Mark A. Lee said
I am using this product to learn java along with a Java programming book. The instructional videos were well done as is the 120 page source code listing that comes with it. It gives me a break from working through a text book and does a great job in it's use of examples to drive home key aspects of the Java language. Excellent resource.
Neal McBurnett said
The video production qualities are good. But it doesn't play on a DVD player, and isn't interactive. And the window doesn't fit on my Macbook (which has the 1280x800 resolution which they call for), so bottom of the window is not visible and I can't pause, stop, or seek to a particular place. Not at all tolerable.
I hear that the book is better....
Midwest Book Review said
Instructor Paul Deitel has taught Java at organizations across the country, and here uses videos in a LiveLesson package to encourage a 'learn at your own pace' approach for anyone interested in self-taught Java education. It's video instruction at its best: self-paced, personal, and expert - and comes with a book supplement to the DVD course. An outstanding package for self-learners.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Marc Peabody said
I expected to play this on my DVD player and follow along with my laptop for any step-by-step code examples. I had great hopes of seeing programming concepts creatively illustrated in ways that just can't be accomplished in a book.
Instead, my DVD player didn't recognize the discs and I could only play them on my computer. This was basically fourteen hours of staring at code already written in a NetBeans editor while a faceless (and somewhat monotone) voice explained how the code works. The mouse pointer moves around or highlights some text to point out a particular area of code, the lessons sometimes shift to JavaDoc or a diagram, and you see Paul's face while he gives the intro and summary of each lesson... but it wasn't enough to keep me engaged.
Most if not all of the examples come from the book Java How to Program by Deitel & Associates, also around a hundred bucks. Personally, I'd prefer the book. If I'm staring at a pre-existing code sample, it's easier to read on paper. This does come with a small supplemental book with code samples but it's black and white, whereas the Java How to Program is in beautiful color.
Overall, this LiveLessons DVD pack isn't horrible - I simply think the Deitel book is a better value and I can only recommend this DVD product if you have two hundred dollars to spend and you wish to buy both the Java How to Program book and purchase this LiveLessons as a supplemental to break up the pace of your reading (it's a big book).
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