Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Drake wastes little time in getting to his subject. You are expected to already know at least the rudiments of Java. Hopefully of version 1.5, which is the current major release of Java. The numerous code snippets in the text are drawn from this version. Because it has a very extensive set of native classes that implement many of the structures covered by the book.
The text can be read at one or both of two levels. Firstly, you might already be well familiar with such ideas as linked lists, hash tables, trees, graphs, sorting, searching etc. Perhaps from other languages. What you are looking for is a comprehensive description of how these are expressed or can be expressed in Java.
The other level is where you need to learn the data structures and algorithms for the first time. Here, there is a stark contrast with Knuth's classic "Art of Computer Programming". That is a far more advanced text. But the relevant difference in our context is that Knuth requires you to write all the code yourself, in some language. Whereas Drake demonstrates how, right out of the box with Java 1.5, you get so much already implemented, for free. The latter is not figurative. The Java 1.5 distribution is made freely available by Sun.
It should also be said that this book will still be germane when 1.5 is superseded by future versions of Java. You can safely expect that those versions will be supersets of the functionality used in this book, based on the prior history of the major Java versions and how each differed from its predecessor.
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This new book provides a concise and engaging introduction to Java and object-oriented programming with an abundance of original examples, use of Unified Modeling Language throughout, and coverage of the new Java 1.5. Addressing critical concepts up front, the book's five-part structure covers object-oriented programming, linear structures, algorithms, trees and collections, and advanced topics. KEY FEATURES: Data Structures and Algorithms in Java takes a practical approach to real-world programming and introduces readers to the process of crafting programs by working through the development of projects, often providing multiple versions of the code and consideration for alternate designs. The book features the extensive use of games as examples; a gradual development of classes analogous to the Java Collections Framework; complete, working code in the book and online; and strong pedagogy including extended examples in most chapters along with exercises, problems and projects. For readers and professionals with a familiarity with the basic control structures of Java or C and a precalculus level of mathematics who want to expand their knowledge to Java data structures and algorithms. Ideal for a second undergraduate course in computer science.
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