Beginning Java book recommendations

[Armando Moncada]

Hi,

I was a COBOL programmer for many years. Now I want to learn JAVA. Which beginning books are good?
Armando

[Hebert Coelho]

HeadFirst Java. I always recommend this book to my students. [=

[Harsha Smith]

Threre a lot of good books out there like Java How to Program/Big Java/Head First Java etc. Read the reviews at amazon.com and pick the one that suits your level.

[Campbell Ritchie]

And welcome to the Ranch

[Mohamed Sanaulla]

I would also like to suggest you to search for the related posts in the forum.

[Armando Moncada]

Does anyone know where the errata is for Head First JAVA?

[Bear Bibeault]

Speaking of errata: Java, not JAVA. It's not an acronym.

[Gary Deer]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Speaking of errata: Java, not JAVA. It's not an acronym.

Yes, there are two things that always get confused. Java is not the same as Javascript and Java is not necessarily used by the secret society of programmers known as JAVA (Juxta Animus Vox-Apparatus). Their "JDE" is actually their coding standards (Jus De Efforment).

I know it sounds crazy, but that's how they stay so secret; the only people that know about it are members themselves and people with no credibility.

On topic: My beginner book recommendations based on where you're at::
Trying to get and stay motivated about programming: Headfirst series (Java, design patterns, etc.)
Need a dry book just for reference when you get stuck: whatever is available at the library
Want to learn new features of Java 7 that relate to beginner programmers: Java 7 a beginner's guide
Need a good book on enterprise development with an emphasis on database programming: you might not be a beginner, you probably just need a book on self esteem or confidence.

Note that there is no golden ticket when it comes to learning Java or anything else for that matter. In fact, reading is probably the only subject in which a book is the only thing you'll need to learn it.

Another tip when shopping for a book is to look at the contents to gauge how much material the book covers. Sometimes baby steps are best and there are books that cater to that, whereas some are just mega-stacks of information that want to take you from beginner to guru in a week. Not to say those aren't useful as well. If you want an overview of the language you could buy a mammoth book and skim the introduction of each chapter to get an idea of every aspect of Java. Or you could do that while in the book store and put the book back on the shelf once your head starts to hurt and you realize that there's way too much to grasp all at once.



Finally, one thing to keep in mind is that you're working against nature when you try to learn something new. Your prefrontal cortex is like the RAM in your brain and it actually sends out discomfort signals when it starts reaching capacity. But it is capable of insight which is when you convince it that the new stuff is important enough to send to long term memory while you sleep. Once you've done that you're golden; learning Java won't make your head hurt and your pleasure centers will be activated which will in turn make you more motivated to keep practicing and learning. That's why I suggested the Headfirst book; it gets you past the initial growing pains your brain has so that you can move to the higher levels of learning.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Gary Deer wrote:. . . a dry book just for reference when you get stuck: . . .

I would suggest you bookmark the API documentation, etc.

[Ankush Kaundal]

Firstly go for Head first java and have a glimpse about Java and then maybe you can go through Complete Reference or Programmers guide to Java SCJP by khalid mughal.

Note:- The concepts will be advanced in Khalid Mughal

[Campbell Ritchie]

If by “Complete Reference” you mean Herbert Schildt’s book, I suggest you read our Review Pages; I think you can find better books. My favourite is Horstmann and Cornell, but that is definitely not a beginner’s book.

[jammy chen]

Armando Moncada wrote:Hi,

I was a COBOL programmer for many years. Now I want to learn JAVA. Which beginning books are good?
Armando

Thinking in Java, Effective Java (2nd Edition) and Java Concurrency in Practice ans so much, from beginning, perhaps, Thinking in Java is a good choice, here is a good list of valuable books Java Book Recommendations: Top and Best Java Books

[Campbell Ritchie]

I do not think Java Concurrency in Practice is a beginner’s book.Nor is Effective Java.

[jammy chen]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:I do not think Java Concurrency in Practice is a beginner’s book.Nor is Effective Java.

Yes, it's a little bit difficult for just a beginner, but I do believe it is good book for Java developers, whatever, as a beginner, you can first start with thinking in java and then Java Concurrency in Practice and Effective Java

[Rajdeep Biswas]

In my opinion, the best option is Internet resource because you can learn one topic from a book and another topic from another book. I mean you've choice.
Action points:
1. Get the SCJP topics list according to the version you want to learn: Java 6 or 7.
2. Read it from PDF docs. Head first, or there are many online blogs where you can find each topic.
3. After reading, return to Oracle tutorials to find out if anything you missed!
4. Practice a lot of code. www.java2s.com, www.roseindia.net.

And always, refer to forums like this....so many analysis, doubts, solutions, discussions......you'll love Java.

[Campbell Ritchie]

The problem with simply going round the nest is that you do not know whether the tutorials are any good. We had an example yesterday, which I thought was not good, and RoseIndia is notorious for variable content quality. Beginners do not know which parts are good and which bad.

[Rajdeep Biswas]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:..RoseIndia is notorious for variable content quality. Beginners do not know which parts are good and which bad.

I agree, I never read from it, but yes thousands of people do, so I thought of informing it.
Camp Sheriff, can you tell me something to dig into my programming instincts, something that pumps up the adrenaline.

[Vinod Tiwari]

Head First JAVA - is a good book to begin with.

[sampath surineni]

I started with complete reference java. because it was prescribed book for my course. I also recommend head first java and java for dummies

[Campbell Ritchie]

don’t call me Camp.
Look for javabat.com, which has probably changed its name to codebat.com.

[Rajdeep Biswas]

ok.
its awesome Campbell. its codingbat.