Best book for learning SWT

Question

I'm in the beginning of a new project based on SWT (it is an Eclipse RCP project). I've got a previous experience in swing but i don't know if it helps learning SWT. However, i would like to know the best book for learning SWT; i've seen different books but they are quite old (SWT in action was published on 2004). Are they still worth reading ? I've no previous experience using SWT so i'm searching something that starts from zero and preferably paper books not online resources.

Are there any good books for learning Eclipse RCP ?

Answer 1

I have read several books but by far the most approachable and helpful for me was The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFace by Rob Warner and Robert Harris, published by Apress.

Answer 2

You cannot take it that old books shouldn't be read, as it is published in 2004. For instance, The C Programming Language by K&R is considered as one of the best book, though its latest edition was published in 1988.

I would suggest you to go for SWT By Steve Northover, Mike Wilson which helps you in building modern GUI based applications.

Professional Java user interfaces , By Mauro Marinilli, which covers full development life cycle for professional GUI design in Java.

And for learning RCP in eclipse, u can go for, Eclipse Rich Client Platform , By Jeff Mcaffer, Jean-michel Lemieux

Answer 3

The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse (2nd Edition) is an excellent guide/reference for SWT and JFace. Note: An online overview can be found here.