Java 6 Platform Revealed (Revealed)

It's aim is to provide a fast overview of what's new and this it clearly does.

? Pan Pantziarka, The Resgister

Be among the first to capture an early look at the libraries of Java SE 6, aka Mustang. While J2SE 5.0 is just now starting to become regularly adopted, Java 6 Platform Revealed takes a look at the next release of the Standard Edition platform to come from Sun.

New editions of the platform dont happen that frequently, but when they do, there is a lot to learn about quickly. If you want to come up to speed on the new feature set as quickly as possible, Java 6 Platform Revealed will place you well ahead of the pack. Youll find ten chapters of how to use the latest JSR implementations and library improvements that are now a part of Mustang. Youll learn about the new scripting features of AWT and Swing &emdash; like splash screens, system tray access, and table sorting and filtering &emdash; and lots more. What you wont find in Java 6 Platform Revealed is a `getting started with Java` tutorial. Come prepared with a good working knowledge of Java 5 platform for best results.

Not only will you see whats in Javas future, but youll learn how to actually use many of the new features of the platform quickly. Before the platform has even become finalized youll find yourself productive with the many new capabilities of Mustang.

User review
Between too simplistic, too fast written without substance
I am always skeptic about authors who appear too often in too many thousand page books, because the mass affects the class. This book is a perfect example where such page-spillage leads. It makes on me the impression of being an offspring of a side-job. Quickly thrown together, printed by the all too easy going Apress without any quality review, and put out for sale.

Some of the code pieces presented by the author are simply pitiful. My Evil-Favorite is the listing 2-6, the `Capacity limited linked blocking queue.` Two pages of not commented drivel delivers than the following output on pages 26-29:

MapGot: Jun
Offering: Jun
MapRemoving: Jun
,,.etc. etc for almost,,. 4 pages removed for brevity

Yes, this `highly intellectual` output stretches for 4 pages! You see it correct, 4 pages of 3-lines each MapGot, Offering, MapRemoving, and on, and on, and on. This is embarrassing. I will not comment any further, because this would be a waste of time. We could go through errors, weakness in glossary and index, and several more such `clever` examples explaining, what exactly? That the author can compile code and run it?

Personally I find it a pity that this book is such a disappointment. I like very much the books dealing incrementally with Java updates, which sometimes are really huge. I am looking back at the exquisite book by Gregory M. Travis about JDK 1.4, and the so nicely made small `Java 1.5 Tiger` by David Flanagan and Brett McLaughlin. I second the opinion in one of the other reviews: I wish one of them would have released a book about the JDK 1.6 update.

User review
Poor, oh how I wished for a follow up to the O'Reilly Java 1.5 Notebook.
The title of this review pretty much says it all. Not a good book, though I suppose necessary at the time. I was really hoping for a follow up from O'Reilly to their excellent `Java 1.5 Tiger - A Developer's Notebook`. As the man said `I just need the facts ,,.`

User review
You'll love it or hate it, depending on your experience level
You'll love this book if you are already a pro up through the current Java release and don't want to - once again - wade through Gary Cornell's excellent but complete treatise on the Java language just to figure out what is new to the language in Java 6. You'll hate this book if you want to learn Java for the first time, starting with Java 6, and decide to start with this book. Zukowski assumes you know the current state of all of the APIs he is talking about and just want to know what is new. He does an excellent job explaining what has changed and shores up his explanations with non-trivial examples. I highly recommend it to current Java programmers. If you are not already a Java programmer, wait for Horstmann and Cornell's `Core Java, Volume I-Fundamentals (8th Edition)` to be released in September and learn Java 6 and Java programming the right way and from scratch.

User review
Almost a 5,,.
This great, little overview of a handful of the Java 6 features is a quick, easy read with some concrete examples. Definitely written for the mid-to-advanced audience out there, this should provide you with some core concepts and information about what's included in Mustang without going into painful detail.

What makes this Apress fall short of a 5 is the author's pick-and-choose nature of `in-depth` coverage. You can tell which topics the author likes to cover and which ones he just doesn't get into. It shows his core strengths and competencies, but it would have been nice to possibly have a co-author to cover some of the things he skimmed over and also some additional material.

Worth $40? I'm not sure. But I am happy that I got it. Being able to step away from the computer to study a little was valuable, and this book was a wonderful addition to my reading material.

User review
A great primer on Java 6
O'Reilly has a a `Developer's Notebook` series that I love. This book is very similar however, the writing style, examples, and editing is much cleaner. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a book that describes the new features and changes to the Java language version 6. The author writes in a why that I was able to read the book cover/cover without falling asleep.

I learned a lot about he new version, what libraries to look for changes, and how major the changes are.

My plan is to look for other titles by John Zukowski.