Book to learn java from?

[samspotting]

Profile: I know how to program in C, PHP, and Perl, and Scheme. I have done OOP with PHP, but it was all very rudimentary. I have knowledge of basic algorithms and did a lot of data structures in my first year computer science courses. I need to learn Java so I actually have something useful in the real world for my next coop.

Does anyone have a good java book recommendation?

On a sidenote, I was thinking about learning C++, but from what i heard about the language I think it would be way easier to learn Java.

[Qoppa]

On a sidenote, I was thinking about learning C++, but from what i heard about the language I think it would be way easier to learn Java.

I don't think it would be easier, but unless you plan on doing webdev and want to make Java applets, I think learning C++ would be a better choice. Actually, since you know C, it probably would be easier too.

[tomotomo]

http://www.amazon.com/Java-How-Program- ... 0132222205

I'm learning from the sixth edition. Since you've already done first year compsci courses, the book will probably be repetitive for you because it assumes the reader is a beginner, but you could probably skim over the repetitive parts with no problems and get to the cool parts. I wouldn't do the review, uml, or chapter exercises in the book, uml isn't used much in industry- I think, review and chapter exercises are repetitive and require an obscene amount of memorization. That's not good, not doing the exercises, but I think I compensate for the review and chapter exercises by doing self projects that implement some of the things I've learned after every few chapters, you could do that too. All in all, it's a pretty decent book.

pros
- good intro to java
- good reference
- up to date on the latest stuff in java
- lots of examples on the cd that you can compile and edit as you like and detailed explanations on the examples
- e.g. in the networking section, they teach you how to make a networked tic tac toe game

cons
- the book doesn't get into advanced oop
- boring and repetitive exercises
- assumes you're a beginner to compsci, which can get repetitive if you've already some compsci
- kind of expensive
- teaches you how to do GUI stuff from scratch, some people like to do learn that, but I simply rather use an IDE that has GUI building such as Netbeans, - a decent, free java IDE
- chapter programming exercises in the book don't have answers, programming solutions, but you don't really need them, the examples in the book compensate for that

[headprogrammingczar]

How about this? It is on the Sun website, so it is as definitive as you get. it gets deep into every topic, and makes it easy to gloss over the parts you want to skip.
Don't bother with C++. The jargon file says the predominant belief about C++ is that a cleaner language based on without all the crazy crap of C++ would be almost exactly like Java.

[godrik]

I believe that "Thinking in java" is a free book designed to learn the basic of java. Since it is free, it should be easy to get a pdf version of it.

[Elegia]

We learned Java at school with what I think was an early version of this book. It looks different but the title seems pretty much the same, it's by the same authors and it also covers the BlueJ environment.

If you are already well versed in OOP, I wouldn't really bother with this one, but if you aren't, I recommend it. Keep in mind though that it's a java beginners book, so the topics are not too advanced.

[samspotting]

Thanks. I might just learn both. prob gona get how to program java.

[Yakk]

Don't bother with C++. The jargon file says the predominant belief about C++ is that a cleaner language based on without all the crazy crap of C++ would be almost exactly like Java.

... yet have the ability to do systems programming, have the option to not have garbage collection, keep multiple inheritance, keep operator overloading, compiling to native code, etc.

There is lots that Java did wrong for a general purpose language. As a portable compiled pseudo-scripting language (ie, VM and GC) that would rather block an entire technique than risk someone using particular constructs (operator overloading, multiple inheritance)... Java is relatively sane.

[Berengal]

Don't bother with C++. The jargon file says the predominant belief about C++ is that a cleaner language based on without all the crazy crap of C++ would be almost exactly like Java.

... yet have the ability to do systems programming, have the option to not have garbage collection, keep multiple inheritance, keep operator overloading, compiling to native code, etc.

... you'd use D, which does have garbage collection, but doesn't prevent you from turning it off and doing it yourself. I mean, if you're really into that kind of stuff, who am I to judge?

I'm not saying you shouldn't learn C++. It's still an extremely important language in the industry. I am however saying that anything C++ can do, something else can do better, and yes, something else can do all of the things C++ does better than it, at the same time.

Wow... religious wars time much?

[Yakk]

Yep, that is about right.

I was just making sure that the OP didn't think that Java was a general purpose language. It is a good language, but it is designed for a particular set of uses.

[felixalias]

I myself enjoyed the book Head First Java ( http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-K ... 960&sr=8-1 ) . The helpful diagrams make some concepts very easy to understand, and the book has formatting geared towards learning rather than a flat reference.

[intrinsic]

Since it isn't your first language, I'd recommend Java: The Complete Reference by Herbert Schildt.

[ptolemy]

I learnt java from "java for dummies". Seeing as this isn't your first language, then you might want to find a more technical book. But for those who consider themselves "dummies" in programming then i seriously recommend this book.

[Shmurk]

I believe that "Thinking in java" is a free book designed to learn the basic of java. Since it is free, it should be easy to get a pdf version of it.

Thinking in Java is available for free here (only in HTML for the official version). I haven't read it but, if it's as good as its C++ counterpart "Thinking in C++", it should be a very good book (and it's free!)