Groovy in Action

Book Description

Groovy, the brand-new language for the Java platform, brings to Java many of the features that have made Ruby popular. Groovy in Action is a comprehensive guide to Groovy programming, introducing Java developers to the new dynamic features that Groovy provides. To bring you Groovy in Action, Manning again went to the source by working with a team of expert authors including both members and the Manager of the Groovy Project team. The result is the true definitive guide to the new Groovy language.

Groovy in Action introduces Groovy by example, presenting lots of reusable code while explaining the underlying concepts. Java developers new to Groovy find a smooth transition into the dynamic programming world. Groovy experts gain a solid reference that challenges them to explore Groovy deeply and creatively.

Because Groovy is so new, most readers will be learning it from scratch. Groovy in Action quickly moves through the Groovy basics, including:

Simple and collective Groovy data types

Working with Closures and Groovy Control Structures

Dynamic Object Orientation, Groovy style

Readers are presented with rich and detailed examples illustrating Groovy's enhancements to Java, including

How to Work with Builders and the GDK

Database programming with Groovy

Groovy in Action then demonstrates how to Integrate Groovy with XML, and provides,

Tips and Tricks

Unit Testing and Build Support

Groovy on Windows

An additional bonus is a chapter dedicated to Grails, the Groovy Web Application Framework.

Early PDF chapters of Groovy in Action are available from the Manning Early Access Program (MEAP) at http://www.manning.com/koenig. As part of this program, readers can also discuss the early manuscript with the author and help shape the manuscript as it's being developed by joining the Author Forum.

Customer Reviews:

You can't live without Groovy. You just can't........2007-08-18

I am going to make this short, because I want to get ONE message across to you, loud and clear. If you are working with Java, you MUST take a look at Groovy.

I cannot overemphasize the coming importance of Groovy on the Java platform, not just in web development, but everywhere. Just try it already. You'll "get it." Just trust me and do it!

Groovy in Action is a first rate introduction and reference, and you really do need a book for this language. I don't recommend trying to go it alone with online reference material, though there is plenty there to give you a taste of why Groovy is about to become your new favorite language.

Read the other reviews. I'm not going to repeat a bunch of stuff here. But whatever you do, TRY GROOVY. You will quickly come to wonder how you ever got along without it.

Cracking stuff.......2007-07-20

Whatever you think about the merits of Groovy as a language, a serious contender on the JVM, or a complete mess, you couldn't hope to find a better advocate for Groovy than this book.

One of the secrets of GinA's success is that it assumes the reader is already proficient with Java development, including Swing, Ant and JUnit. It would also help to know about XML, SQL, HTML, JSP and a vague idea of how MVC applies to web apps. You don't need to be an expert in these areas, though. If you've sufficient knowledge to decode the preceeding alphabet soup of initialisations, you'll be ok.

The reward for possessing this background knowledge is that GinA doesn't waste time with trivial examples, and barrels through Groovy the language in the first part, leveraging your existing knowledge of Java to highlight the important differences in Groovy. In particular, the advantages of interpolating strings, simple hash and array construction syntax, optional typing and metaprogramming are stressed. The big win in Groovy over Java is the use of closures and their used in a block-based approach to iteration, which is as well motivated here as the material in, say, The Pickaxe is for Ruby.

The second part of the book provides examples of the Groovy library. It begins with an excellent chapter on Groovy's Builders, which provide a very neat, uncluttered syntax for putting together hierarchical structures. An obvious application is XML, and by extension Ant scripts, which appears to have some major advantages compared to the challenging readability of vanilla Ant. Even more impressive is the SwingBuilder example, which builds a GUI with the minimum of fuss and a complete lack of anonymous inner classes.

Beyond the Builders, there are also compelling chapters on templating HTML and server side Groovy (Groovlets), writing DAOs and DTOs in Groovy to simplify database programming, and a chapter on XML, which even manages to find the space to introduce Groovy for SOAP, XML-RPC and REST web services.

The final part of the book describes some non-core libraries and other applications of Groovy. The chapter on Groovy extensions to JUnit is interesting, although perhaps this is one place where it assumes too little on behalf of the reader. I would have assumed that the average developer sufficiently motivated to pick up a book on Groovy knows enough about unit testing and JUnit that more space could have been given to the advanced topics. Particularly appealing is the idea of testing Java code with dynamically typed Groovy unit tests, which would make mocking and stubbing more palatable; I would have liked more on that subject.

Another noteworthy chapter is the last one, which introduces the web app framework Grails. This has a different style to the other chapters, being a dialogue between two of the authors as they build a simple app. This reader admits to finding it a little bit naff, but it does usefully demonstrate the grails way (which is a lot like Rails).

If you have the slightest interest in Groovy, alternatives to Java on the JVM, or dynamic languages, GinA makes the perfect case for Groovy as a first class integration language for all the bits of Java where you really wish you were working with something like Perl, Ruby or Python. It's well-written, with good examples, clear explanations, and it's relentlessly practical, never forgetting its target audience. It's all the more impressive given lead author Dierk Konig's comment in the preface that English is not his first language. Kudos to him and his co-authors for what they've delivered.

One can only wish that every language had its GinA. Outstanding.

Mostly as good as everyone says.......2007-06-22

What more can be said of a book extolled by dozens of reviewers, a book that seems to have matched its subject in ubiquity, a book that will likely become to Groovy what the "pickaxe book" is to Ruby? As much as I would love to be a lone voice (or rather a lone whisper) of dissent, the clarity, simplicity, and accuracy of most of Groovy in Action cannot be overlooked. Let no one be fooled by the size of the book - to learn the gist of Groovy, all you really need is a leisurely stroll through chapters 2 through 7 (chapter 1 is the mandatory introduction/history chapter which, in the frustrating tech book tradition, doubles as the "free sample" chapter). Of course, most of its clarity and concision GIA inherits from the language it describes. Still, it is encouraging to have a book that is as valuable a reference as it is a tutorial, and GIA shines in both capacities.

With all its accolades, GIA does have two caveats. First, it is getting closer and closer to being out of date. Groovy 1.1 is already in Beta, and it has an impressive list of features not covered in this Groovy 1.0 book: EJB3 support, JUnit4 and TestNG integration and annotations, just to name a few. I am reminded of Pragmatic Programmers' Agile Web Development with Rails, whose second edition shipped a year after its first. I sincerely hope GIA 1.0 buyers will not be similarly cheated.

The second caveat is the coverage of Grails. Grails may be the single most attractive Groovy application to date yet its coverage in GIA is flaky at best. The authors decide to abandon their polished, clear, and concise writing style and instead author the entire chapter as a bland conversation amongst themselves. In addition to failing to grasp the humor in such presentation, I find that this style hinders me from following along with the tutorial. It makes scanning back for missed steps or clarifications extremely difficult. Furthermore, vapid attempts at humor occupy space that could be otherwise devoted to some omitted topics, such as mapping domain objects to specific tables or using data sources. Coverage of these topics would have been far more valuable than the authors' purported beer garden conversations with a DBA named Martin.

Despite the pour Grails coverage and the looming Groovy 1.1, Groovy in Action is a must-have for anyone who is even mildly interested in Groovy or dynamic languages in Java in general. Coupled with the ease, clarity, and downright beauty of the Groovy language, GIA can turn even a passing interest in Groovy into a burning passion.

Programming literature.......2007-05-15

It is a Gordian challenge to write an interesting and readable book about nothing but a programming language. Dierk König and his co-authors actually did succeed in cutting the knot. They even accomplished much more: they added lots of insight about object orientation, programming language design and good software development. As long as I only had the PDF availabe, it served me as THE reference for all my questions about Groovy. Now the printed copy makes my commuting time worthwhile. Cover to cover. 700 pages of computer LITERATURE.

An amazing journey.......2007-03-29

The book contains a lot of Groovy interesting features, with samples tested to work,asides the writting style exciting to you to discover the new programming world open in front of your eyes thanks to the exceptional Groovy features.

I consider it as much as a Groovy bible.

Average customer rating:

Encyclopedic tome on Swing is a great reference
Good Book With a Bad Title
yikes!!
Pretty Thorough Reference
Best Swing reference out there with room for improvement

Java Swing, Second Edition
James Elliott , Marc Loy , David Wood , and Brian Cole
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Java | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

General | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

Look Inside Computer Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0596004087

Amazon.com

Java Swing, long regarded as the authoritative book on using the Swing classes, is available in a new edition that builds on a solid foundation in exploring the Java 2 Swing additions and modifications. This is a big, tremendously detailed, exhaustively researched, and ultimately authoritative reference that pushes the limits of what a book can do toward eliminating the necessity of writing experimental programs to see how Swing classes work in practice. You'll find in these pages bits of software that show how most of Swing works: all of the major features get lavish attention, while most of the minor classes are demonstrated adequately, as well.

You could probably find demonstrations free of charge on the Internet, however. The true value of this work is in the comments its five authors have attached to their copious examples. They can be quite specific: at least one such segment warns that default Swing behavior violates Mac OS X user interface guidelines and explains how to work around the problem. Another section explains how the methods of the UndoableEdit class can be used in various ways, to implement different user interface behavior options. Some readers will head straight to the O'Reilly Web site, where they can grab the code and examine it in an editor rather than in print--code listings take up a lot of space here--but everyone will appreciate the concise hierarchy, method, and property documentation, as well as the wisdom contained in the prose. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Swing classes for creating graphical user interfaces in the Java programming language. It covers all the windowing stuff--dialogs, buttons, containers, layouts, lists, and that kind of thing--as well as tables, trees, text-manipulation classes, formatted text, drag and drop, and accessibility support.

Book Description

Swing is a fully-featured user interface development kit for Java applications. Building on the foundations of the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), Swing enables cross-platform applications to use any of several pluggable look-and-feels. Swing developers can take advantage of its rich, flexible features and modular components, building elegant user interfaces with very little code. This second edition of Java Swing thoroughly covers all the features available in Java 2 SDK 1.3 and 1.4. More than simply a reference, this new edition takes a practical approach. It is a book by developers for developers, with hundreds of useful examples, from beginning level to advanced, covering every component available in Swing. All these features mean that there's a lot to learn. Even setting aside its platform flexibility, Swing compares favorably with any widely available user interface toolkit--it has great depth. Swing makes it easy to do simple things but is powerful enough to create complex, intricate interfaces. Java Swing, 2nd edition includes :

A new chapter on Drag and Drop
Accessibility features for creating a user interface meeting the needs of all users
Coverage of the improved key binding infrastructure introduced in SDK 1.3
A new chapter on JFormattedTextField and input validation
Mac OS X coverage and examples
Coverage of the improved focus system introduced in SDK 1.4
Pluggable Look-and-Feel coverage
Coverage of the new layout manager, SpringLayout, from SDK 1.4
Properties tables that summarize important features of each component
Coverage of the 1.4 Spinner component
Details about using HTML in components
A new appendix listing bound actions for each component
A supporting web site with utilities, examples, and supplemental materials

Whether you're a seasoned Java developer or just trying to find out what Java can do, you'll find Java Swing, 2nd edition an indispensable guide.

Customer Reviews:

Encyclopedic tome on Swing is a great reference .......2006-01-21

This extremely hefty book on Swing has just about everything in it. However, it is intended to be a reference on Swing, not a tutorial. The problem with the Java Swing API is that it is so large and unwieldy itself that it is difficult to write a complete and useful reference that does not reflect that fact. If you need a good tutorial on Java Swing, you might want to look at the Core Java books by Cornell and read the chapters that apply to Swing. Cornell manages to carve out the basics of writing a Swing application very clearly without getting wrapped around the axle in details you do not need if you are a beginner. Then, come back to this book when you need to write an application to get the details you need. Since everything in Swing is a JavaBean, much of each component's behavior is controlled by a set of properties that are manipulated by accessor methods. Thus, this book has a table for each class that presents the class properties, the data type for each property, the accessor methods, and the default values. In addition, the book has plenty of demonstration code that shows how to use just about all of the various Swing components. The book even has chapters dedicated to changing the look and feel of components and also repainting issues, which loom large in Swing. You can download all of the book's code from the book's website at O'Reilly and Associates. I highly recommend this book to anyone who already knows the bare basics of writing applications with Swing and needs a useful reference. There is no better one out there in publication of which I am aware.

Good Book With a Bad Title.......2005-06-04

This is for people who have a working knowledge of Swing and who want a comprehensive reference on their desks. I am preparing for the java Developer exam and thought this would help me get up to speed with Swing. But this is an over kill. Trying to learn Swing with this book is like trying to open a can of Coke with a bulldozer. It would have been more helpful if the Title was something like 'Swing Reference'. If you want to learn some Swing to get some work done very quickly stay away. If you are in the Guru class then go for it. 4 stars because it is indeed a well written reference (Juding from Chapter 1 and 3 and some skimming) But not 5 stars because the Title is misleading

yikes!!.......2005-05-19

I can't recall a tech book so thoroughly unreadable! Maybe if I was more well versed in Swing this might make a little more sense, but seriously....it's great that these folks know all the inheritance lines and can spit them out in eight words or less, but seriously...imagine this as a classroom lecture..anybody awake? anybody still here? well, this class inherits from that or this implemements that interface, and if you look closely, you'll see how this references what we said 47 pages ago (or better yet, what we're gonna say 36 pages down the road!)...all well and good...but we're trying to write real programs and solve real problems....c'mon guys, we're not experts here, else we wouldn't be buying the book!! how about a litle real world usage...I don't have to time to check out the API docs to try and figure out what these guys are yakking about...a major disappointment.

Pretty Thorough Reference.......2005-04-12

Man, has Swing grown; no wonder it took 5 authors to write this book! Anyway, they do a good job describing a very complex subject. The text is definitely more of a reference than a tutorial, but if that's what you're looking for then definitely check out this book...
*IF* you have another source for layout managers. Other reviewers have pointed this out as well. In my opinion, this topic deserves its own chapter because every time you put a component in a container you have to be aware of its layout manager. And when a dialog box gets complicated, as they are wont to do, you have layout managers dealing with each other ad infinitum - and that is precisely when you really need to understand how they work so you can make sense of what is going on when you resize something.

Best Swing reference out there with room for improvement.......2005-03-05

Any book that claims it can tell the readers everything they need for any huge APIs such as Swing is likely to be misleading. But there are utility books that try very hard to make the users as informed as possible. O'Reilly's Java Swing is one of these books. In 1200+ pages, this book tries to explain every little details of the Swing API from the fundamental JComponent to the very advanced manipulation of the Swing Look And Feel, and every major components in between.

There are still some very common issues that Swing developers wished this book had addressed, however. Such issues include the AWT event queue, AWT layout managers, and Swing threading issues. While this book does talk a bit about Swing threading, it does not explain a whole lot of the underlying mechanism of the AWT GUI and event queue that caused most developers trouble.

Overall, this book is a good elaboration on the Swing Javadoc, but not enough as a cure-all for Swing developers.

Java Examples in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Average customer rating:

Great bang for your buck with useful, very well explained examples.
Summary of Java
Very good book of examples of specific Java concepts
Pompous annoying examples.Think twice there are better books
Real working Code examples

Java Examples in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition
David Flanagan
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Nutshell | Series | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

Java | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

General | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0596006209

Book Description

The author of the best-selling Java in a Nutshell has created an entire book of real-world Java programming examples that you can learn from. If you learn best "by example," this is the book for you. This third edition covers Java 1.4 and contains 193 complete, practical examples: over 21,900 lines of densely commented, professionally written Java code, covering 20 distinct client-side and server-side APIs. It includes new chapters on the Java Sound API and the New I/O API. The chapters on XML and servlets have been rewritten to cover the latest versions of the specifications and to demonstrate best practices for Java 1.4. New and updated examples throughout the book demonstrate many other new Java features and APIs. Java Examples in a Nutshell is a companion volume to Java in a Nutshell, Java Foundation Classes in a Nutshell, and Java Enterprise in a Nutshell. It picks up where those quick references leave off, providing a wealth of examples for both novices and experts. This book doesn't hold your hand; it simply delivers well-commented working examples with succinct explanations to help you learn and explore Java and its APIs. Java Examples in a Nutshell contains examples that demonstrate:

Core APIs, including I/O, New I/O, threads, networking, security, serialization, and reflection
Desktop APIs, highlighting Swing GUIs, Java 2D graphics, preferences, printing, drag-and-drop, JavaBeans, applets, and sound
Enterprise APIs, including JDBC (database access), JAXP (XML parsing and transformation), Servlets 2.4, JSP 2.0 (JavaServer Pages), and RMI

The book begins with introductory examples demonstrating structured and object-oriented programming techniques for new Java programmers. A special index at the end of the book makes it easy to look up examples that use a particular Java class or accomplish a desired task. In between, each chapter includes exercises that challenge readers and suggest further avenues for exploration.

Customer Reviews:

Great bang for your buck with useful, very well explained examples........2006-10-05

This book rocks. I started learning Java about 2 months ago with the Head First Java book, which is AMAZINGLY helpful (even if you know absolutely nothing beforehand). Once I got through that all that I began writing small apps on my own, but found in many cases that the API (Javadoc) was hard to understand because my limited Java knowledge leaves me with no context in many cases. I would think, "ok, it says this class can do this using these methods, and that's what I want, but how exactly do I put this into practice." Java Examples in a Nutshell fills this need perfectly with excellent examples(!), explanations, and clarifications. There's only so much that it can cover, but what it does cover, it covers really well.

I might also add that I bought this book after *returning* Java In A Nutshell because for me it really just seemed like a $50 printout of the API you can read for free at [....].

What I want to say is that, from my own experience, if you are pretty new to Java, and you are clicking well with it, and want a boost to propel you forward even faster, this is an excellent book to buy.

Summary of Java.......2006-02-23

Great overall summary of Java with examples. Replaces short surveys, tutorials and cookbooks of Java.

Very good book of examples of specific Java concepts.......2006-01-24

This book should not be expected to substitute as a tutorial for people looking to learn the Java language. Instead, it is a book full of short programs that each illustrate specific concepts in the Java language. If you are needing a tutorial on the Java language in general, I suggest "Head First Java", which is also published by O'Reilly and Associates. You can either read the appropriate chapters of this book in parallel with that one, or look through this book after you finish the Head First Java book. If you already know Java, keeping an updated edition of this book around as a reference is a great idea.
The first four chapters of this book cover the basics of Java, objects, classes, interfaces, input/output, and threads. Thus these chapters remain largely unchanged from the previous edition. Chapter 5, on networking, has been updated to reflect the changes in the language since the last edition, and contains examples of a simple network client, an HTTP client, and a POP client in addition to the programs of the previous edition. Chapter six is a new chapter on The new I/O (NIO) APIs introduced in version 1.4. These provide new features and improved performance in the areas of buffer management, scalable network and file I/O, character-set support, and regular-expression matching. The NIO APIs supplement the I/O facilities in the java.io package, and this chapter does a good job of demonstrating the APIs in action. The next chapter that has had a major overhaul is the chapter on printing. Printing in JDK1.4 was updated considerably and allows you to list specific printers with specific capabilities, query printer status, spool text or image files directly to a printer, and convert image files to Postscript files. There are examples of all of these upgrades in this chapter. The chapter on data transfer has largely been rewritten to reflect that Swing has added support for data transfer between applications. When adding data transfer support to Swing, the goal was to make it easy for developers using Swing components to add clipboard transfer as well as drag and drop to an application. The examples in this chapter demonstrate these concepts very well. There is a completely new chapter on the Java Sound API reflecting the capabilities of that API. In addition to simply playing sounds and sequences, the chapter demonstrates synthesizing MIDI and also real-time MIDI. Finally, the last part of the book on the Enterprise API's has been completely rewritten to reflect all of the changes that have taken place in those API's since the last edition due to the popularity of the Java language in enterprise applications.
Currently, this book is two years old, which is getting a bit long in the tooth for a computer book. This is especially true if you consider the fact that JDK 1.5 has been released since this book was published with its own set of upgrades and nuances, and that JDK 1.6 is scheduled for release in the fall of 2006. I don't know if a fourth edition is planned for the immediate future, so if you can get the 3rd edition used for a low price it might still be worth the investment. If you are a Java novice, it is definitely worth your time and money.

Pompous annoying examples.Think twice there are better books.......2005-06-11

While writing this I can already imagine the shock and dismay of the Fan crowd with my review. I don't have much time so let me get to the point.
The 1 star I've given it (bcs I had to, preferable I'd rate it 0 stars) mostly pertains to the GUI section of the book. Instead of providing the reader with abundant and clear examples, this author wants to impress the Java geeks by writing an 'smart' generic class that shows all the different aspects of the java GUI elements. Aside from just lame, this is also done most likely because of laziness. I can imagine it's not very exciting to write up the core program structure for every GUI example. But that's just the way a decent author would go about. No need to waste pages by explicitly mentioning everything more then once. Such things can be saved for the example source right ? But mr Flanagan does not share that view. He sits back with his (admittedly entertaining) 'showcomponent' program that loads in all the gui program code (classes) and displays the material. So, again, his 'Java examples' are merely small files with therein declared a certain class without any(!) surrounding program code. (basically similar to what you'd see in the Swing lang spec). All these compiled examples need to be read in (from the command line no less, by his showcomponent class which then actually does all the work of creating the frame, displaying it etc etc etc.

And then cometh the reader, . . . . The moment you have to incorporate some of these lay-out en control components in you're own program this entire structure is obviously useless. Hence you have to struggle to get every component to work after all. The exact thing one is trying to avoid by buying a book. (No, you can't just copy & paste several separate sources together :) ). Basically you end up doing all the work yourself in the end anyway. Henceforth this book, particularly the part of GUI's , dialog's and event handling is of little practical use. I guess it would qualify as some sort of java coffee table book. Interesting functions, a clever introspective class here and there, things you can sit back and debate about with you're friends.
Not with you're collegue(s) when you fighting the deadlines.
While I'm not very proficient in Java, I've coded in c/c++ for far too long. Hence I don't need trivial lectures on what a ip port is. I just need to see some _completed_ (as in finished) programs, to get up and running with particular Java idiosyncrasies & components. If you are in a hurry, and simply have to get something up and running, keep running. Away from this piece of trash.
Go with "Core Java" or some of the Swing books. it'll get you there much much faster.

Edit: Took the flames out of the review. I was rather disappointed with this title at first. (now it's just collecting dust, but at least it doesn't aggravate me either).
If you're a programmer, (like me) you can read the spec by yourself. It's the little things on the outside of the program (event & message que's ,window trickery etc.) that differ from platform to platform. Those are the exact things the author glosses over with this text.

Real working Code examples.......2005-01-30

Just type these in and learn, learn, learn. Good examples across the board.

Average customer rating:

Java Review
Excellent book if you know a few things about programming
Ahh a delight for your mind
Good survey style introduction to Java technologies
This isn't just a tutorial for beginners

Learning Java
Pat Niemeyer , and Jonathan Knudsen
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Java | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

General | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0596008732

Amazon.com

Java is the language du jour, and plenty of books have been written about it. But with so many books available, new offerings should be something special. This one isn't.

Learning Java starts at the beginning with a "hello world"-style program that demonstrates using Sun's Java tools. Throughout, the book introduces features using examples--all thoroughly discussed and explained in as straightforward and jargon-free a manner as practicable.

A tricky aspect of Java is the way classes are related, so it's neat to see a whole chapter devoted to the subject early on. Even more opaque is the explicit use of threads. Again, this topic is made accessible in this text, especially with its discussion of thread synchronization. Basic graphics, video handling, and other media in Java are discussed, followed by Beans and the builder environment--but stopping short of JavaBeans. The book finishes with a section on applets, the Java plug-in, and digital signatures.

Overall, however, the reader gets no feeling of working toward a goal, and perhaps this would have been a better book if a project had been its theme. Another odd decision in the mix here was to ignore the several--some free--Java IDEs generally used to program Java. (The book makes a point of saying it hasn't discussed them but doesn't explain. Even beginners find Java more accessible in a programming environment.)

Still, Learning Java, which uses Java 2 v1.3, does a competent job of introducing the language to beginners. As with most O'Reilly books, it's authoritative, lucid, and well edited. Though this book may fail to inspire in the reader the presumed enthusiasm for Java felt by the authors, you won't go wrong with this one, and its coverage of object-oriented programming issues is particularly good. --Steve Patient, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

Version 5.0 of the Java 2 Standard Edition SDK is the most important upgrade since Java first appeared a decade ago. With Java 5.0, you'll not only find substantial changes in the platform, but to the language itself-something that developers of Java took five years to complete. The main goal of Java 5.0 is to make it easier for you to develop safe, powerful code, but none of these improvements makes Java any easier to learn, even if you've programmed with Java for years. And that means our bestselling hands-on tutorial takes on even greater significance.

Learning Java is the most widely sought introduction to the programming language that's changed the way we think about computing. Our updated third edition takes an objective, no-nonsense approach to the new features in Java 5.0, some of which are drastically different from the way things were done in any previous versions. The most essential change is the addition of "generics", a feature that allows developers to write, test, and deploy code once, and then reuse the code again and again for different data types. The beauty of generics is that more problems will be caught during development, and Learning Java will show you exactly how it's done.

Java 5.0 also adds more than 1,000 new classes to the Java library. That means 1,000 new things you can do without having to program it in yourself. That's a huge change. With our book's practical examples, you'll come up to speed quickly on this and other new features such as loops and threads. The new edition also includes an introduction to Eclipse, the open source IDE that is growing in popularity.

Learning Java, 3rd Edition addresses all of the important uses of Java, such as web applications, servlets, and XML that are increasingly driving enterprise applications. The accompanying CD includes the Java 5.0 SDK for Windows, Linux, and Solaris, plus the Eclipse IDE, the NetBeans IDE, and the many example programs from the book.

Customer Reviews:

Java Review.......2006-11-10

The book is a great addition to my library. While it didn't get all my questions answered, it was very helpful.

Excellent book if you know a few things about programming.......2006-05-01

This book covers almost everything (that fits inside one volume) in Java. Very concise and precise, but needs some prior experience in any high level progamming language. Very good examples. This book help me a lot to dive fast in the Java's deep waters.

Ahh a delight for your mind .......2006-02-06

I have been working in this industry for past five years, I have been addicted to buying books on programming, The trouble with most of the books is that they don't focus on people who are programmers, They just re-hash for-loop while-loop its really irritating to read such topics in say 1 hour that you can squeeze out of your time. And most of the time you end up dropping the book.
This book is definitely different

Doesn't focus on teaching programming like a text for university course?
The style of narrative is super and free-flowing. It is easy to read say 100 pages per day
The examples are quite stylish and don't have the dummies approach.
The authors have depth knowledge abt what they are talking

In all a good book if your bit experienced in java/C++ or even C
(Newcomers should start with books like head-first java or C++ by lafore before taking up this material)

There is one definite short coming this books some times doesn't covers very complicated topics; and definitively you can't hope to use it as an reference.

Hope the authors write a book on advance java topics that can be read after finishing this book

Good survey style introduction to Java technologies.......2006-02-02

Learning Java provides a good introduction to the Java technologies that make up J2SE. While most of the sections does not go into enough detail to fully cover the area (and that would be impossible without making the book a multi volume effort) they provide enough detail to form the basis of further research.

The section on Java the language provides enough detail to get you up and running if you already know another object oriented language such as C++ or C# but it will not be sufficient for complete beginners.

But in terms of what it tries to cover as a set of overviews, it succeeds well.

This isn't just a tutorial for beginners.......2006-01-03

Patrick Niemeyer and Jonathan Knudsen's Learning Java appears in its 3rd updated edition to cover J2SE 5.0. This isn't just a tutorial for beginners: it moves from a basic introduction and application examples all the way to advanced topics such as advanced Java 5.0 features and writing threaded programs. So don't expect a simple introduction - though the lessons are designed as a 'classroom in a book' - chapters are quite technical and Java programmers with programming backgrounds will be pleased with its depth.

Graphic Java 2, Volume 2: Swing (3rd Edition)

Average customer rating:

One and Only
Still good
Pure java
A very comprehensive book
A standard to which more technical books should measured

Graphic Java 2, Volume 2: Swing (3rd Edition)
David Geary
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall PTR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Computer Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0130796670

Amazon.com

If you're developing software that will be used by a large group of people, you need to give it a good-looking front-end--in Java 2, that means you have to use Swing. An excellent resource, Graphic Java 2: Mastering the JFC, Third Edition (Volume 2: Swing) takes on the Swing components one at a time and shows you how to incorporate them into attractive, efficient programs.

In many ways, Graphic Java 2 is a cookbook. You search the table of contents or index for a reference to the kind of problem you want to solve, then examine the author's examples for the solution (or at least some clues to it). This is the book to turn to if you're wondering how to implement the JComboBox.KeySelectionManager interface (which enables users to select items in a combo box) or compare the various ways of making the JTree component into a file browser. Those are just two of hundreds of examples in David Geary's book.

While most examples don't serve any practical purpose by themselves, they do clearly illustrate how a specific aspect of Swing works. It's easy to adapt the details presented here into your own programs. Geary shows consideration for the reader by presenting all his examples as programs that can be compiled and including them on the enclosed CD-ROM. --David Wall

Book Description

From Sun Microsystems Press and Prentice Hall comes the definitive guide to Swing: an exhaustive reference spanning more than 1600 pages. Clearly and concisely written and loaded with illustrative code examples, Graphic Java provides the most comprehensive Swing coverage available.

Part I (360 pages) discusses fundamental Swing concepts such as Swing component architecture, the JComponent class, borders, icons, actions, Swing and multithreading, Swing utilities, and pluggable look and feel.

Swing components are the focus throughout the rest of the book. In addition to code examples that illustrate component use, components are further explored with class diagrams, property and event tables, and a look at AWT compatibility. The final third of the book is devoted to Swing's most complex components: lists, combo boxes, tables, trees, and the text package.

Customer Reviews:

One and Only.......2007-02-26

I wish I had bought this book first...I found this book to be a great read; fun, entertaining, and structered in a way that answered my questions before I could ask them. This is the only Swing reference I ever use besides web searches. If I'm picking up a new topic, my first step is to see if this author has a book!

Still good.......2003-08-22

Like a fine movie, this book is still very useful even as the language advances. A wonderful reference I still find myself reaching for it several times a week for parts of the GUI that I don't reach into that often. Considering that I use the Eclipse front-end I do all of my GUI coding by hand (that and most GUI builders put out some really terrible code), so maybe I am a bit atypical in this regard.

Pure java.......2003-08-05

That is all, pure java. Simple, organized, interfaced, estructured, conceptual and objective point of view of reality. Some examples, lots of them, really, some descriptions of classes, all of swing JFC, really, and that's all folks. No more, no less. But that's the best, it's a reference of swing, "thousand and more" pages reference, but clear reference. A must if you're interested in collecting java muscle books.

Nice cover desing. Strong, doesn't break easily. Sorry ;)

A very comprehensive book.......2003-03-15

This book is very comprehensive and is a must for any serious Swing developer. I have found it as a good reference for all sorts of examples and also in a method lookup like way.

A standard to which more technical books should measured.......2002-08-07

Mr. Geary has produced a wonderfully comprehensive guide to Java Swing, patiently explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each component, along with the theory behind Swing's framework.
Every piece of software was written to solve a problem. If a programmer really wants to understand the limitations (i.e. how to use it effectively) of software, he/she must understand the problem it was developed to solve. Mr. Geary goes the extra step in his book to give the theory/history/reasoning behind Swing, as well as, providing examples you can actually use in your code. Congratulations on an outstanding job!!

Swing Hacks: Tips and Tools for Killer GUIs (Hacks)

Average customer rating:

finally a useful book with no bla-bla
Spruce up your Swing!
Some dubious hacks.
Belongs In Your Swing Toolkit
Excellent

Swing Hacks: Tips and Tools for Killer GUIs (Hacks)
Joshua Marinacci , and Chris Adamson
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Hacking | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Security | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Programming | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

Internet Security | O'Reilly | By Publisher | Books

Look Inside Computer Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0596009070

Book Description

Swing Hacks helps Java developers move beyond the basics of Swing, the graphical user interface (GUI) standard since Java 2. If you're a Java developer looking to build enterprise applications with a first-class look and feel, Swing is definitely one skill you need to master. This latest title from O'Reilly is a reference to the cool stuff in Swing. It's about the interesting things you learn over the years--creative, original, even weird hacks--the things that make you say, "I didn't know you could even do that with Swing!" Swing Hacks will show you how to extend Swing's rich component set in advanced and sometimes non-obvious ways. The book touches upon the entire Swing gamut-tables, trees, sliders, spinners, progress bars, internal frames, and text components. Detail is also provided on JTable/JTree, threaded component models, and translucent windows. You'll learn how to filter lists, power-up trees and tables, and add drag-and-drop support. Swing Hacks will show you how to do fun things that will directly enhance your own applications. Some are visual enhancements to make your software look better. Some are functional improvements to make your software do something it couldn't do before. Some are even just plain silly, in print only to prove it could be done. The book will also give you give you a small glimpse of the applications coming in the future. New technology is streaming into the Java community at a blistering rate, and it gives application developers a whole new set of blocks to play with. With its profusion of tips and tricks, Swing Hacks isn't just for the developer who wants to build a better user interface. It's also ideally suited for client-side Java developers who want to deliver polished applications, enthusiasts who want to push Java client application boundaries, and coders who want to bring powerful techniques to their own applications. Whatever your programming needs, Swing Hacks is packed with programming lessons that increase your competency with interface-building tools.

Customer Reviews:

finally a useful book with no bla-bla.......2007-02-17

Along with Swing Hacks I bought Swing Second Edition by Robinson and Vorobiev. What a contrast! Marinacci gives concise, fascinating, and useful examples. He leaves out the junk that you can get from reading the API. His hacks are short and remarkably clear. And if a hack doesn't interest you, you can just skip it.

In contrast, R&V dump a ton of junk on you, and you have to sift through it. Most of it is a rehash of the API, plus deadly boring chit-chat about what extends what. You can read and read and read and not learn anything useful.

I'd rank Marinacci up at the top with the Effective Java, the Swing Tutorial and Thinking in Java.

Spruce up your Swing!.......2006-06-26

The Swing library is what makes Java usable for most users; ask them to interact with a purely text interface, and they'll look at you like you grew a set of antennae. But the Swing library is difficult to absorb due to its size, and to tell the truth, the results I have seen with simple Swing were less than inspiring.

Swing Hacks takes this to the next level, showing how to make your interfaces shine. It does assume a fairly good understanding of Swing, so no newbies should get this imagining they'll be Swing gurus in no time. But learning Swing, and then applying the hacks in this book, you'll set yourself apart from the rest of the bunch.

Some dubious hacks........2006-05-20

Some of the hacks are, well, very hacky. The auto-completion class here is worthless, more of a bare starting place to mabye make something useful with a lot of work. But why bother when there is better code out there on the web (google "swinguistuff completion", or check out swinglabs).

Belongs In Your Swing Toolkit.......2006-05-07

Simply put, this is an incredibly useful book for Swing programmers. I've written a fair amount of GUI code and have needed several all-encompassing Swing books strewn about my desktop while doing so. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses, so if you had the right collection you could pretty much figure out how to do anything. (Except GridBagLayout of course :-)
This book belongs in that collection. It's unlike the other Swing books because it doesn't attempt to walk its way through the entire Swing framework. Instead, it's a collection of 100 neat and useful things one might want to try while implementing a GUI. The beauty is that each "hack" is pretty much self-contained, so if you're interested in something, check it out; if not, don't. (Although I found myself checking out more stuff than I thought I would. Kinda like, "Oh, so that's how you would do that!" It's almost addicting.) This also means you can jump around without being penalized for skipping intervening pages.
One more thing I like: They don't just give you the hack; they explain *why* you need to do certain things. There's so much going on behind the scenes in Swing - especially with things like layout, sizing, and painting - that you can waste a lot of time just because you don't know the one or two lines of code necessary to get something just right. If you *understand* what's going on your quest to discover those couple of all-important lines can be shorter and more enjoyable.

Excellent.......2006-02-01

Having been a software developer for many years, I have accumulated boxes and boxes of computer books - some are better than others. This book is simply outstanding. All of the "hacks" are relevant and useful in their adaptability and applicability to real-world use; and they are organized intelligently, meaning that it generally takes only a few moments to find and match a hack that is applicable to a given problem.

The book is written in a conversational tone rather than the dry reference style of many other books. The authors describe the problem space that each hack is intended to address, and then present the solution in words that make you feel like they are speaking directly to you. This makes the book a very easy, almost entertaining read.

Finally, each hack is presented as a free-standing solution. When you find a hack that looks interesting, it can be used without requiring endless references to other sections of the book. For example, there are numerous points where the authors (briefly) re-describe the glass pane, but it is clear that they purposely took this approach to support the free-standing nature of each hack, saving the reader the effort of raffling through the book for supporting information.

If you work with Swing, you'll find yourself reaching for this book on a regular basis.

Advanced Swing Trading: Strategies to Predict, Identify, and Trade Future Market Swings (Wiley Trading)

Average customer rating:

utter rubbish
Are you for real ?????????????
An interesting twist on fibo expansions or "measured moves"
a good idea but not a good system, needs more improving
Not the Holy Grail!

Advanced Swing Trading: Strategies to Predict, Identify, and Trade Future Market Swings (Wiley Trading)
John Crane , and Marketplace Books
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Futures | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 047146256X

Book Description

Real trading strategies for making a killing in today's volatile markets
Advanced Swing Trading reveals the strategies used by George Soros, Warren Buffett and other high-profile traders to reap whirlwind profits in today's volatile markets. With the demise of day trading, traders are searching for new methods of exploiting the unprecedented volatility of post-9/11 securities markets. The most successful of these methods so far has been swing trading, a powerful technical approach that allows traders to profit from shorter-term price moves, ranging from several days to a couple of months. In Advanced Swing Trading, veteran trader and leading trading coach, John Crane clearly describes his original Action/Reaction swing trading system. With the help of numerous real-world examples, Crane clearly delineates his system and shows readers how to use it to consistently to gain big returns in even the shakiest of markets.
John Crane (Loveland, CO) is the founder of Traders Network, a firm providing brokerage service and educational training products for smart investors. His monthly columns have appeared in Futures Options magazine, and articles about his trading strategies have appeared in Barron's, Consensus, and The Wall Street Journal.

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

utter rubbish.......2007-10-03

Utter rubbish IMHO. I am not anti technical analysis as I trade from price action and volume cues but this book seems to be a compendium of lines drawn on charts after the fact. I threw it away.

Are you for real ?????????????.......2006-12-11

Wow it is sooooo obvious that all thease reviews were submitted by the same person!! i bought this book, this is one of the worst books ever about trading (i have read alllllot of books) it seems if the author hired a 4yr old and asked him to make a trading method. The method that he talks about can be obtained on any trading forum for free. As for the method it self it is not worth the price of the book at ALL!!! and most trader's even if your new to trading probably allready know it.If your looking for a profitable method look elsewhere.

An interesting twist on fibo expansions or "measured moves".......2005-02-27

Mr Crane's book is well written and practical. If you enjoy charting you'll like just practicing with the Andrew's pitchfork and reaction lines. However, the main faults with the methods he mentioned are that the rules are too rigid to be accurate the majority of times, and the prospective use of the methods is quite a bit harder than the retrospective use.

The author mentions in his intro that he stumbled on a "repetitive, predictable pattern" that was the basis for his method. I believe that this was basically the "measured move," or the 100% extension of A-B-C swings. His charting technique with Andrew's pitchfork tries to predict this, but it is excessively complicated and only accounts for 100% measured moves. In my opinion, a fibo extension tool is far easier to use and allows traders to see the 61% and the 161% extensions as well as the 100%, which are just as useful. The time element of counting days, I think, is even more unreliable in practice. But, then again some measured moves are symmetric in time and price, so occasionally they work.

Bottom line, an interesting book, but not one that will likely have a very high predictive value.

a good idea but not a good system, needs more improving.......2004-10-11

It can't be a good trading system since market can't be predicted precisely. How can you define a swing or a hard mid term drawdown? or even to know the trend is over. No body knows. Nevertheless, he offers a very good idea to help trader how to predicate the market behavior. It is still worthy to study, but can't work as a trading system. It's too rigid to trade with this system.

Not the Holy Grail!.......2004-08-26

I really wanted to like this book. I've read it twice and spent some considerable time in revisiting the examples trying to become familiar with the author's methodology. However, there seems to be an operative disconnect between the espoused theory and the demonstrated practice.

First - the negatives. The author's thesis is that it is possible to predict market turning points in advance by identifying a reaction swing, counting backwards to a prior turning point, and then projecting that periodicity forward to derive a reflective, future turning point. But the author does not precisely define how a reaction swing is identified, or how one reaction swing is to be considered while another is to be ignored. The examples in the book do not address the reasoning involved for practical application of this method. This theoretical shortfall diminishes the utility of the reaction swing concept.

Second - the positives. Although this method was suggested before in Roger Babson's action-reaction theory (1910s), the Wetzel Market Bureau's "Course in Trading" (1930s), and Alan Andrews' course (1960s), it was not so thoroughly developed as it is in this presentation. Also, there are a number of interesting trading systems (set-ups) offered which might prove to be useful.

All in all, this book is akin to the photograph of a holy grail as compared to THE HOLY GRAIL. It is an interesting book that presents some time-honored concepts - with a few unresolved issues. More interesting (and usefully profitable) are the Wetzel and Andrews courses.

Average customer rating:

Very well written. A must have reference...
Who is this book for?
real world code
Great Book - HORRIBLE EDITING
Great Reference, Poor Introduction

Swing
Matthew Robinson , and Pavel A Vorobiev
Manufacturer: Manning Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Website Architecture & Usability | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Computer Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1884777848

Amazon.com

Written for the experienced Java developer, Swing provides an in-depth guide to getting the most out of Sun's Swing/JFC user interface classes. Mixing real-world code examples and expert advice on advanced features, this book shows how to make use of this powerful library effectively within your own projects.

The best thing about this text has to be its sample programs, many of which incorporate other Java APIs to do "real" work. For example, a demo of the scroll pane Swing component uses other JFC classes to display JPG images. For working with lists, the authors show how to process .ZIP files in Java. For demonstrating table programming, there's coverage of JDBC to connect to databases. Other standout code samples include a working FTP client and a fully functional .RTF word processor. (Many of these examples are enhanced in separate steps, showing off new Swing classes and features along the way.) The authors do a particularly good job of annotating code with clear explanations referenced with numbered bullets that point out important lines of code.

The other noteworthy feature here is the material on extending basic Swing functionality through custom code. (To use Swing effectively, you definitely need to be able to customize its classes. The authors show you how.) There are examples for enhancing Swing with custom layout managers and numerous samples that extend trees and tables, and even a section on the basics of creating new pluggable look and feel (PLAF) modules for Swing.

With material here on virtually every component and API, plus advanced coverage on using and extending Swing, this in-depth tutorial will prove to be an indispensable resource. It's ideal for any Java developer who wants to create powerful Swing interfaces for real-world projects. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Overview of Swing and JFC, lightweight and heavyweight controls, Model View Controller (MVC) architecture, Swing pluggable look and feel (PLAF), sizing components, event handing and multithreading issues, timers, graphics debugging, painting and validation, focus management, SwingUtilities methods, frames, panels and borders, built-in and custom layout managers, labels and buttons, tabbed panels, scrolling and split panes, comboboxes and listboxes, text components, Swing undo support, menus and toolbars, progress bars and sliders, JPEG editing, custom and standard dialog boxes, layered panes, custom and built-in MDI support, trees, tables (basic and advanced features), advanced text component programming, sample .RTF word processor, printing, and Java2D API fundamentals.

Book Description

Intended for intermediate to advanced Java developers, this book contains real-world examples and detailed discussions of Swing.

Customer Reviews:

Very well written. A must have reference..........2006-09-06

Its a must have for all intermediate to expert level developers. Lots of good code. I develop applications using Swing and really, this is the only book that I turn to for reference. You will tend to get some good ideas from the code they have presented and it definitely helps in understanding the Swing framework and designing better UIs.

Who is this book for?.......2006-04-24

It looks this Book's attempt to teach Swing is failed because of:

1) Book plagued with API reprints - always a sign of a weak java book

2) Lack of practical techniques - sorry, but pasting chunks of code does not substitutes putting practical programming methods in organized order

Small Example - in jtree chapter no methods given for tree traversing (only brief info that such a thing exists). Such important topic as search in a tree is totally missing.

3) Book is too complex and disorganized for a beginner and missing practical tidbits for the solid swing user. As for an advanced user there is too little to be found.

real world code.......2005-09-16

This book allows one to quickly go from a Swing amateur to a very competent Swing programmer. The quality of the demo code is good, and more than just toy problems are tackled. I didn't give this book five stars because of the number of typos. While they generally don't detract from understanding the topic at hand, they are annoying.

While this is not a rank beginner book, I do believe it could be useful for someone who has gone through all of the Swing trails in the Java tutorial and written some basic GUI stuff. Before I got this book, the Java tutorial and the Javadoc was all I knew about Swing and I found this book quite digestible.

Great Book - HORRIBLE EDITING.......2005-05-02

This book is a MUST have for SWING developers....However...the editor should be SHOT!!!! SOOO many typos...you really have to piece allot of the examples together because of the missing lines of code. When you download the source code.....huge pieces or the most important pieces of the code are there.....BUT NOT IN THE BOOK

Overall, I still have to say it is a great book

Great Reference, Poor Introduction.......2004-11-23

As I think is mentioned in other reviews, this is a nice comprehensive reference for the Java Swing API. With about equal depth, it covers an abundant range of components: from basic input fields, to dialog boxes, progress bars, trees, and more.

What it is NOT, is an easy introduction to Java Swing. The book dives immediately into the details - method signatures, classes, and interfaces. There is very little background discussion, no running example that is built on, and not much guidance on what the most useful elements of Swing are or how they conceptually fit together. In a nutshell, it assumes you know what Swing is, why you want to use it, and pretty much what you want to use from it.

As a reference, great. As an intro, keep looking.

Let's Dance: Learn to Swing, Foxtrot, Rumba, Tango, Line Dance, Lambada, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Two-Step, Jitterbug and Salsa With Style, Elegance and Ease

Average customer rating:

BEAUTIFUL BOO K - ALMOST USELESS INFORMATION
good complement for beginning international dancers
Can't learn how to dance from this book.
Good overview of ballroom dance
Disapointed

Let's Dance: Learn to Swing, Foxtrot, Rumba, Tango, Line Dance, Lambada, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Two-Step, Jitterbug and Salsa With Style, Elegance and Ease
Paul Bottomer
Manufacturer: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1579120466

Book Description

Step-by-step lessons from the basics of the Foxtrot to the nuances of the Argentine Tango are presented in detailed description and over 1300 informative full-color photographs, illustrations and diagrams. Beginners and advanced dancers alike will find the lessons easy, fun and a novel way to spend time with new partners, add spice to mature relationships or find a new dance mate.

This book covers an immense selection of styles for every kind of music from the Electric Slide, the Hustle and the Chicken Walk to the Viennese Waltz, the Slow Foxtrot and the Modern Tango. Specific dance moves like Spot Turns, Hip Twists and Feather Steps will make any couple an instant sensation on the dance floor.

Full of footprint diagrams, style tips, music suggestions and hints on getting started, this big book has everything that you need to explore the exhilarating world of ballroom and club dancing.

Customer Reviews:

BEAUTIFUL BOO K - ALMOST USELESS INFORMATION.......2002-06-25

BEWARE: This book describes the International Style of ballroom dance. NOT the American style. Perhaps 10% of American dance students are learning International.

EXAMPLE: THE WALTZ

American Waltz:
The basic figure is a square in which the man starts by stepping forward with the left foot and the dancers return to the starting position in 6 beats, making a square.

International Waltz:
The basic figure is a zig-zag. The man starts with the RIGHT foot and the dancers travel around the dance floor in a zig-zag pattern.

It would be great if Paul Bottomer would write a similar beautiful book for American ballroom dancers.

Dave Palmer

good complement for beginning international dancers.......2001-11-08

Many of the dances taught in this book are international style. If you plan to dance in the USA, you should know that social dancing is mainly American style for beginners.

The book is richly illustrated with photos. However, the angle of the photos changes randomly. So if you see a dance couple facing different directions in consecutive photos, maybe they have turned, or maybe the photographer moved. You have to read the accompanying text to tell.

I think this book is a good complement for beginning to advance-beginnning international dancers. You cannot completely rely on the book to learn techniques because while it does touches on them somewhat, it mostly concentrates on dance patterns. It will give you a rough idea of what a particular step looks like and give you the name of the step. If you have learned the step before, this would serve as a good review.

Can't learn how to dance from this book........2001-09-13

It's a good reference book if you know how to dance. If you're a beginner and try to learn from this book, you're in deep trouble. Unless you can translate "move you left foot to left, reflex your right knee, shift your weight on to the left on beat 3" description into movement right away, you'll go through one basic movement in hours. If you want to improve your dance skill, it may be helpful. Since I'm a total beginner, I can't say that for sure.

Good overview of ballroom dance.......2000-08-13

This book outlines most of the ballroom dances from a pictorial point of view with the assistance of footstep illustrations. Its virtue is it is pretty comprehensive, with most of the ballroom dances discussed. Even some dances considered a little risque, such as the lambada, are discussed in the book. No doubt that professional instructors will find areas of disagreement in the advice and the patterns developed, but no book can cover all the idiosyncrasies of styling that exist in ballroom classes. A good book to have when learning ballroom, and the price is very reasonable.

Disapointed.......2000-05-06

Disappointed

Book Description

T AKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE OF BASEBALL IN THIS FUNNY, FASCINATING JOURNEY FROM THE EARLIEST GAMES TO TODAY.

Discover what it was like before there was a pitching mound or players had numbers on their jerseys. Learn how Babe Ruth got his nickname, why Brooklyn's team was called the Dodgers, and what Roger Clemens gave to keep his lucky number 21 when he switched teams. See what clever ways players have found to win -- even ways to cheat! Sprinkled throughout are definitions of baseball's weird and wacky vocabulary, from a meatball to Uncle Charlie.

Find out which player was traded for a bag of prunes, but don't trade this book for anything! Ross MacDonald's lively pictures bring fans close to the action with plenty of mischievous fun in this free-swinging tribute to the boys of summer.

Customer Reviews:

A HOME RUN!.......2007-04-03

Sally Cook, James Charlton and Ross MacDonald have a major league hit with HEY BATTA BATTA SWING! Fans and non-fans alike will enjoy dipping into this deliciously nostalgic book that combines wit, style and fascinating baseball lore. Buy a copy and keep it on hand for when you need a gift for the hard-to-buy-for...but you're likely to end up keeping it for yourself!

Awesome Baseball book for any age.......2007-03-12

This book is for all ages. From Babe Ruth to Barry Bonds, it has it all. It is loaded with interesting facts and stories about the begining of baseball to the current day. It's a great book to read with the kids. "Hey Batta Batta Swing!: The Wild Old Days of Baseball" is a perfect gift for any baseball fanatic.

Hey Batta Batta Swing: the Wild Old Days of Baseball.......2007-03-11

Sally Cook's new book is packed with interesting baseball facts and history, and it's written in a light-hearted style both children and adults will enjoy. Even for someone who is not a baseball fan, I was amazed to discover the game was part of American culture as far back as the middle of the 19th century. The illustrations are fun and perfectly suit the subject matter.

Swinging into Summer.......2007-03-09

Sally Cook's new book is a great way to welcome both baseball season and summer. It's the most fun you'll have with baseball unless it is going to say, a Red Sox/Yankees tied-to-the-end game! And it's not for kids only - it's a PERFECT Father's Day gift, for baseball fans and history buffs alike.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books