastery comes only with practice. Thus, in an ideal world, you'd:

1. Read a good book (hopefully mine!
2. Get some non-trivial hands-on experience under your belt!
3. Read a book/take a course specifically designed for prepping for the exam of interest
4. Pass the exam with flying colors!

Now, in the real world, many folks having trouble breaking into a new technology try the approach of:

1. Read a good book ... or two ... or TEN
2. Try to pass the exam

In another of my books, Taming the Technology Tidal Wave, I offer specific suggestions on how to break into a new technology area by leveraging your current skills ... and, I specifically recommend against trying to become "instantly certified" (add hot water and stir ). As a hiring manager, I'd always choose someone who wasn't certified, but who demonstrated mastery of a subject area, over someone with a certification but no experience to back it up.

The primary purpose of my book is to teach the fundamentals of proper OO software design -- once those are grasped, learning the bits and bytes of a given language (Java, C#, whatever) comes naturally.

Best wishes in your Java journey!

J.

[Jacquie Barker]

Originally posted by rathi ji:
I feel, You all are are misunderstanding the thought and purpose behind this book. This book explore Object Oriented world through Java Programming Language. It is not a Reference Book for Java Programming Language, if it is then the name is not conveying proper message.

It is just my understanding about book...

Anyway, Happy Reading!!!

You are correct, Rathi! I first wrote B.J.O. after there were already a gazillion beginning Java books on the market -- and, to my amazement, every publisher I contacted was interested! That's because I did not set out to write yet another Java programming language, but rather something much more fundamental: a book that educates readers on the power and elegance of objects. Yet, I didn't want just an OO concepts book, either, as there were plenty of those on the market as well. I wanted a book to tie all the puzzle pieces together, and from the many reader reviews I've gotten over the years, it worked!

Thanks so much for your thoughts ...

Regards,

Jacquie

[JPraveen Kumar]

Does the book cover advanced threading topics like green threads, fibres etc.

JPK

[Sheetal Patil]

Hi

I would like to know about the book as I am preparing for java certification. Which objectives are fully covered in the book? Is there any sample questions with each topic?

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Originally posted by JPraveen Kumar:
Does the book cover advanced threading topics like green threads, fibres etc.

JPK

Folks, PLEASE start a new thread with new questions! Don't reply in an existing thread with an unrelated question.

Secondly, "Green threads" is not an advanced Java topic; it's a rather pitiful little library that was used to implement some early JVMs before operating systems widely implemented OS-level threads.

And "fibers" have nothing to do with Java -- it's a Windows concept.

So I'm betting the answer to both of your questions is "no!"

[aven kimball]

Thanks for giving a nice explanation. I am planning to buy this book.Something which Iam looking forward.

I have a question in that code

 public abstract interface Student {
    // All methods are abstract, so we don't need to use
    // the "abstract" keyword.
    public float getGPA();
    public void selectMajor();
    // etc.
}
 

1. why abstract and interface together
2. when you say abstract in a class does that mean all methods should be abstract. I thought its not necessary

[ EFH: Added line breaks! ]
[ July 12, 2005: Message edited by: Ernest Friedman-Hill ]

[ankur rathi]

1. why abstract and interface together

interface is implicitly public and abstract. So it is your wish to add abstract keyword in signature.

2. when you say abstract in a class does that mean all methods should be abstract. I thought its not necessary

Yes, it is not necessary. But if a class has even single abstract method, it should be marked as abstract.

Hope it helps.

[Jas Oberai]

My book is meant to to provide a solid jump-start for all three

hi Jacquie Barker,
I am preparing for SCWCD,and I think getting a hold of your book would surely help me build a strong foundation.But,can you please be more specific as to which readers you have aimed at while writing this book.Can a person with no OO concepts get to understand your concepts or any prior knowledge of java and OO is needed???
Thanks

[Pratibha Malhotra]

Hi Jacquie

I am a SCJCP and am aiming to achieve SCWCD by this year-end.
But having said that I myself know that my basic foundation for OOPs in terms of Java is not very good. By saying that I mean i struggle when i try to implement java code after having conceptualised problem statement in terms of UML classes, association, aggrgation ....etc

Is your book covering topics regarding how to convert UML concepts to Java code. If yes, I am sure you have solution to my problem.

Kindly give some insight on what all topics is your book covering.
A Table of Content/Index should suffice.

[paramasivam Ramu]

hai,

whether this book is explained with real time examples for all the concepts.If it is so it will be very very useful.
regards,
Ramu