OO Programming Newsletter #44 from Bruce Eckel November 2002 = = = Contents = = = * Thinking in Java, 3rd edition on bookshelves in December * Thinking in Java, Final Revision available * Thinking in Enterprise Java * Hands-On Java CD, 3rd Edition * Bill Venners interviews leading software designers * Bruce Eckel in Provo, Utah Dec 16-21 See the Calendar for the current schedule: http://www.mindview.net/Calendar =================================== * Thinking in Java, 3rd edition on bookshelves in December The 3rd edition of "Thinking in Java" hit the presses on November 23, so you should see it in bookstores in the early part of December. This book represents a very thorough rewrite of TIJ: for example, the Multithreading chapter (now called "Concurrency") was rewritten from scratch to be simpler to understand, covers more of the fundamentals and less of the details we now know to be meaningless, like thread groups (Sun has not officially announced this because it would lead to embarrassment, but it's generally known). Also, I've eliminated the windowing code from the threading examples, to make them simpler to read and understand. We tried to cover the JDK 1.4 features as thoroughly as possible. Another big improvement was the creation of a unit-testing system for the examples in the book, and a chapter entitled "Discovering Problems" which covers various techniques including unit testing that help you keep your code healthy. The book has been restructured to improve the learning process.There are a lot of new examples, and I think I've done something to virtually every existing example in the book, sometimes dramatically restructuring it, sometimes just giving it more consistent formatting and access specifiers. A new solution guide will be out soon. The book's CD ROM now contains the first seven lectures from the 2nd edition of the "Hands-On Java CD" as well as the lectures that introduce you to the fundamentals of C syntax to prepare you for Java (we also have classical guitar music by Chuck Allison). (There will be a third edition of the Hands-On Java CD, as well, as soon as we can get it out). I've also rebuild the book's CD ROM so that it is cross-platform on Windows, Linux and Mac, plus you can print out the slides and listen to MP3s in your favorite coffee house. Rewriting the book took about six months. I decided that as long as I was going to the trouble of rewriting it, I wanted everyone who has bought a previous edition of the book to find the upgrade compelling and valuable enough to feel it is worth buying it. You can find a more complete list of changes at the beginning of the electronic version of the book (see next note). =================================== * Thinking in Java, Final Revision available You can find Revision 4, which is what went to the printer, here: http://www.mindviewinc.com/downloads/TIJ3.zip General details of the changes made in the new version are at the beginning of the book. =================================== * Thinking in Enterprise Java Thinking in Java, 3rd edition, mentions the book "Thinking in Enterprise Java" in a number of places, and it claims that this book can be downloaded from the web site. But if you go there, you won't find it. That's because I haven't put it up yet. We have some of the bits and pieces (in particular, the chapters that have been moved from TIJ3), but a rough version should be up by the end of the year; I'm hoping that when people come across the reference in the book they'll be able to find it on the site. =================================== * Hands-On Java CD, 3rd Edition I would love to be able to tell you this is ready, concurrent with the release of the new edition of the book. And we do have a new, improved CD recording and build system, but alas, it will nonetheless take some time to get the project rolling to completion (the TIC# and TIC++V2 are demanding time, for one thing). However, since the book is now finished, if you buy HOJ2 from now on, you'll get a free upgrade to HOJ3 when it comes out. In addition, people who have purchased an earlier version of the CD before today will get a half-price upgrade to HOJ3. =================================== * Bill Venners interviews leading software designers Bill Venners is now publishing a new interview installment each week on www.Artima.com. Here are two recent interviews you may be interested in: In Refactoring, Martin Fowler makes the business case for refactoring and testing, and discusses the interplay between refactoring, design, and reliability: http://www.artima.com/intv/refactor.html In Evolutionary Design, Martin Fowler discusses planned and evolutionary design, refactoring bad smells in code, and how good design can help you program faster: http://www.artima.com/intv/evolution.html =================================== * Bruce Eckel in Provo, Utah Dec 16-21 I will be spending a week with Chuck Allison in Provo, trying to finish up "Thinking in C++, Volume 2." However, I will be available to speak to a user group or two during that time (if it's a C++ user group, Chuck and I both). ___| Until Next Time... |________________________ Computer nerd humor http://www.valleyofthegeeks.com/ Java programming questions: http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/JavaQuestions.html Speaking & Seminar schedule: http://www.mindview.net/Calendar/ Anyone can sign up for this free newsletter by visiting: http://www.mindview.net/mailman/listinfo/eckel-oo-programming Bruce Eckel http://www.mindview.net