Swing: A Beginner's Guide (Programming & Web Development - OMG)

The book concentrates on how to code the Swing objects as well as how to decorate appropriate object components with sliders, font styles, and many commonly used attributes. Even if you use Oracle's Eclipse to code nearly all your objects, it is important to have a reference to code that is used to build your objects. This book provides that background.

This book is perfect for those who either have not ever used Swing before or just want a reference handy. The book says in the title it is for beginners. For those who are upset that the book walks you through mundane steps should pay close attention to who the book says it is for.With that said, I thought the book was outstanding. I already had Swing experience when I bought the book so it ended up as a reference guide more than anything. So it is useful for both parties, beginners and experienced Swing Developers. The code in the book breaks down each individual component to give the reader an understanding of how each one works. This book is not written to help create interfaces for systems. It is more of a guide for the basics of Swing.Do not let that discourage you though. The basics in this book are very useful. Each component that is combed over in this book is used by every Swing Developer at one point in their careers. Whether it is for commercial or personal use. What I found useful about the book is that each topic was straight to the point. Most books have you go through a drawn out tutorial on how to make some interface to a system that they have created, which may be good for some, but I believe understanding the inner workings of each component(labels, sliders, panels, frames, lists, etc) is a better approach. This way, the developer can use his/her imagination to create a program with the basics of each part and understanding the methods and properties of each component and he/she can then intertwine those components.If you are looking for a book on ADVANCED topics like animation, 2D & 3D API, this is not the book for that. This is specifically geared for those who are getting started with Java's Swing library. For intermediate to Advanced developers who may not have a handy reference book on specific components, I would also recommend this book.The book has a good approach to everything it covers. You can definitely find many (if not all) of the things covered in this book on Oracles Swing Documentation website, but this book gets straight to the point. This does this, that does that, here is an image of the code and here is an image of what the output (GUI) would be. Once you have a good understanding of the way the book is designed and the fundamentals that are shown in the book, it is then recommended to go to Oracles Swing Docs website to find out other features to the components you've learned.I hope this helped out anyone that is getting started or is looking for a quick reference guide. OH also, I have the kindle version on Android and the images come out great. (Samsung S4.) This may help out many of you who are growing tired of piling up all those books and, if it matters, the kindle version is always cheaper than the physical copy.

I have been a programmer hobbyist for the past 30 years and recently started playing around with Java. As part of that, I was interested making UIs with Java. Even though Swing is pretty old now, it is still a well supported part of the current JDK 17 that I am using. Reading through older Java textbooks, it was stated that JavaFX was going to replace Java Swing. In 2021 this is no longer the case. Swing is still part of current Java while JavaFX requires extra effort to implement.I fully expected about half of the demos/code not to work due to language changes in the past 20 years so my initial plan was to learn what I could from the book then move on to online tutorials that covered more recent innovations. With the exception of Applets (which is no longer part of current Java), I was able to get every demo in the book to work. About 90% worked as written the rest had a typo here or there which I figured out. A few dealt with subtle language changes such as Generics (primitives v objects) or serialVersionUID compiler errors which I was able to google my way to success.I have to say that Mr. Schildt seems to write books that directly work for me. Skip over a lot of the basics that I already know and spend more time on intermediate topics that I am still green on.Highly recommend this book. It has been the best tool for learning Java Swing that I have come across yet.

This is the typical book by Herbert Schildt. It's written along the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" principle. Short, simple , to the point little program that dissect and illustrate the main aspects of the subject under discussion. A classic "Divide et Impera" strategy. His stregth are mainly in the introductory and reference texts, that is the ones that focus on the basic and fundamental technologies and don't require the effort of running after the latest evolution of the latest cutting edge technology or coping with the complications involved in industrial strength, real world applications. I understand this guy, I too like to concentrate in the fundamentals, avoiding the ephemeral technologies and the complications that often plague real world applications not because of the depth of the subject but because of inherent complications in the business they try to model, customization etc.. This allows Schildt to have a solid background on the fundamentals on a wide range of subjects and explain these subjects with outstanding clarity. The bad side is that his books will be useful to you only if you are a total beginner looking for a gentle start (like for this book) or for experienced developers looking for a little fun playing with interesting little programs ( like for the "Art of XXX" series ).So , to sum it up, get this book if you don't mind spending money on a gentle introduction that will give you a clear view on the basics, but be warned that for the more complex, big picture, in the trenches work you will be on your own. Unfortunately the only book I know that presents Java GUI programming with a real world focus is written in french: Swing by Emmanuel Puybaret, which you can be found on amazon.fr.http://www.amazon.fr/Swing-Java-SE-Start-Eclipse/dp/2212120192/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222707572&sr=1-1As a final note, a 40 bucks price tag for an introductory text is definitely out of this world.

I saw this book as a whistle stop tour of Swing. I'd have little interest in the topic except for the Sun Certified Java Developer exam for which Swing is an essential topic. The most advanced component covered is the enigmatic JTable. The mere thought of implementing a JTable would have seen me break a cold sweat were it not for this book. Swing seems to have more details than philosophy when you just need to build a small to moderate GUI and this book was my primary resource when I needed to build such a GUI. You will need extensive reference to the Sun docs (But naturally) and can supplement your understanding with other online documentation (But naturally) and I did find I needed other printed resources to actually put together a functional GUI.Good points of this book are that it guides you through a challenging introduction to the common Swing components, some a bit advanced. There are good examples that are not overwhelming.Disadvantages would be: When you go to implement a GUI you will understand the components and the models behind them but may still be wondering how to form all that knowledge into a working application front end because the book is more focused on specific controls and their models. You have to figure out how to write your controller and integrate the Swing front end with it.I'd be tempted to give this book four stars because it was very useful to me. However I will give it five only because it promises no more than it delivers. It is a whistle stop tour of Swing and a reference to the high points of the common components, in that respect it could serve as an introduction for beginners or a reference for those of us who have to use Swing for something but aren't buying the season ticket.

It is ok as a beginner's guide, although in the electronic version that I have, the samples are in a very small font, and difficult to enlarge to a readable size.

Excellent book, perfect for new starters with Java Swing

Very Good for beginners. I will recommend

Good Text book.