Review by Billy Barron

"Java Language Reference", 2nd Edition by Grand (O'Reilly; ISBN 1-56592-326-X) is a Java 1.1 version of this book. This book has one outstanding feature that I wish all Java 1.1 books had. In the Introduction, there is a list of every section that is 1.1 specific. It is so nice to be able to just go to that page and see everything that has changed and then skip over to the referenced sections for more details.

First Edition

"Java Language Reference" by Grand (O'Reilly; ISBN 1-56592-204-2) is an extremely detailed and organized reference of the Java language itself. I think it is an alternative to "The Java Programming Language" by Arnold and Gosling. I think choosing between these two books is largely a matter of personal opinion. If you open them both up in the bookstore for a couple of minutes each, the style differences are obvious and you should pick the one you like better.