I borrowed this to read a couple chapters because I wanted to get a feel for what's new and interesting in Java 5 (1.5), particularly generics. Although the book is a decent compendium of just about everything you might want to know about Java, I came away dissatisfied.
First of all, if you're wondering about generic type "erasure," this is not the place to look. It's not mentioned at all. You'll have to go to [Generics in the Java Programming Language (PDF)] by GiladBracha? and wander about on the Web.
I think my greatest dissatisfaction comes from the fact that this book is a pretty thorough compendium. It weighs in at 1225 pages plus preface and other front matter. Two-thirds of the book is the API for much of the standard library. So after years of adding loads of XML stuff and new IO stuff and thread this and that, you end up with a huge library and a huge book.
Okay, so Java's library is pretty daunting (and don't ask me what else I think about Java). But O'Reilly Publishing needs to give some good thought to what a "Nutshell" is and should be. If the Nutshell section on the library is essentially the API, shouldn't the book just send the reader to the library's own documentation for the API? This Nutshell book would be much better—and shorter—if Flanagan were to
Heheh, it's been interesting to notice how JiaNS has grown thicker and thicker with each passing release: Java seems to be becoming the PL/I of the 21st century. Bit sad that they're still printing out the API's -- KeithBraithwaite
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