Java Magazine, Jan/Feb 2018

ORACLE COM JAVAMAGAZINE JANUARY FEBRUARY 2018 08 java books modularity is to manage dependencies intelligently to get rid of classpath conflicts and enable delivery of modestly sized binaries The authors tackle many aspects of the problem splitting modules aggregating modules and creating new modules as facades They then move into technical problems such as encapsulating resources after which they explore building modules specifically for use in containers The final sections have pointers for library designers and a handy section on configuring tools such as Maven and Gradle for modules Wedged into all this goodness is a lengthy discussion of how to run Java 9 without migrating to modules This will be particularly useful to sites that are planning to adopt modules at some future point and want to understand the full scenario starting with limited migration to the new runtime and then slowly implementing the considerations presented in the rest of the book Taken together all these topics represent a comprehensive overview of Java 9 modularity The writing is clear and easy to understand and the authors do not expect the reader to know much more than how to program in Java low level details such as how classloaders work are explained on the fly This book was explicitly recommended at Devoxx in November by members of the core Java team and I fully agree with their assessment Andrew Binstock JAVA 9 FOR PROGRAMMERS 4TH EDITION By Paul Deitel and Harvey Deitel This book is the first of the comprehensive language tutorials to come to market that includes extensive coverage of Java 9 In this context it competes with other 1000 page volumes that present the entire language and its principal APIs For example it competes with Cay Horstmanns excellent Core Java which Ive reviewed previously in this column Both entrants are fine works and choosing one or the other depends in large part on your personal preferences Note Core Java has not been released for Java 9 although an abridged version is available The Deitels book is notable for its hands on orientation it is codeintensive with numerous examples It even includes a full project comprising 77 pages that goes from initial design of an ATM machine all the way through to completion The design portion includes introduction to the basic Unified Modeling Language UML diagrams putting together the objectoriented design and incrementally developing the code Working through this project is an excellent education quite apart from the use of Java Java 9 s most important features receive rich coverage For example the section on modules is a full 52 pages that explore the need for modules how modules work and how to use them in your own code To get a sense of the hands on nature of the explanations see the lightly edited excerpt from this section that ran in this magazine It was one of our most popular articles in 2017 This is the first book Ive seen on Java 9 that has in depth coverage of JShell the new REPL introduced in Java 9 Its pedagogical benefits are not lost on the authors who drill into how to make best use of it both as a programming aid and as a teaching tool In addition to the language proper the book covers JavaFX JDBC and JPA Each chapter includes self review exercises with accompanying solutions the explanations are sprinkled with caveats for dangers reminders about good programming practices and tips on writing idiomatic Java In other words this is a complete presentation I have only one gripe with this volume and that is the excessive use of color highlighting in the code Even if youre a fan of brightly colored code your eyes will quickly tire of reading pale blue text or squinting at bright green comments on a canaryyellow background But if you can handle that youll have a very fine book that does an excellent job of presenting Java 9 AB