Microsoft's Visual J++ 1.1 can be obtained as a trial edition product for virtually free (cost of web download). This trend is also visible elsewhere with Supercede offering their standard product (version 2.0) and Inprise offering JBuilder 1.0 for free. Why? To entice developers to use their product and then upgrade.
The bottom-line? Commercial software is being offered for free and it is an excellent mechanism to try software. It also gives 'old' computer books a second lease of life, since this book could be considered to have passed its sell-by date as the Visual J++ product has moved on, but since VJ1.1 is still out there...
The book is a complete hands-on tutorial including Java the language (1.02) as well as using the J++ IDE. So, for Java novices this one book will cover the lot. Apart from going through the language the book covers topics such as using the resource editors, the
AppWizardand build and debugging techniques. There is a sample project based on animation and an introduction to ActiveX and COM and the database wizard.
Overall, it is a good introduction to Java and Visual J++ 1.1. However, the downside is that Java has already moved on quite a long way, such as the new I/O, collections and Swing (GUI) library. So, if you are looking for a straight Java tutorial or for the latest implementation then look elsewhere.
