Book Review: Learning Java

Book Review:  Learning Java by Patrick Niemeyer and Daniel Leuck: Publisher- O'Reilly: ISBN- 13: 978-1-4493-2306-6

Learning Java (Fourth Edition) is book for Java practitioner as reference book. This covers lot of topics.  

This is an excellent book for someone who knows basics of programming. This book is not beginners. This book lacks examples and exercises which may disappoint few people.

Book has 24 chapters covering almost all of basic Java.  The chapter one talks about historical aspects. Second chapter is brief introduction of java but it assumes that reader is aware of programming, OOP, threading etc which is difficult for any beginner.  

Disclaimer: I did not get paid to review this book, and I do not stand to gain anything if you buy the book. I have no relationship with the publisher or the author. I got electronic format of book from publisher for review.

Further reading: 

There are several books on similar topic. Effective Java, Core Java Volume I--Fundamentals, Core Java, Volume II--Advanced Features, Head First Java, etc.

One can get more information about book and related topics from:

1. Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Java-Patrick-Niemeyer/dp/1449319246
2. Publisher -- Oreilly http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920023463.do

Video Review: Functional Thinking by Neal Ford

Functional Thinking: Functional Programming using Java, Clojure and Scala. Neal Ford is a fantastic teacher. He explains the concepts of Functional Programming in very lucid manner.  He explains closure and its usage with very ease.

The quote "functional is more a way of thinking than a tool set" summarizes the intent of the whole effort. In this video Neal summarizes functional paradigm for java developers. He covers closure, immutability, higher order functions, laziness, Pure Functions, Recursion, Strict Evaluation and others.

Neal also covers few of the examples using Java, Groovy, Scala, and Closure

• Neal lists few of the advantages of functional programming:
  Language Evolution: Functional programming is next paradigm after OOP which is affecting all major languages.
• Immutability of objects frees up the developers from ever changing state of object which enhances productivity.

This video is a excellent medium for those who want to explore function paradigm.

Disclaimer: I did not get paid to review this video, and I do not stand to gain anything if you buy the video. I have no relationship with the publisher or the author. I got this video from publisher for review.

Book Review: Getting Started with Oracle Event Processing 11g

Book Review:  Getting Started with Oracle Event Processing 11g by Alexandre Alves, Robin J. Smith, and Lloyd Williams: Publisher- Packt Publishing: ISBN- 13: 978-1849684545

The book is very well laid out, even better than documentation.  Book let reader know what is event processing and when to use it. Book tells the background of product and then demonstrates examples for simple as well as complex use cases.

Book covers event processing, stream processing, and the event-driven architecture. The book is useful only to know about OEP but for event processing in general. The style of writing and content ensures that book will be useful even with future versions of OEP.

Great book for architects and designers alike.

Disclaimer: I did not get paid to review this book, and I do not stand to gain anything if you buy the book. I have no relationship with the publisher or the author. I got electronic format of book from publisher for review.

Further reading: There are few books on event processing but certainly not on Oracle Event processing. You may try these two books to gain insight into event processing: Event Processing: Designing IT Systems for Agile Companies  and Event Processing in Action.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Oracle-Event-Processing/dp/1849684545

Packt: http://www.packtpub.com/getting-started-with-oracle-event-processing-11g/book