From your experience what would be a good intermediate Java book?

[Fred Masen]

From your point of view what is a good intermediate Java book? I am not a total beginner I know how to work with variable , loops , arrays, creating methods and classes . However I need practices with the OOPs principles. Any suggestions ?
I tried to search one but it is either for total beginners or for advanced Java programmers I can't find an intermediate level one. Thanks.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Fred,
Good question! I think the trouble you are running into is that OO is often mentioned in the title of basic books.

I would recommend a book on design. In particular "Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design" or "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software"

[Junilu Lacar]

One of the best books about OO design that I know of is Corey Haines' "Understanding the Four Rules of Simple Design." It's also good because it teaches you about test-driven development.

Other books that you should read for many insights about good design include Martin Fowler's first edition of "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code" which has examples in Java (the newer 2nd edition uses JavaScript) and Robert Martin's "Clean Code" and "Agile Software Development: Principles, Practices, and Patterns" (also known as the PPP book) where he discusses SOLID design principles. The PPP book also has in its appendix all of Jack Reeves' essays on why you should treat code as design, a very important idea to understand if you're going to be a good programmer, in my opinion.

[Fred Masen]

Thanks guys!