Thinking in JAVA?

[Kirill NKaufmann]

I heard there is a book Bruce Eckel Thinking in JAVA... I know its available online but I am thinking about buying it. Is it a good book for a beginner?

[Junilu Lacar]

It is definitely a good book for beginners. Highly recommended reading.
Junilu

[Cindy Glass]

It is particularly good if you have a background in C++.
If you don't you might want to consider Just Java 2 (Peter van der Linden).

[Kirill NKaufmann]

Originally posted by Cindy Glass:
It is particularly good if you have a background in C++.
If you don't you might want to consider Just Java 2 (Peter van der Linden).

I have Learning JAVA by O'Rilly but its not that good, its not very readable. I dont have a very strong C++ backgroud either, so I shall check out Just JAVA 2 as you suggested,
thanks.

[Andy Ceponis]

Yeah i fould Just Java 2 to be the easiest book to read for getting into Java. Covers lots of info, but keeps it on the light side so you dont get bogged down or frustrated.

[mrtuba]

You don't need to buy it if you don't want to.
Go to www.bruceeckel.com to download an HTML version.
It's not as portable, but it's very helpful, and the price is right.
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Tom McComb

[Kirill NKaufmann]

Ok, I donwloaded the book, I shall try reading it and if I find it as good/useful as people say it is I shall buy it. Still unsure of what the best book is though, I looked on amazon and most of the books that people have recommended dont have a very high rating, I guess its different to everyone, I am just going to have to find the book that is most useful to me.
Thanks for your help though.

[Cindy Glass]

The downloadable book is "Thinking in Java" - gets expensive just printing it - so try to read it online if possible.
Actually I have BOTH (bought Thinking in Java as well as Just Java 2 plus a few zillion more).

[Bob Beerbower]

My feeling is that there is no one best book. I've found for my self that while being a more expensive route, having a small library is an imense help. Bruce Eckels books are great books once you already have a feel for the language. By this I mean that Thinking in JAVA is more of a book to read along with or after you have read one of the beginners books. My first choice of beginners books is Ivor Hortons Beginning JAVA2 (WROX), but I'm also reading Learning JAVA (O'Reilly),Core Java (SunPress)and Beginning JAVA Objects (WROX). Rather then read one book from cover to cover, I'll read a few chapters from one, and then check out what the others have to say on the subject. This has helped to clear up concepts that I get a little lost in, like inner classes. If you like Bruces book consider getting his seminar on CD, available on his web site. Again this is a more expensive route, but it can be a nice option to sit back and let some one explain a concept to you rather then reading about it. The CD aslo includes an electronic copy of the book.
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Regards
Bob63

[frank davis]

Ivor Horton's book looks good but I lost trust in it when I saw around page 34 it said that there was no set default values for variables. Untrue! Numeric fields default to zero, etc if not in method.
"Java : An Intro to Computer Science" by Walter Savitch is the best overall I've seen. I agree that the more books the better. Just don't buy so many that you spend all your time comparing them to each other and never finish any of them like me!
Check out the reviews at Amazon.com. The book by Dietal (Dietel?), "Java : How to Program" is good to. Those two books should keep you busy for 3 - 4 months.

[Joel Cochran]

Originally posted by herb slocomb:
Ivor Horton's book looks good but I lost trust in it when I saw around page 34 it said that there was no set default values for variables. Untrue! Numeric fields default to zero, etc if not in method.

Herb, I think Ivor is right. Try to compile the following:

public class TestVar
{
    public static void main( String args[] )
    {
        int x ;
        System.out.println( x );
    }
}

When you do, you'll get the following error:

C:\JavaSource>javac TestVar.java
TestVar.java:6: variable x might not have been initialized
        System.out.println( x );
                            ^
1 error

If there was a set default for a numeric variable of zero, then you wouldn't need to initialize it...
I personally have found Ivor's book to be excellent in all respects although occassionally a little dry.
Best of Luck
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I'm a soldier in the NetScape Wars...
Joel

[Joel Cochran]

Ooops! I didn't read the fine print... you said if not inside a method, so I tried it like so:

public class TestVar
{
    static int x ;
    public static void main( String args[] )
    {
        System.out.println( x );
    }
}

and you were right, it defaults to zero. I did try to find the statement you are referring to in the book but couldn't find it. Sorry if I responded too quickly.

------------------
I'm a soldier in the NetScape Wars...
Joel

[Marcellus Tryk]

Here's my 3 cents worth (adjusted for inflation):
If you're serious about learning Java (as opposed to just tinkering) I think the two volumes of 'Core Java' (Sun - Horstmann and Cornell) are excellent. Deitel and Deitel's 'Java How to Program' is also very good.
To further solidify your Java foundation knowledge I highly recommend 'A Programmer's Guide to Java' by Mughal and Rasmussen, which is a great resource beyond just certification preparation.

One critical piece of advice (that I wish I had learned long ago). NEVER buy a technical book without reading reviews first (Amazon is an excellant source). The range in quality of technical books is very wide - with many books falling in the mediocre to crap category.

[Cindy Glass]

You know JavaRanch has a complete set of Book Reviews posted here:
http://www.javaranch.com/books.jsp
Including reviews of these books.

[Kirill NKaufmann]

Aha I see, so the two books that I think I shall get are Just JAVA and Beginning JAVA2 as they are highly rated on JavaRanch and have a good rating on Amazon. I will surely have a read of both in my local book store because that is always useful. I think I might skip Thinking in java for now because I know what those books "for programmers with C/C++ background" are like.
thank you all for such excellent help!