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Book Review: <em>Instant Java</em> -- Just add a browser?

Our reviewer puts <em>Instant Java</em> to the test

By George W. Leach, JavaWorld.com, 12/01/96

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No, you don't buy it at the supermarket and just add hot water! But John A. Pew's Instant Java is, true to its title, fast and convenient for getting started with Java applets. It's the first of four books in the Java Series, published by SunSoft Press and Prentice-Hall. (The other titles in the series are: Java By Example, by Jerry R. Jackson and Alan L. McClellan; Just Java, by Peter van der Linden; and Core Java, by Gary Cornell and Cay S.Horstmann.) Each book in the series is aimed at a specific audience, which ranges from nonprogrammers to programmers who have varying degrees of experience with Java. Instant Java is intended for nonprogrammers and HTML authors.

The book mainly instructs the reader on how to incorporate existing Java applets into Web pages. It describes the various Java applets included on the CD-ROM that comes with the book, as well as how to manipulate these applets through parameter settings. Each applet is described in an entry in the book; cross references to related applets are also included, and the source code for selected applets is provided in Appendix A. Having the source code right there allows readers to experiment with modifications. The applets described in the book can be run directly off of the included CD.

The author divides the featured applets into distinct chapters to facilitate a progressive pattern of learning. These chapters are:

  • Fundamental Applets
  • Text Applets
  • Image Applets
  • Animation Applets
  • Assorted Applets


The section on fundamental applets covers static text and images, audio, and imagemaps. The chapters on text applets, image applets, and animation applets detail the various ways in which text, images, and animation can be embellished and manipulated using Java. And the chapter on assorted applets is a catch-all for anything that doesn't fit into the earlier chapters.

Instant Java offers readers a tour of Java's capabilities. It provides a look at what Java can do, as well as a look at the code that was used to create applets. Having a CD-ROM makes this experience very interactive. It should be noted, however, that this book is not meant as a Java teaching tool. Readers who don't have an understanding of the language will not get as much out of this book as those who do. When looking at the code for the sample applets, it is a good idea to have a book handy that describes the language.

The author has set up a Web site with information on his book, including updates. You can visit this site and play with the applets described in the book (see Resources).

All four books in the SunSoft Press Java Series come with a CD-ROM, which contains the Java Developer's Kit (JDK) Release 1.0 for Windows 95, Windows NT, and Solaris; Symantec's Cafe Lite development environment for Windows 95 and Windows NT; the beta version of the JDK for Macintosh; all Java source code for the four books; and some Windows shareware (WinZip and WinEdit).

More information on Instant Java and other titles in the SunSoft Press Java Series is available from Prentice-Hall (see Resources).

Prentice-Hall, 1996
340 pages, 9.95
ISBN 0-13-565821-7

About the author

George W. Leach began programming in BASIC in the mid 1970s using an old Teletype with paper tape connected to a DEC PDP-11. Since then he has worked with everything from mainframes to minicomputers to workstations. Heterogeneous distributed systems have been George's focus since 1987. Java and the Web are a continuation of this technology.
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