Great introduction to object orientated programming, 19 Nov 2008
I bought this book never having studied object orientated programming before.
Several weeks later I can now write basic programmes and understand more complicated ones written by others.
This book is by no means completely comprehensive; I suspect some of the later examples are more for illustrative purpose rather than useful in the real world.

I also found the constant use of command line arguments to input data a bit laborious.
A brief tutorial on how to operate any of the major IDE applications would also have been very useful.

However this book is very well written and easy to understand. Each concept is fully explored before moving onto the next.
The end of section multiple choice questions and problem based quizzes provide a great chance to test your knowledge of each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn java or to get started on object orientated programming.


Great for beginners in java or programming, 05 Oct 2007
I'm a pupil still at school but hoping to do Computer Games Technology at university next year. In preperation for my course which will involve C++, i was recommended by a senior lecturer to learn Java. I've seen a few books and this one is my favorite.

Again, I am still at school and find this book good. I'm using my spare time to learn Java so if it wasn't a good book, I wouldn't bother learning from it. Anyways, it is clearly layed out with a lesson for each day (although the lessons are long and will probably require a few days to complete each).

It is true that the book has some minor coding error but if you understand the language being taught up to the point of the error, it is really easy to spot and correct when writing it yourself. This also aids your learning; by spotting and correcting mistakes!

I had never done any programming or any sort before and this book is really helping me get my first language done with ease. Thus; this book is for complete beginners to programming or just to java.

If your looking to learn java and want an up-to-date book (for Java 6) this is it. Don't bother looking anywhere else or get an older book not meant for learning the newer versions of Java; GET THIS ONE.

Top stuff indeed!

Java 6 (Teach YourSelf), 18 Sep 2007
A very good and well written book. Covers all the basics and more advanced concepts of java programming. Unlike some books it shows fully coded working examples.
I would recommend this book to any students at university (like myself) or wanna be programmers.

Great introduction to object orientated programming, 19 Nov 2008
I bought this book never having studied object orientated programming before.
Several weeks later I can now write basic programmes and understand more complicated ones written by others.
This book is by no means completely comprehensive; I suspect some of the later examples are more for illustrative purpose rather than useful in the real world.

I also found the constant use of command line arguments to input data a bit laborious.
A brief tutorial on how to operate any of the major IDE applications would also have been very useful.

However this book is very well written and easy to understand. Each concept is fully explored before moving onto the next.
The end of section multiple choice questions and problem based quizzes provide a great chance to test your knowledge of each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn java or to get started on object orientated programming.


Great for beginners in java or programming, 05 Oct 2007
I'm a pupil still at school but hoping to do Computer Games Technology at university next year. In preperation for my course which will involve C++, i was recommended by a senior lecturer to learn Java. I've seen a few books and this one is my favorite.

Again, I am still at school and find this book good. I'm using my spare time to learn Java so if it wasn't a good book, I wouldn't bother learning from it. Anyways, it is clearly layed out with a lesson for each day (although the lessons are long and will probably require a few days to complete each).

It is true that the book has some minor coding error but if you understand the language being taught up to the point of the error, it is really easy to spot and correct when writing it yourself. This also aids your learning; by spotting and correcting mistakes!

I had never done any programming or any sort before and this book is really helping me get my first language done with ease. Thus; this book is for complete beginners to programming or just to java.

If your looking to learn java and want an up-to-date book (for Java 6) this is it. Don't bother looking anywhere else or get an older book not meant for learning the newer versions of Java; GET THIS ONE.

Top stuff indeed!

Java 6 (Teach YourSelf), 18 Sep 2007
A very good and well written book. Covers all the basics and more advanced concepts of java programming. Unlike some books it shows fully coded working examples.
I would recommend this book to any students at university (like myself) or wanna be programmers.

MIKE AND AUDREY, 08 Mar 2007
We started using a computer a couple of years ago and went to classes and bought several books all of which were said to be "just what the beginner wants" Sadly being absolute beginners we struggled to get to grips with the computer even with these books until by chance we were recommended this book and we're both glad we listened to this advice--the book is an absolute gem and a must for any beginner--clearly written and very easy to understand and should be on sale in every computer shop.Hope there will be a second book by Lynn

Good communication skills, 26 Jan 2007
This book is very well written for people like myself who have never used a computer before. It is easy reading without any jargon, plenty of pictures with step by step instructions. I have recommended people to buy this who are beginners to assist them in understanding the world of computers

very easy, 26 Jul 2006
this book has helped me understand computing to the extent that i can now manage my business with very little help from outside


What we have been waiting for, 19 Jul 2006
Just a brilliant book for beginners. Don't bother with any other books except this author's next book which she has promised to produce relating to backing up your work to cd, digital photography etc.

Beginners Look No Further, 01 Jul 2006
This book does just as it says, everything explained in plain english with no technical jargon. A must for all beginners.

When it comes to working a little "behind the scenes" magic for a Web site or putting together a UNIX script which interrogate databases and produce reports based on the information they contain, there are few better languages to do the job than Perl.

Learning Perl draws on the expertise of two of the major supporters of this highly flexible language, Randal Schwatrz and Tom Christiansen, to produce an introductory manual which manages to be concise yet informative throughout.

Weighing in at a mere (for a computer manual) 271 pages it achieves admirably what it sets out to do--teach Perl basics and no more. From the introduction to the different variable types through hash arrays, file access, process management and coding for the World Wide Web, it's a well-paced easy-to-understand book which assumes a rudimentary knowledge of programming but no more.

With its multitude of clear examples which help to hammer home the many points made and set exercises at the end of each chapter, it builds knowledge rather than drowning the reader with information as many other books seem to do.

This is the first in a series of books on the subject from O'Reilly Publishing, the others being Programming Perl, Advanced Perl Programming and the Perl Cookbook and it truly is a great introduction to a language which is enthusiastically supported by developers and Web coders worldwide. Well worth a read.

Great introduction to object orientated programming, 19 Nov 2008
I bought this book never having studied object orientated programming before.
Several weeks later I can now write basic programmes and understand more complicated ones written by others.
This book is by no means completely comprehensive; I suspect some of the later examples are more for illustrative purpose rather than useful in the real world.

I also found the constant use of command line arguments to input data a bit laborious.
A brief tutorial on how to operate any of the major IDE applications would also have been very useful.

However this book is very well written and easy to understand. Each concept is fully explored before moving onto the next.
The end of section multiple choice questions and problem based quizzes provide a great chance to test your knowledge of each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn java or to get started on object orientated programming.


Great for beginners in java or programming, 05 Oct 2007
I'm a pupil still at school but hoping to do Computer Games Technology at university next year. In preperation for my course which will involve C++, i was recommended by a senior lecturer to learn Java. I've seen a few books and this one is my favorite.

Again, I am still at school and find this book good. I'm using my spare time to learn Java so if it wasn't a good book, I wouldn't bother learning from it. Anyways, it is clearly layed out with a lesson for each day (although the lessons are long and will probably require a few days to complete each).

It is true that the book has some minor coding error but if you understand the language being taught up to the point of the error, it is really easy to spot and correct when writing it yourself. This also aids your learning; by spotting and correcting mistakes!

I had never done any programming or any sort before and this book is really helping me get my first language done with ease. Thus; this book is for complete beginners to programming or just to java.

If your looking to learn java and want an up-to-date book (for Java 6) this is it. Don't bother looking anywhere else or get an older book not meant for learning the newer versions of Java; GET THIS ONE.

Top stuff indeed!

Java 6 (Teach YourSelf), 18 Sep 2007
A very good and well written book. Covers all the basics and more advanced concepts of java programming. Unlike some books it shows fully coded working examples.
I would recommend this book to any students at university (like myself) or wanna be programmers.

MIKE AND AUDREY, 08 Mar 2007
We started using a computer a couple of years ago and went to classes and bought several books all of which were said to be "just what the beginner wants" Sadly being absolute beginners we struggled to get to grips with the computer even with these books until by chance we were recommended this book and we're both glad we listened to this advice--the book is an absolute gem and a must for any beginner--clearly written and very easy to understand and should be on sale in every computer shop.Hope there will be a second book by Lynn

Good communication skills, 26 Jan 2007
This book is very well written for people like myself who have never used a computer before. It is easy reading without any jargon, plenty of pictures with step by step instructions. I have recommended people to buy this who are beginners to assist them in understanding the world of computers

very easy, 26 Jul 2006
this book has helped me understand computing to the extent that i can now manage my business with very little help from outside


What we have been waiting for, 19 Jul 2006
Just a brilliant book for beginners. Don't bother with any other books except this author's next book which she has promised to produce relating to backing up your work to cd, digital photography etc.

Beginners Look No Further, 01 Jul 2006
This book does just as it says, everything explained in plain english with no technical jargon. A must for all beginners.

The Perfect Introduction, 27 Feb 2008
I read the Programming Perl book first and wished I had read Learning Perl beforehand. It is quite simply the best introduction to anyone who wants to learn the language.

Although not as in-depth as Programming Perl, this book gives just the right overview to pick up the basics and write some really nice scripts.

Each chapter is followed by several exercises which force you to remember and use what you have learned in the chapter.

I read this book after a year or so of Perl programming and there were still a few things which this book taught me. It is an excellent companion to my Programming Perl book


Not for the absolute beginers, 14 Feb 2008
If you know nothing about computer programs and language then I have to say that this is not the book for you.

In fairness to the author he actually says that this is really a book for those with some knowledge of computer language, but that doesnt make it any easier for the absolute novice.

Maybe the second book you should buy.

Excellent introduction to a very useful language, 16 Jul 2007
Coming from a programming background, I find this an excellent book to allow me to quickly take advantage of Perl's simplicity and power. The chapters on Regular Expressions are particularly good - I had struggled with these until I read this book.

Perfect introduction to learning Perl scripting, 14 Jul 2007
I learnt Perl scripting from the third edition of The Llama, and recently had cause to brush up my Perl for a new job, so I thought I'd check out the fourth edition. I'm pleased to say it's still an excellent work. If you want to use Perl as a scripting language, this may be all you need for your entire scripting career. Some basic programming knowledge might be helpful, but even a complete beginner could get something out of this.

The basics are covered well: strings, numbers, control structures, subroutines, arrays and hashes, and most importantly, reading and writing files, and the mighty regular expressions. In fact, I've not read a better treatment of regular expressions anywhere else. Everything is clearly explained and well-written. Basically, this is the gold standard against which all introductory books to a programming language should be judged.

However, this book makes no claim to covering all of Perl. At least the main text of the book doesn't. I don't know what happened with the blurb on the back of the book, but it mentions, among other things: threading, references, objects, modules and package implementation. Technically, these topics are indeed present, but only in that a paragraph each is devoted to them in Appendix B. You will certainly learn nothing of any value about them.

There are some other minor quibbles: you may find the constant Flintstones references tiring after a while. Also potentially wearing are the sometimes inane footnotes, which breaks the flow of the reading experience for little reward. On the other hand, I found them a lot less annoying in this edition, so perhaps I've just mellowed out in the intervening years. Finally, the last chapter does a very whistlestop tour of map, grep, exception handling with eval, and array and hash slicing. I've never found the 'cram a bunch of stuff we don't have time to talk about into one chapter' approach to be very useful, and it doesn't work here, either. Fortunately, apart from the slices, it's all covered again at slightly greater length in Intermediate Perl.

Speaking of Intermediate Perl, if you want to learn Perl as a general purpose language, rather than for short scripts, you need to go and read that one next. Many suggest that you can graduate onto The Camel straight after The Llama, but I strongly disagree -- I tried and failed miserably.

But as long as you bear in mind you're only getting half the Perl experience, this is still the book I would thrust into the hands of anyone looking to learn Perl.

Making easy things difficult, and hard things impossible, 21 May 2007
I found this book difficult to follow from at chapter 3, in fact it was so confusing to me that I gave up at chapter 3 after attempting the exercises. I put my confusion down to not coming from a progamming background. I had dabbled a bit with VB but thats about all. I am not a complete IT novice, and am fairly competent in Unix/Linux.

For the complete programming novice like me, I would say steer well clear, at least until you have tackled a more newbie friendly title. I have just ordered Perl for Dummies (as I am clearly a Perl dummie!) and Perl Programming for the absolute beginner, so hopefully these will meet my Perl needs.

Great introduction to object orientated programming, 19 Nov 2008
I bought this book never having studied object orientated programming before.
Several weeks later I can now write basic programmes and understand more complicated ones written by others.
This book is by no means completely comprehensive; I suspect some of the later examples are more for illustrative purpose rather than useful in the real world.

I also found the constant use of command line arguments to input data a bit laborious.
A brief tutorial on how to operate any of the major IDE applications would also have been very useful.

However this book is very well written and easy to understand. Each concept is fully explored before moving onto the next.
The end of section multiple choice questions and problem based quizzes provide a great chance to test your knowledge of each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn java or to get started on object orientated programming.


Great for beginners in java or programming, 05 Oct 2007
I'm a pupil still at school but hoping to do Computer Games Technology at university next year. In preperation for my course which will involve C++, i was recommended by a senior lecturer to learn Java. I've seen a few books and this one is my favorite.

Again, I am still at school and find this book good. I'm using my spare time to learn Java so if it wasn't a good book, I wouldn't bother learning from it. Anyways, it is clearly layed out with a lesson for each day (although the lessons are long and will probably require a few days to complete each).

It is true that the book has some minor coding error but if you understand the language being taught up to the point of the error, it is really easy to spot and correct when writing it yourself. This also aids your learning; by spotting and correcting mistakes!

I had never done any programming or any sort before and this book is really helping me get my first language done with ease. Thus; this book is for complete beginners to programming or just to java.

If your looking to learn java and want an up-to-date book (for Java 6) this is it. Don't bother looking anywhere else or get an older book not meant for learning the newer versions of Java; GET THIS ONE.

Top stuff indeed!

Java 6 (Teach YourSelf), 18 Sep 2007
A very good and well written book. Covers all the basics and more advanced concepts of java programming. Unlike some books it shows fully coded working examples.
I would recommend this book to any students at university (like myself) or wanna be programmers.

MIKE AND AUDREY, 08 Mar 2007
We started using a computer a couple of years ago and went to classes and bought several books all of which were said to be "just what the beginner wants" Sadly being absolute beginners we struggled to get to grips with the computer even with these books until by chance we were recommended this book and we're both glad we listened to this advice--the book is an absolute gem and a must for any beginner--clearly written and very easy to understand and should be on sale in every computer shop.Hope there will be a second book by Lynn

Good communication skills, 26 Jan 2007
This book is very well written for people like myself who have never used a computer before. It is easy reading without any jargon, plenty of pictures with step by step instructions. I have recommended people to buy this who are beginners to assist them in understanding the world of computers

very easy, 26 Jul 2006
this book has helped me understand computing to the extent that i can now manage my business with very little help from outside


What we have been waiting for, 19 Jul 2006
Just a brilliant book for beginners. Don't bother with any other books except this author's next book which she has promised to produce relating to backing up your work to cd, digital photography etc.

Beginners Look No Further, 01 Jul 2006
This book does just as it says, everything explained in plain english with no technical jargon. A must for all beginners.

The Perfect Introduction, 27 Feb 2008
I read the Programming Perl book first and wished I had read Learning Perl beforehand. It is quite simply the best introduction to anyone who wants to learn the language.

Although not as in-depth as Programming Perl, this book gives just the right overview to pick up the basics and write some really nice scripts.

Each chapter is followed by several exercises which force you to remember and use what you have learned in the chapter.

I read this book after a year or so of Perl programming and there were still a few things which this book taught me. It is an excellent companion to my Programming Perl book


Not for the absolute beginers, 14 Feb 2008
If you know nothing about computer programs and language then I have to say that this is not the book for you.

In fairness to the author he actually says that this is really a book for those with some knowledge of computer language, but that doesnt make it any easier for the absolute novice.

Maybe the second book you should buy.

Excellent introduction to a very useful language, 16 Jul 2007
Coming from a programming background, I find this an excellent book to allow me to quickly take advantage of Perl's simplicity and power. The chapters on Regular Expressions are particularly good - I had struggled with these until I read this book.

Perfect introduction to learning Perl scripting, 14 Jul 2007
I learnt Perl scripting from the third edition of The Llama, and recently had cause to brush up my Perl for a new job, so I thought I'd check out the fourth edition. I'm pleased to say it's still an excellent work. If you want to use Perl as a scripting language, this may be all you need for your entire scripting career. Some basic programming knowledge might be helpful, but even a complete beginner could get something out of this.

The basics are covered well: strings, numbers, control structures, subroutines, arrays and hashes, and most importantly, reading and writing files, and the mighty regular expressions. In fact, I've not read a better treatment of regular expressions anywhere else. Everything is clearly explained and well-written. Basically, this is the gold standard against which all introductory books to a programming language should be judged.

However, this book makes no claim to covering all of Perl. At least the main text of the book doesn't. I don't know what happened with the blurb on the back of the book, but it mentions, among other things: threading, references, objects, modules and package implementation. Technically, these topics are indeed present, but only in that a paragraph each is devoted to them in Appendix B. You will certainly learn nothing of any value about them.

There are some other minor quibbles: you may find the constant Flintstones references tiring after a while. Also potentially wearing are the sometimes inane footnotes, which breaks the flow of the reading experience for little reward. On the other hand, I found them a lot less annoying in this edition, so perhaps I've just mellowed out in the intervening years. Finally, the last chapter does a very whistlestop tour of map, grep, exception handling with eval, and array and hash slicing. I've never found the 'cram a bunch of stuff we don't have time to talk about into one chapter' approach to be very useful, and it doesn't work here, either. Fortunately, apart from the slices, it's all covered again at slightly greater length in Intermediate Perl.

Speaking of Intermediate Perl, if you want to learn Perl as a general purpose language, rather than for short scripts, you need to go and read that one next. Many suggest that you can graduate onto The Camel straight after The Llama, but I strongly disagree -- I tried and failed miserably.

But as long as you bear in mind you're only getting half the Perl experience, this is still the book I would thrust into the hands of anyone looking to learn Perl.

Making easy things difficult, and hard things impossible, 21 May 2007
I found this book difficult to follow from at chapter 3, in fact it was so confusing to me that I gave up at chapter 3 after attempting the exercises. I put my confusion down to not coming from a progamming background. I had dabbled a bit with VB but thats about all. I am not a complete IT novice, and am fairly competent in Unix/Linux.

For the complete programming novice like me, I would say steer well clear, at least until you have tackled a more newbie friendly title. I have just ordered Perl for Dummies (as I am clearly a Perl dummie!) and Perl Programming for the absolute beginner, so hopefully these will meet my Perl needs.



Refers to information that does not exist, 19 Sep 2008
On the second chapter in this book it refers to information you must download to be able to use the remainder of the book. It has links to the information that do not work and searching for the information produces no clear result. The book is a failure and has wasted a lot of my precious time.

An Excellent Introduction to Java, 12 Feb 2007
I am a mature University student studying Web Development and Programming.I needed a gentle introduction to Java, and this book has provided just that.It takes the reader by the hand and introduces all of the basic concepts in an informative and uncomplicated manner (not an easy task).
The author is also very accesible.I had a problem with some code and he responded to my email within hours.(He pointed me to a posting on his Weblog which did just the trick).
I approached Java with some trepidation but thanks to Mr Burd I am now feeling very confident about tackling the more complicated issues.
I am also more than holding my own at University.I can`t thank the author enough.
An introduction to Java that I would highly recommend to anyone.

A good starter book for Java, 23 Oct 2006
This book really does start with the basics, so if you already know a bit about programming it will possibly be too slow - However, if like me you need a refresher (after a 15 year break) or really are new to programming this is a good launch pad - don't be too disappointed that it does not leap straight into Windows, Icons, Mice, and Pointers and there are lots of text examples. It does get the message across very well.

A well written introduction to the Java language, 17 Sep 2006
I recently finished my MSc course, which involved extensive programming. When I began the course I didn't have a clue about what a program was and what the Java language was all about. To be honest I was never really a computer person. I purchased this book as I had to understand everything about Java programming. It provided a good introduction to the language and explained parts of a program really well. The book moved at a good pace introducing, classes, methods and instances. Before I knew it, I was programming in Java with confidence.

Since Java was the first hard core object orientated language I learnt, it became very easy for me to program in other languages such as C, C++, Python, Perl (a scripting language), Visual Basic and Fortran. I would recommend this book as an introduction to the language but once you grasp the basics, it would be useful to purchase Java 5.0 Illumintaed by Anderson and Franceschi as it provides advanced features of the language. Overall, it's worth the money!

EXCELLENT INTRODUCTION, 15 Sep 2005
This book is aimed at someone who is keen to learn programming, but who hasn't had much exposure to programming before (I had learnt a little BASIC as a schoolboy and that was it). Even for me, it seemed very simple, and I was a little impatient at first and nearly gave up after a few chapters because it was going on and on about very simple things you could do with numbers, etc. But I'm so glad that I read through to the end - as it started to make sense of Object Oriented Programming, which is not so easy to understand. I had been reading it alongside "Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours", and this really emphasised how well this book was written. The Sams book covered very similar ground, but it was dry theory with examples that were not clearly explained. In this book, by contrast, the writer really seems to have at heart the intention to HELP the reader understand what is going on, and so every example is followed by a very simple explanation of what is happening. Sometimes it feels too simple, but this is FAR, FAR better than not providing enough explanation. You feel through this book that you are being guided and that nothing will be presented that is beyond your ability to understand. Tomorrow I'm going to get his follow-up book, which I hope will be as helpful in taking the next step.

Great introduction to object orientated programming, 19 Nov 2008
I bought this book never having studied object orientated programming before.
Several weeks later I can now write basic programmes and understand more complicated ones written by others.
This book is by no means completely comprehensive; I suspect some of the later examples are more for illustrative purpose rather than useful in the real world.

I also found the constant use of command line arguments to input data a bit laborious.
A brief tutorial on how to operate any of the major IDE applications would also have been very useful.

However this book is very well written and easy to understand. Each concept is fully explored before moving onto the next.
The end of section multiple choice questions and problem based quizzes provide a great chance to test your knowledge of each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn java or to get started on object orientated programming.


Great for beginners in java or programming, 05 Oct 2007
I'm a pupil still at school but hoping to do Computer Games Technology at university next year. In preperation for my course which will involve C++, i was recommended by a senior lecturer to learn Java. I've seen a few books and this one is my favorite.

Again, I am still at school and find this book good. I'm using my spare time to learn Java so if it wasn't a good book, I wouldn't bother learning from it. Anyways, it is clearly layed out with a lesson for each day (although the lessons are long and will probably require a few days to complete each).

It is true that the book has some minor coding error but if you understand the language being taught up to the point of the error, it is really easy to spot and correct when writing it yourself. This also aids your learning; by spotting and correcting mistakes!

I had never done any programming or any sort before and this book is really helping me get my first language done with ease. Thus; this book is for complete beginners to programming or just to java.

If your looking to learn java and want an up-to-date book (for Java 6) this is it. Don't bother looking anywhere else or get an older book not meant for learning the newer versions of Java; GET THIS ONE.

Top stuff indeed!

Java 6 (Teach YourSelf), 18 Sep 2007
A very good and well written book. Covers all the basics and more advanced concepts of java programming. Unlike some books it shows fully coded working examples.
I would recommend this book to any students at university (like myself) or wanna be programmers.

MIKE AND AUDREY, 08 Mar 2007
We started using a computer a couple of years ago and went to classes and bought several books all of which were said to be "just what the beginner wants" Sadly being absolute beginners we struggled to get to grips with the computer even with these books until by chance we were recommended this book and we're both glad we listened to this advice--the book is an absolute gem and a must for any beginner--clearly written and very easy to understand and should be on sale in every computer shop.Hope there will be a second book by Lynn

Good communication skills, 26 Jan 2007
This book is very well written for people like myself who have never used a computer before. It is easy reading without any jargon, plenty of pictures with step by step instructions. I have recommended people to buy this who are beginners to assist them in understanding the world of computers

very easy, 26 Jul 2006
this book has helped me understand computing to the extent that i can now manage my business with very little help from outside


What we have been waiting for, 19 Jul 2006
Just a brilliant book for beginners. Don't bother with any other books except this author's next book which she has promised to produce relating to backing up your work to cd, digital photography etc.

Beginners Look No Further, 01 Jul 2006
This book does just as it says, everything explained in plain english with no technical jargon. A must for all beginners.

The Perfect Introduction, 27 Feb 2008
I read the Programming Perl book first and wished I had read Learning Perl beforehand. It is quite simply the best introduction to anyone who wants to learn the language.

Although not as in-depth as Programming Perl, this book gives just the right overview to pick up the basics and write some really nice scripts.

Each chapter is followed by several exercises which force you to remember and use what you have learned in the chapter.

I read this book after a year or so of Perl programming and there were still a few things which this book taught me. It is an excellent companion to my Programming Perl book


Not for the absolute beginers, 14 Feb 2008
If you know nothing about computer programs and language then I have to say that this is not the book for you.

In fairness to the author he actually says that this is really a book for those with some knowledge of computer language, but that doesnt make it any easier for the absolute novice.

Maybe the second book you should buy.

Excellent introduction to a very useful language, 16 Jul 2007
Coming from a programming background, I find this an excellent book to allow me to quickly take advantage of Perl's simplicity and power. The chapters on Regular Expressions are particularly good - I had struggled with these until I read this book.

Perfect introduction to learning Perl scripting, 14 Jul 2007
I learnt Perl scripting from the third edition of The Llama, and recently had cause to brush up my Perl for a new job, so I thought I'd check out the fourth edition. I'm pleased to say it's still an excellent work. If you want to use Perl as a scripting language, this may be all you need for your entire scripting career. Some basic programming knowledge might be helpful, but even a complete beginner could get something out of this.

The basics are covered well: strings, numbers, control structures, subroutines, arrays and hashes, and most importantly, reading and writing files, and the mighty regular expressions. In fact, I've not read a better treatment of regular expressions anywhere else. Everything is clearly explained and well-written. Basically, this is the gold standard against which all introductory books to a programming language should be judged.

However, this book makes no claim to covering all of Perl. At least the main text of the book doesn't. I don't know what happened with the blurb on the back of the book, but it mentions, among other things: threading, references, objects, modules and package implementation. Technically, these topics are indeed present, but only in that a paragraph each is devoted to them in Appendix B. You will certainly learn nothing of any value about them.

There are some other minor quibbles: you may find the constant Flintstones references tiring after a while. Also potentially wearing are the sometimes inane footnotes, which breaks the flow of the reading experience for little reward. On the other hand, I found them a lot less annoying in this edition, so perhaps I've just mellowed out in the intervening years. Finally, the last chapter does a very whistlestop tour of map, grep, exception handling with eval, and array and hash slicing. I've never found the 'cram a bunch of stuff we don't have time to talk about into one chapter' approach to be very useful, and it doesn't work here, either. Fortunately, apart from the slices, it's all covered again at slightly greater length in Intermediate Perl.

Speaking of Intermediate Perl, if you want to learn Perl as a general purpose language, rather than for short scripts, you need to go and read that one next. Many suggest that you can graduate onto The Camel straight after The Llama, but I strongly disagree -- I tried and failed miserably.

But as long as you bear in mind you're only getting half the Perl experience, this is still the book I would thrust into the hands of anyone looking to learn Perl.

Making easy things difficult, and hard things impossible, 21 May 2007
I found this book difficult to follow from at chapter 3, in fact it was so confusing to me that I gave up at chapter 3 after attempting the exercises. I put my confusion down to not coming from a progamming background. I had dabbled a bit with VB but thats about all. I am not a complete IT novice, and am fairly competent in Unix/Linux.

For the complete programming novice like me, I would say steer well clear, at least until you have tackled a more newbie friendly title. I have just ordered Perl for Dummies (as I am clearly a Perl dummie!) and Perl Programming for the absolute beginner, so hopefully these will meet my Perl needs.



Refers to information that does not exist, 19 Sep 2008
On the second chapter in this book it refers to information you must download to be able to use the remainder of the book. It has links to the information that do not work and searching for the information produces no clear result. The book is a failure and has wasted a lot of my precious time.

An Excellent Introduction to Java, 12 Feb 2007
I am a mature University student studying Web Development and Programming.I needed a gentle introduction to Java, and this book has provided just that.It takes the reader by the hand and introduces all of the basic concepts in an informative and uncomplicated manner (not an easy task).
The author is also very accesible.I had a problem with some code and he responded to my email within hours.(He pointed me to a posting on his Weblog which did just the trick).
I approached Java with some trepidation but thanks to Mr Burd I am now feeling very confident about tackling the more complicated issues.
I am also more than holding my own at University.I can`t thank the author enough.
An introduction to Java that I would highly recommend to anyone.

A good starter book for Java, 23 Oct 2006
This book really does start with the basics, so if you already know a bit about programming it will possibly be too slow - However, if like me you need a refresher (after a 15 year break) or really are new to programming this is a good launch pad - don't be too disappointed that it does not leap straight into Windows, Icons, Mice, and Pointers and there are lots of text examples. It does get the message across very well.

A well written introduction to the Java language, 17 Sep 2006
I recently finished my MSc course, which involved extensive programming. When I began the course I didn't have a clue about what a program was and what the Java language was all about. To be honest I was never really a computer person. I purchased this book as I had to understand everything about Java programming. It provided a good introduction to the language and explained parts of a program really well. The book moved at a good pace introducing, classes, methods and instances. Before I knew it, I was programming in Java with confidence.

Since Java was the first hard core object orientated language I learnt, it became very easy for me to program in other languages such as C, C++, Python, Perl (a scripting language), Visual Basic and Fortran. I would recommend this book as an introduction to the language but once you grasp the basics, it would be useful to purchase Java 5.0 Illumintaed by Anderson and Franceschi as it provides advanced features of the language. Overall, it's worth the money!

EXCELLENT INTRODUCTION, 15 Sep 2005
This book is aimed at someone who is keen to learn programming, but who hasn't had much exposure to programming before (I had learnt a little BASIC as a schoolboy and that was it). Even for me, it seemed very simple, and I was a little impatient at first and nearly gave up after a few chapters because it was going on and on about very simple things you could do with numbers, etc. But I'm so glad that I read through to the end - as it started to make sense of Object Oriented Programming, which is not so easy to understand. I had been reading it alongside "Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours", and this really emphasised how well this book was written. The Sams book covered very similar ground, but it was dry theory with examples that were not clearly explained. In this book, by contrast, the writer really seems to have at heart the intention to HELP the reader understand what is going on, and so every example is followed by a very simple explanation of what is happening. Sometimes it feels too simple, but this is FAR, FAR better than not providing enough explanation. You feel through this book that you are being guided and that nothing will be presented that is beyond your ability to understand. Tomorrow I'm going to get his follow-up book, which I hope will be as helpful in taking the next step.

Great book, really good way of teaching Java, 12 Aug 2008
This book is a really good 'hands on' way of teaching the Java programming language. Whilst other texts may start introducing concepts they often do so in a very bland fashion with chunks of paragraphs often tailored to the academic study of Java. This book however introduces and teaches the reader how to program in java, explaining the important concepts clearly and concisely and offers numerous practical exercises.

Not for the self taught, 17 Nov 2007
this is an excelent book, but definately NOT FOR THOSE TEACHING THEMSELVES.

The problem is that it is used in college courses, so there are no answers to the exercises. This means that if you are at home trying to learn Object Oriented Programming, and you have no tutor to ask, you don't know if you've got it right. And if you come across an exercise (as I have with 4.26) where you can see an answer but don't know how to code it, you're stuffed.

So, yes buy this book if you're part of an organised (college) course, but steer clear if you're on your own trying to teach yourself.

Edit - post finishibg the book:
There is a mailing list (objects-first-discussion@bluej.org) but don't ask directly for answers to the exercises, but phrase your questions to show what bits you understand but which bits you need hints with.

The answer to the exercise I mention has "ugly" syntax - you can have () at other places apart from right at the end of a dotted list.

But one last thing, this book does give you a real feel for what objects are and what you can do with/to them, as such it is invaluable to OOP.

Best book for OOP, 10 Jul 2007
This is probably THE best book there is for Object Orientated Programming (OOP).
The book explains in full detail with examples, how to execute objects, methods and classes.
This book turned me from a failed OOP student to THE best OOP programmer out of all the students out of the whole year. Considering university lectures do not fully teach you everything there is you need to know about OOP, this book will help fill in the gaps.

Excellent, 01 Nov 2006
If you are interested in OOP or a taster for Java this is the book. It has a university like learning approach which makes the whole learning experience both realitively easy and also interesting. Worth the money and the best book I have seen to date.

Another satisfied customer - an Excellent Book, 07 Sep 2006
The idea behind this book is that although it uses Java as a way to teach object oriented programming, it's not focussed on the "Java" aspect, but the "OOOP". This means it provides a clear understanding of the underlying OOP principles, then uses Java programming to give examples - and there's many, many examples.

I particularly liked the fact the book provides a project - giving the reader something to do, then at the end gives a few other tasks. That way if you're really dedicated (or merely curious) you can take it a bit further.

As with the other reviewers I found it easy to follow (without being patronising or simplistic), and whereas I found many other books great on theory or syntax, this was pure practical stuff.

The fact that it also comes with a very simple Development Tool hides much of the initial nonsense you'd have to get to grips with Java - and again visually demonstrates what other books merely tell you about.

If you're leaning Java for the first time - read this first.

Great introduction to object orientated programming, 19 Nov 2008
I bought this book never having studied object orientated programming before.
Several weeks later I can now write basic programmes and understand more complicated ones written by others.
This book is by no means completely comprehensive; I suspect some of the later examples are more for illustrative purpose rather than useful in the real world.

I also found the constant use of command line arguments to input data a bit laborious.
A brief tutorial on how to operate any of the major IDE applications would also have been very useful.

However this book is very well written and easy to understand. Each concept is fully explored before moving onto the next.
The end of section multiple choice questions and problem based quizzes provide a great chance to test your knowledge of each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn java or to get started on object orientated programming.


Great for beginners in java or programming, 05 Oct 2007
I'm a pupil still at school but hoping to do Computer Games Technology at university next year. In preperation for my course which will involve C++, i was recommended by a senior lecturer to learn Java. I've seen a few books and this one is my favorite.

Again, I am still at school and find this book good. I'm using my spare time to learn Java so if it wasn't a good book, I wouldn't bother learning from it. Anyways, it is clearly layed out with a lesson for each day (although the lessons are long and will probably require a few days to complete each).

It is true that the book has some minor coding error but if you understand the language being taught up to the point of the error, it is really easy to spot and correct when writing it yourself. This also aids your learning; by spotting and correcting mistakes!

I had never done any programming or any sort before and this book is really helping me get my first language done with ease. Thus; this book is for complete beginners to programming or just to java.

If your looking to learn java and want an up-to-date book (for Java 6) this is it. Don't bother looking anywhere else or get an older book not meant for learning the newer versions of Java; GET THIS ONE.

Top stuff indeed!

Java 6 (Teach YourSelf), 18 Sep 2007
A very good and well written book. Covers all the basics and more advanced concepts of java programming. Unlike some books it shows fully coded working examples.
I would recommend this book to any students at university (like myself) or wanna be programmers.

MIKE AND AUDREY, 08 Mar 2007
We started using a computer a couple of years ago and went to classes and bought several books all of which were said to be "just what the beginner wants" Sadly being absolute beginners we struggled to get to grips with the computer even with these books until by chance we were recommended this book and we're both glad we listened to this advice--the book is an absolute gem and a must for any beginner--clearly written and very easy to understand and should be on sale in every computer shop.Hope there will be a second book by Lynn

Good communication skills, 26 Jan 2007
This book is very well written for people like myself who have never used a computer before. It is easy reading without any jargon, plenty of pictures with step by step instructions. I have recommended people to buy this who are beginners to assist them in understanding the world of computers

very easy, 26 Jul 2006
this book has helped me understand computing to the extent that i can now manage my business with very little help from outside


What we have been waiting for, 19 Jul 2006
Just a brilliant book for beginners. Don't bother with any other books except this author's next book which she has promised to produce relating to backing up your work to cd, digital photography etc.

Beginners Look No Further, 01 Jul 2006
This book does just as it says, everything explained in plain english with no technical jargon. A must for all beginners.

The Perfect Introduction, 27 Feb 2008
I read the Programming Perl book first and wished I had read Learning Perl beforehand. It is quite simply the best introduction to anyone who wants to learn the language.

Although not as in-depth as Programming Perl, this book gives just the right overview to pick up the basics and write some really nice scripts.

Each chapter is followed by several exercises which force you to remember and use what you have learned in the chapter.

I read this book after a year or so of Perl programming and there were still a few things which this book taught me. It is an excellent companion to my Programming Perl book


Not for the absolute beginers, 14 Feb 2008
If you know nothing about computer programs and language then I have to say that this is not the book for you.

In fairness to the author he actually says that this is really a book for those with some knowledge of computer language, but that doesnt make it any easier for the absolute novice.

Maybe the second book you should buy.

Excellent introduction to a very useful language, 16 Jul 2007
Coming from a programming background, I find this an excellent book to allow me to quickly take advantage of Perl's simplicity and power. The chapters on Regular Expressions are particularly good - I had struggled with these until I read this book.

Perfect introduction to learning Perl scripting, 14 Jul 2007
I learnt Perl scripting from the third edition of The Llama, and recently had cause to brush up my Perl for a new job, so I thought I'd check out the fourth edition. I'm pleased to say it's still an excellent work. If you want to use Perl as a scripting language, this may be all you need for your entire scripting career. Some basic programming knowledge might be helpful, but even a complete beginner could get something out of this.

The basics are covered well: strings, numbers, control structures, subroutines, arrays and hashes, and most importantly, reading and writing files, and the mighty regular expressions. In fact, I've not read a better treatment of regular expressions anywhere else. Everything is clearly explained and well-written. Basically, this is the gold standard against which all introductory books to a programming language should be judged.

However, this book makes no claim to covering all of Perl. At least the main text of the book doesn't. I don't know what happened with the blurb on the back of the book, but it mentions, among other things: threading, references, objects, modules and package implementation. Technically, these topics are indeed present, but only in that a paragraph each is devoted to them in Appendix B. You will certainly learn nothing of any value about them.

There are some other minor quibbles: you may find the constant Flintstones references tiring after a while. Also potentially wearing are the sometimes inane footnotes, which breaks the flow of the reading experience for little reward. On the other hand, I found them a lot less annoying in this edition, so perhaps I've just mellowed out in the intervening years. Finally, the last chapter does a very whistlestop tour of map, grep, exception handling with eval, and array and hash slicing. I've never found the 'cram a bunch of stuff we don't have time to talk about into one chapter' approach to be very useful, and it doesn't work here, either. Fortunately, apart from the slices, it's all covered again at slightly greater length in Intermediate Perl.

Speaking of Intermediate Perl, if you want to learn Perl as a general purpose language, rather than for short scripts, you need to go and read that one next. Many suggest that you can graduate onto The Camel straight after The Llama, but I strongly disagree -- I tried and failed miserably.

But as long as you bear in mind you're only getting half the Perl experience, this is still the book I would thrust into the hands of anyone looking to learn Perl.

Making easy things difficult, and hard things impossible, 21 May 2007
I found this book difficult to follow from at chapter 3, in fact it was so confusing to me that I gave up at chapter 3 after attempting the exercises. I put my confusion down to not coming from a progamming background. I had dabbled a bit with VB but thats about all. I am not a complete IT novice, and am fairly competent in Unix/Linux.

For the complete programming novice like me, I would say steer well clear, at least until you have tackled a more newbie friendly title. I have just ordered Perl for Dummies (as I am clearly a Perl dummie!) and Perl Programming for the absolute beginner, so hopefully these will meet my Perl needs.



Refers to information that does not exist, 19 Sep 2008
On the second chapter in this book it refers to information you must download to be able to use the remainder of the book. It has links to the information that do not work and searching for the information produces no clear result. The book is a failure and has wasted a lot of my precious time.

An Excellent Introduction to Java, 12 Feb 2007
I am a mature University student studying Web Development and Programming.I needed a gentle introduction to Java, and this book has provided just that.It takes the reader by the hand and introduces all of the basic concepts in an informative and uncomplicated manner (not an easy task).
The author is also very accesible.I had a problem with some code and he responded to my email within hours.(He pointed me to a posting on his Weblog which did just the trick).
I approached Java with some trepidation but thanks to Mr Burd I am now feeling very confident about tackling the more complicated issues.
I am also more than holding my own at University.I can`t thank the author enough.
An introduction to Java that I would highly recommend to anyone.

A good starter book for Java, 23 Oct 2006
This book really does start with the basics, so if you already know a bit about programming it will possibly be too slow - However, if like me you need a refresher (after a 15 year break) or really are new to programming this is a good launch pad - don't be too disappointed that it does not leap straight into Windows, Icons, Mice, and Pointers and there are lots of text examples. It does get the message across very well.

A well written introduction to the Java language, 17 Sep 2006
I recently finished my MSc course, which involved extensive programming. When I began the course I didn't have a clue about what a program was and what the Java language was all about. To be honest I was never really a computer person. I purchased this book as I had to understand everything about Java programming. It provided a good introduction to the language and explained parts of a program really well. The book moved at a good pace introducing, classes, methods and instances. Before I knew it, I was programming in Java with confidence.

Since Java was the first hard core object orientated language I learnt, it became very easy for me to program in other languages such as C, C++, Python, Perl (a scripting language), Visual Basic and Fortran. I would recommend this book as an introduction to the language but once you grasp the basics, it would be useful to purchase Java 5.0 Illumintaed by Anderson and Franceschi as it provides advanced features of the language. Overall, it's worth the money!

EXCELLENT INTRODUCTION, 15 Sep 2005
This book is aimed at someone who is keen to learn programming, but who hasn't had much exposure to programming before (I had learnt a little BASIC as a schoolboy and that was it). Even for me, it seemed very simple, and I was a little impatient at first and nearly gave up after a few chapters because it was going on and on about very simple things you could do with numbers, etc. But I'm so glad that I read through to the end - as it started to make sense of Object Oriented Programming, which is not so easy to understand. I had been reading it alongside "Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours", and this really emphasised how well this book was written. The Sams book covered very similar ground, but it was dry theory with examples that were not clearly explained. In this book, by contrast, the writer really seems to have at heart the intention to HELP the reader understand what is going on, and so every example is followed by a very simple explanation of what is happening. Sometimes it feels too simple, but this is FAR, FAR better than not providing enough explanation. You feel through this book that you are being guided and that nothing will be presented that is beyond your ability to understand. Tomorrow I'm going to get his follow-up book, which I hope will be as helpful in taking the next step.

Great book, really good way of teaching Java, 12 Aug 2008
This book is a really good 'hands on' way of teaching the Java programming language. Whilst other texts may start introducing concepts they often do so in a very bland fashion with chunks of paragraphs often tailored to the academic study of Java. This book however introduces and teaches the reader how to program in java, explaining the important concepts clearly and concisely and offers numerous practical exercises.

Not for the self taught, 17 Nov 2007
this is an excelent book, but definately NOT FOR THOSE TEACHING THEMSELVES.

The problem is that it is used in college courses, so there are no answers to the exercises. This means that if you are at home trying to learn Object Oriented Programming, and you have no tutor to ask, you don't know if you've got it right. And if you come across an exercise (as I have with 4.26) where you can see an answer but don't know how to code it, you're stuffed.

So, yes buy this book if you're part of an organised (college) course, but steer clear if you're on your own trying to teach yourself.

Edit - post finishibg the book:
There is a mailing list (objects-first-discussion@bluej.org) but don't ask directly for answers to the exercises, but phrase your questions to show what bits you understand but which bits you need hints with.

The answer to the exercise I mention has "ugly" syntax - you can have () at other places apart from right at the end of a dotted list.

But one last thing, this book does give you a real feel for what objects are and what you can do with/to them, as such it is invaluable to OOP.

Best book for OOP, 10 Jul 2007
This is probably THE best book there is for Object Orientated Programming (OOP).
The book explains in full detail with examples, how to execute objects, methods and classes.
This book turned me from a failed OOP student to THE best OOP programmer out of all the students out of the whole year. Considering university lectures do not fully teach you everything there is you need to know about OOP, this book will help fill in the gaps.

Excellent, 01 Nov 2006
If you are interested in OOP or a taster for Java this is the book. It has a university like learning approach which makes the whole learning experience both realitively easy and also interesting. Worth the money and the best book I have seen to date.

Another satisfied customer - an Excellent Book, 07 Sep 2006
The idea behind this book is that although it uses Java as a way to teach object oriented programming, it's not focussed on the "Java" aspect, but the "OOOP". This means it provides a clear understanding of the underlying OOP principles, then uses Java programming to give examples - and there's many, many examples.

I particularly liked the fact the book provides a project - giving the reader something to do, then at the end gives a few other tasks. That way if you're really dedicated (or merely curious) you can take it a bit further.

As with the other reviewers I found it easy to follow (without being patronising or simplistic), and whereas I found many other books great on theory or syntax, this was pure practical stuff.

The fact that it also comes with a very simple Development Tool hides much of the initial nonsense you'd have to get to grips with Java - and again visually demonstrates what other books merely tell you about.

If you're leaning Java for the first time - read this first.

Really good. A must have for jQuery beginners, 05 Sep 2008
"Learning jQuery" is a great complement to jQuery's official documentation, having a nice and clean structure all the times within the book

The book is divided in ten very illustrative chapters containing code samples, and excellent comments related to what is being presented. It also assumes that you have never had any contact with jQuery, but have some knowledge of JavaScript.

Of course most of this information can be found on the Official Documentation, but in my opinion, it's a big puzzle, and you need to find most of the pieces of it, and will always start from the edges, when you sometimes need the middle of it. Those who tried to use it before, will know what I'm talking about, and see that this book is a must if you want to use jQuery on your applications.

I have learned a lot with this book, and although I was working with jQuery for some time, it was very good to recycle everything I knew as well as understand some technical points about why I was doing it that way.



Purely indispensable, 08 Jul 2008
Packt sent me a copy of "Learning jQuery" by Jonathan Chaffer and Karl Swedberg. jQuery is a javascript library that I have been using on and off and was delighted to be given a chance to review this book and have a chance to read through and learn about jQuery in a less urgent manner than I had initially.

With a tag-line of "Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques" and some 376 pages long (split into 10 chapters, along with three appendices) the book excels at fulfilling that promise.

From the chapter on Getting Started through selectors (css, dom, xpath), Chaffer and Swedberg examine and show how to use jQuery for animations, ajax and manipulating tables to the all important client-side form validation with disarmingly concise eloquence and skill. They also detail how to use and develop jQuery Plug-ins.

Any of the required server-side code examples, for the AJAX chapter, are in PHP but that doesn't make the book any less relevant or more specialised towards PHP - it should be trivial to rework them for any language.

The authors use an example based approach and this works very well as they continue to progressively enhance each example with additional features and functionality - you can really see their shopping cart and image carousel examples really build up into very well formed examples of what can be done with jQuery.

If you haven't already been turned on to jQuery by it's excellent on-line documentation and fluent API (method chaining), this is the book that will do it.

There is one caveat though: "Learning jQuery" was written for jQuery v1.1 and published in June 2007; version 1.2 of jQuery was released four months later with some substantial changes to the API.
This doesn't matter all that much to be honest; obviously this book doesn't cover what's available in v1.2 but until there's a second edition of this book (and wouldn't that be great?) you won't find a better book on the subject.


What you need on jquery!, 14 Feb 2008
First I will have to state, that this is my first and only book on the subject. Compared to most books I have read recently, this is far the most well written book: I hate books where the author doesn't take the time to narrow down his message to the reader. In this case the authors did a really good job. It isn't perfect, but they still did a very good job. If they made a more detailed index I would give this book 5 star and send a free copy to Bill Gates :-) - I'am a .Net freek.

Great book but..., 16 Jan 2008
This really is an excellent introduction to the subject. Very well written with loads of code examples. Nearly everything I've wanted to do has been covered somewhere in the book BUT the big problem is finding the information you need.
The index is truly VERY poor e.g several letters have only a single entry - L for example - many others have just a few entries. I could do with a soft copy of the book to search for things more easily. But don't let that put you off, the contents pages are good, and you can always scribble extra entries into the index as you find things!!

Very good, a must have for the jQuery beginner, 27 Nov 2007
Getting started with jQuery does not have to be daunting, this book will definitely help you get started, and show you key techniques to make your code efficient and feature rich.

The book is aimed at jQuery beginners, all it takes is a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, and an understanding of the syntax of JavaScript; no jQuery experience (or any other framework for that matter) is needed or assumed. The book builds up to more advanced topics, but is still mainly aimed at beginners. However, saying that, I consider myself "intermediate" and I learnt a lot of new techniques from this book, and found some of the examples particularly useful.

In general, chapters are well documented and are also backed up by real world examples so you can see the various functions in action. For example, the Chapter entitled "Events - How to pull the trigger" starts off with an overview of jQuery's event handing functionality, then shows a real world example in the form of a style switcher. Chapters are finalised with a useful summary so you can check what you have learnt within the sections.

The book can be read from start to finish, as it is interesting, keeps you engaged, and gives information in a logical order. It contains many useful tips and functions, a lot of which I never knew about until reading the book.

The language used in the book is clear, concise and easy to understand. Tips and important points are highlighted and contain useful tidbits of information. I would have preferred more of these little tips to give the reader a broader understanding of the discussed topics, but they are currently adequate.

Code samples are well formatted and broken down, with added chunks of code emboldened. Live examples are also provided on the accomplying website, which is useful to get a look of what the code samples do. The examples themselves are of a high quality and useful in many real-world situations. Most of the examples are also shown along with screenshots to show you what the code is doing.

The screenshots themselves are a good quality but, being black and white, some are a little hard to understand what is being shown, and a few are slightly blurry. However, the examples themselves are available online so this is not such as big deal.

My only gripes with the book itself are that the headings could be better spaced out to improve legibility, and more importantly the book could have done with a better, bigger, index at the back; it's hard to find certain functions using the current index.

In conclusion, "Learning jQuery: Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques" is a must have for any developer/designer looking to delve into JavaScript frameworks, and is a welcome addition to my reference book shelf. It beats the official jQuery manual hands down in my opinion, simply because everything is explained in much more detail.

Great introduction to object orientated programming, 19 Nov 2008
I bought this book never having studied object orientated programming before.
Several weeks later I can now write basic programmes and understand more complicated ones written by others.
This book is by no means completely comprehensive; I suspect some of the later examples are more for illustrative purpose rather than useful in the real world.

I also found the constant use of command line arguments to input data a bit laborious.
A brief tutorial on how to operate any of the major IDE applications would also have been very useful.

However this book is very well written and easy to understand. Each concept is fully explored before moving onto the next.
The end of section multiple choice questions and problem based quizzes provide a great chance to test your knowledge of each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn java or to get started on object orientated programming.


Great for beginners in java or programming, 05 Oct 2007
I'm a pupil still at school but hoping to do Computer Games Technology at university next year. In preperation for my course which will involve C++, i was recommended by a senior lecturer to learn Java. I've seen a few books and this one is my favorite.

Again, I am still at school and find this book good. I'm using my spare time to learn Java so if it wasn't a good book, I wouldn't bother learning from it. Anyways, it is clearly layed out with a lesson for each day (although the lessons are long and will probably require a few days to complete each).

It is true that the book has some minor coding error but if you understand the language being taught up to the point of the error, it is really easy to spot and correct when writing it yourself. This also aids your learning; by spotting and correcting mistakes!

I had never done any programming or any sort before and this book is really helping me get my first language done with ease. Thus; this book is for complete beginners to programming or just to java.

If your looking to learn java and want an up-to-date book (for Java 6) this is it. Don't bother looking anywhere else or get an older book not meant for learning the newer versions of Java; GET THIS ONE.

Top stuff indeed!

Java 6 (Teach YourSelf), 18 Sep 2007
A very good and well written book. Covers all the basics and more advanced concepts of java programming. Unlike some books it shows fully coded working examples.
I would recommend this book to any students at university (like myself) or wanna be programmers.

MIKE AND AUDREY, 08 Mar 2007
We started using a computer a couple of years ago and went to classes and bought several books all of which were said to be "just what the beginner wants" Sadly being absolute beginners we struggled to get to grips with the computer even with these books until by chance we were recommended this book and we're both glad we listened to this advice--the book is an absolute gem and a must for any beginner--clearly written and very easy to understand and should be on sale in every computer shop.Hope there will be a second book by Lynn

Good communication skills, 26 Jan 2007
This book is very well written for people like myself who have never used a computer before. It is easy reading without any jargon, plenty of pictures with step by step instructions. I have recommended people to buy this who are beginners to assist them in understanding the world of computers

very easy, 26 Jul 2006
this book has helped me understand computing to the extent that i can now manage my business with very little help from outside


What we have been waiting for, 19 Jul 2006
Just a brilliant book for beginners. Don't bother with any other books except this author's next book which she has promised to produce relating to backing up your work to cd, digital photography etc.

Beginners Look No Further, 01 Jul 2006
This book does just as it says, everything explained in plain english with no technical jargon. A must for all beginners.

The Perfect Introduction, 27 Feb 2008
I read the Programming Perl book first and wished I had read Learning Perl beforehand. It is quite simply the best introduction to anyone who wants to learn the language.

Although not as in-depth as Programming Perl, this book gives just the right overview to pick up the basics and write some really nice scripts.

Each chapter is followed by several exercises which force you to remember and use what you have learned in the chapter.

I read this book after a year or so of Perl programming and there were still a few things which this book taught me. It is an excellent companion to my Programming Perl book


Not for the absolute beginers, 14 Feb 2008
If you know nothing about computer programs and language then I have to say that this is not the book for you.

In fairness to the author he actually says that this is really a book for those with some knowledge of computer language, but that doesnt make it any easier for the absolute novice.

Maybe the second book you should buy.

Excellent introduction to a very useful language, 16 Jul 2007
Coming from a programming background, I find this an excellent book to allow me to quickly take advantage of Perl's simplicity and power. The chapters on Regular Expressions are particularly good - I had struggled with these until I read this book.

Perfect introduction to learning Perl scripting, 14 Jul 2007
I learnt Perl scripting from the third edition of The Llama, and recently had cause to brush up my Perl for a new job, so I thought I'd check out the fourth edition. I'm pleased to say it's still an excellent work. If you want to use Perl as a scripting language, this may be all you need for your entire scripting career. Some basic programming knowledge might be helpful, but even a complete beginner could get something out of this.

The basics are covered well: strings, numbers, control structures, subroutines, arrays and hashes, and most importantly, reading and writing files, and the mighty regular expressions. In fact, I've not read a better treatment of regular expressions anywhere else. Everything is clearly explained and well-written. Basically, this is the gold standard against which all introductory books to a programming language should be judged.

However, this book makes no claim to covering all of Perl. At least the main text of the book doesn't. I don't know what happened with the blurb on the back of the book, but it mentions, among other things: threading, references, objects, modules and package implementation. Technically, these topics are indeed present, but only in that a paragraph each is devoted to them in Appendix B. You will certainly learn nothing of any value about them.

There are some other minor quibbles: you may find the constant Flintstones references tiring after a while. Also potentially wearing are the sometimes inane footnotes, which breaks the flow of the reading experience for little reward. On the other hand, I found them a lot less annoying in this edition, so perhaps I've just mellowed out in the intervening years. Finally, the last chapter does a very whistlestop tour of map, grep, exception handling with eval, and array and hash slicing. I've never found the 'cram a bunch of stuff we don't have time to talk about into one chapter' approach to be very useful, and it doesn't work here, either. Fortunately, apart from the slices, it's all covered again at slightly greater length in Intermediate Perl.

Speaking of Intermediate Perl, if you want to learn Perl as a general purpose language, rather than for short scripts, you need to go and read that one next. Many suggest that you can graduate onto The Camel straight after The Llama, but I strongly disagree -- I tried and failed miserably.

But as long as you bear in mind you're only getting half the Perl experience, this is still the book I would thrust into the hands of anyone looking to learn Perl.

Making easy things difficult, and hard things impossible, 21 May 2007
I found this book difficult to follow from at chapter 3, in fact it was so confusing to me that I gave up at chapter 3 after attempting the exercises. I put my confusion down to not coming from a progamming background. I had dabbled a bit with VB but thats about all. I am not a complete IT novice, and am fairly competent in Unix/Linux.

For the complete programming novice like me, I would say steer well clear, at least until you have tackled a more newbie friendly title. I have just ordered Perl for Dummies (as I am clearly a Perl dummie!) and Perl Programming for the absolute beginner, so hopefully these will meet my Perl needs.



Refers to information that does not exist, 19 Sep 2008
On the second chapter in this book it refers to information you must download to be able to use the remainder of the book. It has links to the information that do not work and searching for the information produces no clear result. The book is a failure and has wasted a lot of my precious time.

An Excellent Introduction to Java, 12 Feb 2007
I am a mature University student studying Web Development and Programming.I needed a gentle introduction to Java, and this book has provided just that.It takes the reader by the hand and introduces all of the basic concepts in an informative and uncomplicated manner (not an easy task).
The author is also very accesible.I had a problem with some code and he responded to my email within hours.(He pointed me to a posting on his Weblog which did just the trick).
I approached Java with some trepidation but thanks to Mr Burd I am now feeling very confident about tackling the more complicated issues.
I am also more than holding my own at University.I can`t thank the author enough.
An introduction to Java that I would highly recommend to anyone.

A good starter book for Java, 23 Oct 2006
This book really does start with the basics, so if you already know a bit about programming it will possibly be too slow - However, if like me you need a refresher (after a 15 year break) or really are new to programming this is a good launch pad - don't be too disappointed that it does not leap straight into Windows, Icons, Mice, and Pointers and there are lots of text examples. It does get the message across very well.

A well written introduction to the Java language, 17 Sep 2006
I recently finished my MSc course, which involved extensive programming. When I began the course I didn't have a clue about what a program was and what the Java language was all about. To be honest I was never really a computer person. I purchased this book as I had to understand everything about Java programming. It provided a good introduction to the language and explained parts of a program really well. The book moved at a good pace introducing, classes, methods and instances. Before I knew it, I was programming in Java with confidence.

Since Java was the first hard core object orientated language I learnt, it became very easy for me to program in other languages such as C, C++, Python, Perl (a scripting language), Visual Basic and Fortran. I would recommend this book as an introduction to the language but once you grasp the basics, it would be useful to purchase Java 5.0 Illumintaed by Anderson and Franceschi as it provides advanced features of the language. Overall, it's worth the money!

EXCELLENT INTRODUCTION, 15 Sep 2005
This book is aimed at someone who is keen to learn programming, but who hasn't had much exposure to programming before (I had learnt a little BASIC as a schoolboy and that was it). Even for me, it seemed very simple, and I was a little impatient at first and nearly gave up after a few chapters because it was going on and on about very simple things you could do with numbers, etc. But I'm so glad that I read through to the end - as it started to make sense of Object Oriented Programming, which is not so easy to understand. I had been reading it alongside "Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours", and this really emphasised how well this book was written. The Sams book covered very similar ground, but it was dry theory with examples that were not clearly explained. In this book, by contrast, the writer really seems to have at heart the intention to HELP the reader understand what is going on, and so every example is followed by a very simple explanation of what is happening. Sometimes it feels too simple, but this is FAR, FAR better than not providing enough explanation. You feel through this book that you are being guided and that nothing will be presented that is beyond your ability to understand. Tomorrow I'm going to get his follow-up book, which I hope will be as helpful in taking the next step.

Great book, really good way of teaching Java, 12 Aug 2008
This book is a really good 'hands on' way of teaching the Java programming language. Whilst other texts may start introducing concepts they often do so in a very bland fashion with chunks of paragraphs often tailored to the academic study of Java. This book however introduces and teaches the reader how to program in java, explaining the important concepts clearly and concisely and offers numerous practical exercises.

Not for the self taught, 17 Nov 2007
this is an excelent book, but definately NOT FOR THOSE TEACHING THEMSELVES.

The problem is that it is used in college courses, so there are no answers to the exercises. This means that if you are at home trying to learn Object Oriented Programming, and you have no tutor to ask, you don't know if you've got it right. And if you come across an exercise (as I have with 4.26) where you can see an answer but don't know how to code it, you're stuffed.

So, yes buy this book if you're part of an organised (college) course, but steer clear if you're on your own trying to teach yourself.

Edit - post finishibg the book:
There is a mailing list (objects-first-discussion@bluej.org) but don't ask directly for answers to the exercises, but phrase your questions to show what bits you understand but which bits you need hints with.

The answer to the exercise I mention has "ugly" syntax - you can have () at other places apart from right at the end of a dotted list.

But one last thing, this book does give you a real feel for what objects are and what you can do with/to them, as such it is invaluable to OOP.

Best book for OOP, 10 Jul 2007
This is probably THE best book there is for Object Orientated Programming (OOP).
The book explains in full detail with examples, how to execute objects, methods and classes.
This book turned me from a failed OOP student to THE best OOP programmer out of all the students out of the whole year. Considering university lectures do not fully teach you everything there is you need to know about OOP, this book will help fill in the gaps.

Excellent, 01 Nov 2006
If you are interested in OOP or a taster for Java this is the book. It has a university like learning approach which makes the whole learning experience both realitively easy and also interesting. Worth the money and the best book I have seen to date.

Another satisfied customer - an Excellent Book, 07 Sep 2006
The idea behind this book is that although it uses Java as a way to teach object oriented programming, it's not focussed on the "Java" aspect, but the "OOOP". This means it provides a clear understanding of the underlying OOP principles, then uses Java programming to give examples - and there's many, many examples.

I particularly liked the fact the book provides a project - giving the reader something to do, then at the end gives a few other tasks. That way if you're really dedicated (or merely curious) you can take it a bit further.

As with the other reviewers I found it easy to follow (without being patronising or simplistic), and whereas I found many other books great on theory or syntax, this was pure practical stuff.

The fact that it also comes with a very simple Development Tool hides much of the initial nonsense you'd have to get to grips with Java - and again visually demonstrates what other books merely tell you about.

If you're leaning Java for the first time - read this first.

Really good. A must have for jQuery beginners, 05 Sep 2008
"Learning jQuery" is a great complement to jQuery's official documentation, having a nice and clean structure all the times within the book

The book is divided in ten very illustrative chapters containing code samples, and excellent comments related to what is being presented. It also assumes that you have never had any contact with jQuery, but have some knowledge of JavaScript.

Of course most of this information can be found on the Official Documentation, but in my opinion, it's a big puzzle, and you need to find most of the pieces of it, and will always start from the edges, when you sometimes need the middle of it. Those who tried to use it before, will know what I'm talking about, and see that this book is a must if you want to use jQuery on your applications.

I have learned a lot with this book, and although I was working with jQuery for some time, it was very good to recycle everything I knew as well as understand some technical points about why I was doing it that way.



Purely indispensable, 08 Jul 2008
Packt sent me a copy of "Learning jQuery" by Jonathan Chaffer and Karl Swedberg. jQuery is a javascript library that I have been using on and off and was delighted to be given a chance to review this book and have a chance to read through and learn about jQuery in a less urgent manner than I had initially.

With a tag-line of "Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques" and some 376 pages long (split into 10 chapters, along with three appendices) the book excels at fulfilling that promise.

From the chapter on Getting Started through selectors (css, dom, xpath), Chaffer and Swedberg examine and show how to use jQuery for animations, ajax and manipulating tables to the all important client-side form validation with disarmingly concise eloquence and skill. They also detail how to use and develop jQuery Plug-ins.

Any of the required server-side code examples, for the AJAX chapter, are in PHP but that doesn't make the book any less relevant or more specialised towards PHP - it should be trivial to rework them for any language.

The authors use an example based approach and this works very well as they continue to progressively enhance each example with additional features and functionality - you can really see their shopping cart and image carousel examples really build up into very well formed examples of what can be done with jQuery.

If you haven't already been turned on to jQuery by it's excellent on-line documentation and fluent API (method chaining), this is the book that will do it.

There is one caveat though: "Learning jQuery" was written for jQuery v1.1 and published in June 2007; version 1.2 of jQuery was released four months later with some substantial changes to the API.
This doesn't matter all that much to be honest; obviously this book doesn't cover what's available in v1.2 but until there's a second edition of this book (and