Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!news.glorb.com!news.alt.net!news.dizum.com!sewer-output!mail2news Subject: Re: Please recommend a book Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.help References: From: bobwhite@mixnym.net Message-ID: Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:08:06 -0000 Mail-To-News-Contact: abuse@dizum.com Organization: mail2news@dizum.com Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.java.help:2192 Patricia wrote: > I have not looked at beginning Java books recently, so I can't recommend > a book. I am learning another programming language right now, and do > have a strategy. > > I get a book targeted to beginners, but skip-read some sections. > > For example, the book I just finished reading had a long section > explaining rounding errors in IEEE 754 64-bit binary floating point. > I've been painfully aware of the issues for decades, so I took about 5 > minutes to go through a long chapter, just reading enough to be sure I > was not missing anything language-specific. > > If I can't skip-read a chapter in a few minutes it is teaching something > I don't already know, so I want to take the time to read it properly. Thank you, this is what I usually do also. This is the first time it didn't work for me. But I think it's a good approach. I will probably be able to use it on the next major OO language I look at if I can come to grips with Java. There are so many small details to get anything working I find I can't skip around like I am used to. Thanks, Bob