, Professor of Computational Science, University of South Carolina Beaufort<\/strong><\/h3>\nExcellent coverage of the latest Java language features<\/strong>. The Strings chapter sets the stage for important applications in NLP<\/strong> (a critical ingredient to making genAI<\/strong> systems work) and cryptography<\/strong> (a critical ingredient to information security<\/strong>) that are introduced in objects-natural <\/strong>case studies in Chapters 7 (private-key cryptography) and 11 (public-key cryptography). The objects-natural <\/strong>case study on class BigInteger<\/strong> is especially pertinent at a time when cybersecurity<\/strong> is more important than ever and programmers need to develop an appreciation for secure software engineering practices<\/strong>.<\/p>\nReal-World Modeling with Inheritance, Polymorphism and Interfaces<\/strong>, covers a lot but I feel smarter after reading it and going through the associated genAI exercises<\/strong>! These are cleverly written so prompted AIs will guide the reader to \u201cfill in the gaps\u201d and provide application areas where these techniques are used.<\/p>\nThe objects-natural <\/strong>case study on ArrayLists<\/strong> provides a “sneak peek” at the Java Collections Framework<\/strong> showing how this data structure solves problems caused by the limitations of Java arrays. The Java Collections Framework<\/strong> chapter does an admirable job covering most key data structures and how Java\u2019s built-in collections<\/strong> implement them. The section on hash tables<\/strong> is informative. The coverage of newer JDK techniques, such as convenience factory methods<\/strong>, is appropriate.<\/p>\nThe genAI exercises<\/strong> are highly valuable and fun, giving the reader new tools for filling in details and thinking critically about how and why certain practices are followed in Java in particular and object-oriented programming in general. An admirable job of contrasting \u201cchecked\u201d and \u201cunchecked\u201d exceptions<\/strong>. Suggests mechanisms for \u201cbulletproofing your code\u201d<\/strong> with validation logic so that certain exceptions aren’t thrown in the first place. The genAI prompt exercises<\/strong> on the types of OpenAI API<\/strong> messages passed to the chat completion API<\/strong> were very helpful for cementing my understating.<\/p>\nA broad introduction to fundamental OOP inheritance<\/strong> and polymorphism<\/strong> concepts. The use of interfaces<\/strong> to implement runtime polymorphism logically follows a similar discussion involving abstract classes<\/strong>. I like the discussion of the relative benefits of composition vs. inheritance<\/strong>. Accomplishes the herculean task of covering tight vs. loose coupling<\/strong> and dependency injection<\/strong> in just a few pages. Great to see the Builder design pattern in action.<\/p>\nAmazing AI description of the beach photo! In grad school my research group was barely scratching the surface of identifying objects in images<\/strong>\u2014things have come a long way! The closed captions demo<\/strong> is cool!<\/p>\n\u25a0 Ron Veen, Java Developer, Special Agent at Team Rockstars IT, co-author Virtual Threads, Structured Concurrency, and Scoped Values: Explore Java\u2019s New Threading Model<\/em> <\/strong><\/h3>\nThis is the best book for learning Java that I have come across in 25+ years of Java experience. I\u2018ve suggested using it to train developers in my company and in the companies where I do consultancy. A detailed\u00a0explanation of every major part of the core Java language. Excellent discussion of inheritance and polymorphism<\/strong>.<\/p>\nTeaches how to use and incorporate AI in your daily software creation process.\u00a0Using tools like ChatGPT<\/strong>, Gemini<\/strong>, Claude<\/strong> and Perplexity<\/strong> is now an essential skill to gain a competitive advantage. Awesome Chapter 19 that clearly introduces the power of AI API-based app development<\/strong>.<\/p>\nI have never seen such a clear explanation of Java concurrency<\/strong>. The Big O<\/strong> discussion teaches the costs and consequences of design decisions. Great discussion of creating custom classes<\/strong>. Excellent intro to the Java Platform Module System<\/strong>. Best intro to JShell<\/strong> I\u2019ve seen. I like the detailed discussion of how streams and lambdas<\/strong> work and the thorough explanation of exceptions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u25a0 <\/strong>Emily Navarro, Ph.D., Continuing Lecturer, Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe book\u2019s \u201cobjects-natural\u201d approach<\/strong> introduces substantial pre-existing Java classes and object interaction before diving into custom class creation in later chapters. I like the objects-natural<\/strong> case study with the date\/time<\/strong> example\u2014a good forced dive into the Java API<\/strong> documentation. I like that inheritance<\/strong>, interfaces<\/strong>, and composition<\/strong> are covered in the same chapter, as it is a logical progression that tells the story of what is the best approach for an OO Java program.<\/p>\nThe Building Java\u00a0Generative AI API-Based Applications<\/strong> chapter taught me things I did not know. Interesting and useful genAI challenges<\/strong> are presented. I appreciate how AI tools were used to help write the chapter<\/strong> and the text was transparent about it. The 94 end-of-chapter genAI exercises are exciting, creative, and fun.<\/p>\nI really enjoyed the Files chapter\u2014it brought in a lot of the latest and most-used technologies, such as JSON<\/strong>, CSV<\/strong>, networking<\/strong> APIs<\/strong>, and cryptography<\/strong>. Great job introducing and motivating generic class and method concepts<\/strong> and bringing in CS theory to support the practical application of Java\u2019s generic collection data structures<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u25a0 Jeanne Boyarsky, CodeRanch, Java Champion<\/strong><\/h3>\nUses the latest Java features to write code in the most modern ways<\/strong>.<\/p>\nCool, genAIs can read diagrams! [Prompt genAIs with class Account\u2019s UML class diagram, asking them to generate the corresponding Java class declaration.] I like the genAI \u201cwhy questions,\u201d<\/strong> such as, \u201cprompt genAIs for insights as to why Java constructors cannot return values.\u201d I didn\u2019t know GenAI<\/strong> would tell me to fix the errors even if I didn’t ask or could explain how the Java method-call stack works using text-only, step-by-step diagrams made of characters! Cool!<\/p>\nGreat list of NLP applications<\/strong>! The objects natural NLP, regex and cryptography security examples are awesome<\/strong>! They let the reader use String knowledge while also learning real-world principles. I like how the industrial-strength encryption warning<\/strong> is emphasized in the objects natural cryptography <\/strong>case study!<\/p>\nIncludes a substantial treatment of JavaFX<\/strong>. The walkthrough of how to set up a JavaFX application in Scene Builder<\/strong> was excellent. Great JavaFX layouts<\/strong> table\u2014I get a good sense of what I can do. Nice to see accessibility<\/strong> in the JavaFX<\/strong> chapters.<\/p>\nA good intro to modules<\/strong>. Covers all of the basics (and more) while remaining approachable. I like that you included the structure of a modularized application<\/strong>. The VideoPlayer module-dependency graph is a great real example<\/strong>. The progression of running the services example with no providers, then one, then two is a fun way to show the ServiceLoader really is picking providers at runtime!<\/p>\nI like the number and variety of JShell<\/strong> examples and exercises. I like how lambdas and method references<\/strong> are presented. Generics<\/strong> can be a complicated topic\u2014the authors focused on the most common use cases and made them easy to understand. Yay. An objects-natural<\/strong> case study on BigDecimal<\/strong>! Interesting discussion of how half-even banker\u2019s rounding works for processing monetary amounts<\/strong>.<\/p>\nI like the concurrency<\/strong> examples. It was nice seeing concepts from other chapters like JavaFX<\/strong> and the OpenWeatherMap example<\/strong> making another appearance. The explanations of virtual threads<\/strong>, structured concurrency<\/strong> and scoped values<\/strong> were good.<\/p>\n\u25a0 Carl Dea, Lead Software Developer at a global business consulting and services company, co-author JavaFX 9 by Example<\/em> <\/strong><\/h3>\nKudos (Loved it)!!! By far Chapter 17 is the most compelling, fun, and comprehensive presentation of JavaFX Graphics and Multimedia APIs <\/strong>for those wanting to build graphics apps and games<\/strong>. This chapter is practically flawless!<\/p>\nI like how the authors begin with CSS styling on various vector-based shapes then later present how to reproduce the shapes using the Canvas API<\/strong>. Next, we learn how to transform scene graph nodes and investigate the JavaFX animation APIs<\/strong> to perform motion effects<\/strong> such as rotation, scaling, & translation. The authors also demo the powerful AnimationTimer API<\/strong>.<\/p>\nI really like the Media Player<\/strong> example showing how to play MP4 video<\/strong> of Nasa’s Artemus 1. They also show how to display 3D shapes and colorize their surfaces, and use cameras and light sources. Some great additions are JavaFX23 CSS transitions<\/strong> and an intro to FXGL (game library)<\/strong>. Nice to see lambdas<\/strong> improving code readability, especially in the media player event handlers. GenAI prompts<\/strong> allow the reader to gain more insight on JavaFX<\/strong> topics.<\/p>\nGreat intro to JavaFX<\/strong> for career minded individuals to become the next generation of app developers. I like how the authors along with genAI prompts<\/strong> first take the reader through a design-centric approach to visualize the application’s UI by using Scene Builder<\/strong> without jumping into Java source code right away.<\/p>\nAll examples are real-world problems<\/strong>. Your SpotOn app is a fun game with<\/strong> cool sound effects<\/strong>. A really fun Chapter 16<\/strong> progresses to more advanced topics including mouse events, layouts, properties, and displaying & scaling images. Many examples\/exercises are reminiscent of common desktop applications such as Paint and Photo Viewer programs. Excellent use of record classes<\/strong> for a Book object.<\/p>\n\u25a0 Jos\u00e9 Antonio Gonz\u00e1lez Seco, Parliament of Andalusia, Spain<\/strong><\/h3>\nNew in this edition is the