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Search in Book Reviews

The ACCU passes on review copies of computer books to its members for them to review. The result is a large, high quality collection of book reviews by programmers, for programmers. Currently there are 1949 reviews in the database and more every month.
Search is a simple string search in either book title or book author. The full text search is a search of the text of the review.
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Title:
The Java FAQ
Author:
Jonni Kanerva
ISBN:
0 201 63456 2
Publisher:
Addison-Wesley
Pages:
324pp
Price:
£21-95
Reviewer:
Francis Glassborow
Subject:
java
Appeared in:
10-1
Are these really the frequently asked questions with respect to Java? I think not. Why? Because the range covered by the 200+ questions and answers extend from the relatively naive 'What is an applet?' to much more technical questions such as 'What is the general model in the JDK 1.0.2 for distributing and handling events?'

I also find questions whose very nature disturbs me. There is one about 3- button mouse events. What is disturbing? Well how do you write consistent run anywhere software that makes any use of the centre button? The text is well structured into 11 chapters each containing a range of questions on a specific aspect (JDK 1.1, JVM, Threads etc.) However it would have helped had there been a summary of the questions at least at the start of each chapter.

Each question (well almost every one) is followed by a relatively brief answer followed by an expanded one. For example

'Should applets have constructors?(Q4.17)' receives the answer'No: use the
init
method to initialise your applet.'The author then explains this answer in a further couple of paragraphs.

The book provides good clear answers and explanations to the questions asked. However I am not convinced that Java programmers need such a text. They need the answers but the overwhelming majority have access to a better source (the WWW).