Cay Hortsmann's book on java is beyond horrible(!)
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I'm trying to follow the chapter on Swing in this book already for second hour and I can't even draw and simple image yet... The code is missing. He writes a method than never used it, shows a snippet of a code and doesn't expalin where to put that snippet. Than he jumps to another topic without showing how to implement what he showed earlier. Than he writes a whole code and puts methods in there which never are used in main method or anywhere in the book and aren't even continuation of what he was showing before. Some code doesn't work eithe and needs to be, ironically fixed by a noob himself so that it actually work. How could his book on Java Fundamentals get so good reviews? Like chapters up to inheritannce are okay, but after this the book is just beyond horrible. And it's not me being stupid because I learned a lot more from udemy, Youtube and David.J.Barnes' book "Objects First with java" in 15 minutes than by reading this book for many hours. I'm sitting like a detective and try to get what this guy means and solve the mysterium of how to create and image and I'm done! I'll just look it up on Youtube and throw this book in to the recycling bin. What's wrong with java book writers? Are something wrong with their brains? Why are they so bad at teaching and communicating? Why c++ developer can write books but java developer can't? Have someone a theory on that? I just would like to sit with one book and have a structered studying, chapter by chapter like when I read Deitel's books but it's impossible witth those java books. They are really putting me off from learning java :mad:
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I'm trying to follow the chapter on Swing in this book already for second hour and I can't even draw and simple image yet... The code is missing. He writes a method than never used it, shows a snippet of a code and doesn't expalin where to put that snippet. Than he jumps to another topic without showing how to implement what he showed earlier. Than he writes a whole code and puts methods in there which never are used in main method or anywhere in the book and aren't even continuation of what he was showing before. Some code doesn't work eithe and needs to be, ironically fixed by a noob himself so that it actually work. How could his book on Java Fundamentals get so good reviews? Like chapters up to inheritannce are okay, but after this the book is just beyond horrible. And it's not me being stupid because I learned a lot more from udemy, Youtube and David.J.Barnes' book "Objects First with java" in 15 minutes than by reading this book for many hours. I'm sitting like a detective and try to get what this guy means and solve the mysterium of how to create and image and I'm done! I'll just look it up on Youtube and throw this book in to the recycling bin. What's wrong with java book writers? Are something wrong with their brains? Why are they so bad at teaching and communicating? Why c++ developer can write books but java developer can't? Have someone a theory on that? I just would like to sit with one book and have a structered studying, chapter by chapter like when I read Deitel's books but it's impossible witth those java books. They are really putting me off from learning java :mad:
Member 14971499 wrote:
What's wrong with java book writers?
Nothing, any more the C++, C#, Algol ... writers. It is just that some books are better than others. The one I learned from years ago was basically The Java™ Tutorials[^]. Give it a try.
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I'm trying to follow the chapter on Swing in this book already for second hour and I can't even draw and simple image yet... The code is missing. He writes a method than never used it, shows a snippet of a code and doesn't expalin where to put that snippet. Than he jumps to another topic without showing how to implement what he showed earlier. Than he writes a whole code and puts methods in there which never are used in main method or anywhere in the book and aren't even continuation of what he was showing before. Some code doesn't work eithe and needs to be, ironically fixed by a noob himself so that it actually work. How could his book on Java Fundamentals get so good reviews? Like chapters up to inheritannce are okay, but after this the book is just beyond horrible. And it's not me being stupid because I learned a lot more from udemy, Youtube and David.J.Barnes' book "Objects First with java" in 15 minutes than by reading this book for many hours. I'm sitting like a detective and try to get what this guy means and solve the mysterium of how to create and image and I'm done! I'll just look it up on Youtube and throw this book in to the recycling bin. What's wrong with java book writers? Are something wrong with their brains? Why are they so bad at teaching and communicating? Why c++ developer can write books but java developer can't? Have someone a theory on that? I just would like to sit with one book and have a structered studying, chapter by chapter like when I read Deitel's books but it's impossible witth those java books. They are really putting me off from learning java :mad:
Did you bother to notify the author or the publisher? Complaining here about it is not going to solve the problem.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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Member 14971499 wrote:
What's wrong with java book writers?
Nothing, any more the C++, C#, Algol ... writers. It is just that some books are better than others. The one I learned from years ago was basically The Java™ Tutorials[^]. Give it a try.
A very many years ago I was trying to bootstrap into SQL/database programming via C++. Well, in order for a quick start I got one of those books in the series "_______ programming in 30 days", later to eventually become "in 24 hours". Well, the damn book only talked in terms of FoxPro. Finally, I actually emailed the author and it turns out the nitwit only knew FoxPro ! The later titles, where 30 days became 24 hours says more than I could. Apparently, one didn't need any more knowledge to write a book than to know a publisher.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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Member 14971499 wrote:
What's wrong with java book writers?
Nothing, any more the C++, C#, Algol ... writers. It is just that some books are better than others. The one I learned from years ago was basically The Java™ Tutorials[^]. Give it a try.
Yeah, I will start doing it before I go crazy, but personally I prefer reading books. They are more gentle on the eyes, I can make notes, mark the last chapter that I read and I am not getting distracted by a reference to a link that leads to another link that is a refence to a bunch of links :laugh: like it's always a case with websites. But I don't have much choice. Thanks for advice :)
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Did you bother to notify the author or the publisher? Complaining here about it is not going to solve the problem.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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A very many years ago I was trying to bootstrap into SQL/database programming via C++. Well, in order for a quick start I got one of those books in the series "_______ programming in 30 days", later to eventually become "in 24 hours". Well, the damn book only talked in terms of FoxPro. Finally, I actually emailed the author and it turns out the nitwit only knew FoxPro ! The later titles, where 30 days became 24 hours says more than I could. Apparently, one didn't need any more knowledge to write a book than to know a publisher.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
Wow :laugh: What a story. I was so angry at Hortsmann that I wanted to write to him email as well, but I didn't want to be mean... so I didn't ;P But sometimes when I read those books I have the same feeling like... Is he that bad at expalining or he simply can't do that himself? Because I understand that some books can be hard to learn from, because they are maybe too advanced or maybe too boring or maybe badly explained but still they have an explanation, they communicate something but some books, and especially this... well... the information is simply not there (!). Even if I find something hard to understand I read it all over again but in this book... I can't read it again because there is nothing to unerstand, because the information is absent. For example he writes a code like this: public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { var g2 = (Graphics2D) g; ... } Than he never uses this method and I have no clue what to put into g parameter if I guess I use it in main? Other classes don't never use this method either... and where this g2 come from? Where did he crate an object of this unkown class. "var" doesn't say anything to me so I have no clue, what this class is and he doesn't reveal that either in his book.... And than he writes something like: Image image = new ImageIcon(filename).getImage(); My comment: And again this mysterious method with that mysterious g which is casted from g2, that I don't know where to put instead if I would to use it in main just to see how that works... public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { g.drawImage(mage, x,y,null); My comment: And where do I get this g from ... I don't get anything :sigh: How did that happen and where was that mysterious g created? Of course if I want to use it... again, I guess in main or anywhere... but where is this g-object created so I can put it in the parameter and use this method? :laugh: what da... :omg: ... } And I own plenty of books like this :) Do you understand my frustration now? :laugh:
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David Crow wrote:
Complaining here about it is not going to solve the problem.
In that case, shut down the Lounge. :laugh:
Burn the heretic! :-D
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Did you bother to notify the author or the publisher? Complaining here about it is not going to solve the problem.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
Yeah, I would like to do that. So far I only left a bad review on an online store, where I bought this book from. But I don't know how it would help to write to him, becuase a person who publishes a book like that, simply doesn't care and half of the book is worth to be put into the garabage can. And besides... I have many books like that on my bookshelf. "Java for dummies" isn't better either but still, it was at least cheap, but this is book was a robbery and it got so good reviews. I wonder if those who left those 5-star reviews really read those later chapter page by page just as I did or maybe something is wrong with me :^)
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Burn the heretic! :-D
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I'm trying to follow the chapter on Swing in this book already for second hour and I can't even draw and simple image yet... The code is missing. He writes a method than never used it, shows a snippet of a code and doesn't expalin where to put that snippet. Than he jumps to another topic without showing how to implement what he showed earlier. Than he writes a whole code and puts methods in there which never are used in main method or anywhere in the book and aren't even continuation of what he was showing before. Some code doesn't work eithe and needs to be, ironically fixed by a noob himself so that it actually work. How could his book on Java Fundamentals get so good reviews? Like chapters up to inheritannce are okay, but after this the book is just beyond horrible. And it's not me being stupid because I learned a lot more from udemy, Youtube and David.J.Barnes' book "Objects First with java" in 15 minutes than by reading this book for many hours. I'm sitting like a detective and try to get what this guy means and solve the mysterium of how to create and image and I'm done! I'll just look it up on Youtube and throw this book in to the recycling bin. What's wrong with java book writers? Are something wrong with their brains? Why are they so bad at teaching and communicating? Why c++ developer can write books but java developer can't? Have someone a theory on that? I just would like to sit with one book and have a structered studying, chapter by chapter like when I read Deitel's books but it's impossible witth those java books. They are really putting me off from learning java :mad:
Maybe you can find something better here: best-resources-to-learn-java[^]
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Yeah, I will start doing it before I go crazy, but personally I prefer reading books. They are more gentle on the eyes, I can make notes, mark the last chapter that I read and I am not getting distracted by a reference to a link that leads to another link that is a refence to a bunch of links :laugh: like it's always a case with websites. But I don't have much choice. Thanks for advice :)
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I'm trying to follow the chapter on Swing in this book already for second hour and I can't even draw and simple image yet... The code is missing. He writes a method than never used it, shows a snippet of a code and doesn't expalin where to put that snippet. Than he jumps to another topic without showing how to implement what he showed earlier. Than he writes a whole code and puts methods in there which never are used in main method or anywhere in the book and aren't even continuation of what he was showing before. Some code doesn't work eithe and needs to be, ironically fixed by a noob himself so that it actually work. How could his book on Java Fundamentals get so good reviews? Like chapters up to inheritannce are okay, but after this the book is just beyond horrible. And it's not me being stupid because I learned a lot more from udemy, Youtube and David.J.Barnes' book "Objects First with java" in 15 minutes than by reading this book for many hours. I'm sitting like a detective and try to get what this guy means and solve the mysterium of how to create and image and I'm done! I'll just look it up on Youtube and throw this book in to the recycling bin. What's wrong with java book writers? Are something wrong with their brains? Why are they so bad at teaching and communicating? Why c++ developer can write books but java developer can't? Have someone a theory on that? I just would like to sit with one book and have a structered studying, chapter by chapter like when I read Deitel's books but it's impossible witth those java books. They are really putting me off from learning java :mad:
I found the "nutshell" (C#, Java, Regular Expressions, etc.) books generally useful. One needs to connect with the "mind" of the writer; which is not always possible. [https://www.amazon.ca/Java-Nutshell-Desktop-Quick-Reference/dp/1449370829\](https://www.amazon.ca/Java-Nutshell-Desktop-Quick-Reference/dp/1449370829) Even though they're called a "reference", they include the basics.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
