Opinions on Bruce Eckels' "Thinking In" books?

[NTB]

I've seen good reccomendations from a lot of people, including a few here that I know swear by them - Thinking in C++ is always one of the first reccomendations to come up when somebody asks for a book. I'm just looking to get a bit of a consensus. As for myself, I have yet to read any of them. But going on the strength of the reviews and opinions here and elsewhere (and the fact that most of my classes next semester are Java-oriented) I just ordered Thinking in Java from Amazon.com. Going to go over it during the upcoming holiday break.

So what do you think? if you answer the poll, please make a post to explain the answer - why they're good, / why they're not, what you think should be changed, etc.

Nate

 

[bunker]

I used Eckels java book when I was learning and I thought it was rather good. I used the java documentation more than his book for learning but I would say it helped.

And when you can get a free electronic version, what's not to like?



(Not to mods, this is not warez/copyright infringement, it is offered for free from Eckels web site!!)

 

[MrMilney]

I would say that the books are OK but certainly not the best ones I've ever read on the subject(s). However, when it comes to bang for the buck it's hard to be an OK book that's free.

 

[NTB]

Thanks for the link, but I already have the free versions. Bought the hard copy one this morning because I wanted something that I could read away from my desk if I want to. I guess I could print the book out, but I played around with it to find out how long that would be, and the Java book alone comes out to 1000+ pages in MS Word (assuming you don't shrink the fonts, or other things. It's still one d@mn big document.)

Nate