Java Developer's Reference: With CDROM

While other people who've reviewed this book tanked it for not being comprehensive enough, I that's unfair. It's unrealistic to expect to find EVERYTHING you need on a language as expansive as Java in a single volume. This book is not meant to be the Physician's Desk Reference of Java programming. Rather, it is an excellent introduction to the language for people a little more sophisticated than the "21 Days" crowd. The chapters are brief and to the point. I for one was extremely grateful to not have to read for the bajillionth time a long explanation of what loops are for. Or some arcane [stuff] about the infinitesimal details of the javac compiler. It gave just enough info for someone already familiar with programming to know what they need to get working.No, the class and package documentation are not up to date. But "Hello, ...!", it's a book written on a static output medium called "Paper". If you want the Java 2 documentation, go to Sun's site. If you want an explanation of how to READ the Java documentation and have it make sense, read this book.The bottom line is, if you're looking for excruciating detail on threads, this book is not for you. If you're looking for enough info to get conceptually well grounded and start putting them to use, then this is it. I just wish I could find books like this on ALL programming languages. It would save me some money and the earth some trees.NOTE: I bought this book after it was out of print, and I still found it useful. Consider buying it used.