Java 2 The Complete Reference - Herbert Schildt

[neutrino]

Has anyone here used this book? If you have, how would you rate it.

To my surprise many programmers seem to despise Schildt's books. One is usually directed to this page (http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/schildt.html) to make the point.
I was surprised because I found his beginner's guide on C++ quite easy to read and understand. (And maybe it's because I don't have an extensive knowledge about the language to nitpick every sentence in a book. :rolleyes:)

I know the basics of a programming language...conditions, loops, and aspects of OOP, so I'm just looking for a book/primer that will teach me the syntax of Java and provide information about the numerous packages it comes with.

[mgb_phys]

Publishing a commentary on a standard where you misinterpret pretty much everything in the standard was bad. A lot of his other books are also based on earlier simpliied ideas of C which were plain wrong when the book was published.

I'm not sure what suddenly makes him qualiied to write a book on Java other than he is on the publishers books.

Bruce Eckels 'thinking in java' is a good intro to Java, but if you already know OO and just want a Java for C++ programmers I don't know what I would recommend. Probably an O'Reilly nutshell or 'programming in ...' book.

[rootX]

big java by cay horstmann

http://www.horstmann.com/bigjava.html

you can look at the tutorials at java website, they would be best for you

[neutrino]

Thanks for the replies.

mgb_phys,
I'll check what O'Reilly has to offer.

rootX,
I can't find international editions of the books you mention, but the two-volume set that Horstmann has co-authored with Gary Cornell is available for thrice the price of Schildt's book.

re: Sun Java tutorials. While I do not shy away from R'ingTFM (online), I'd still like to have a book by my side. :)