Re: Please recommend a book

Newsgroups	comp.lang.java.help
Subject	Re: Please recommend a book
References	<k6bqkn$dn0$1@dont-email.me>
From	bobwhite@mixnym.net
Message-ID	<smvivhzpmb.lkxhng@mixnym.net> (permalink)
Date	2012-10-26 14:54 +0000
Organization	mail2news@dizum.com

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Nigel, Markspace thanks for your helpful comments! My comments within.

Nigel said:

> Rather than ploughing your way through that mighty tome, I would suggest
> that you try to get a flavour of the language from the Java Tutorials on
> Oracle's website. 
>
> There's a very good introduction to Java here:
> http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/

> This covers a lot of the basics, including an introduction to GUI design
> with Swing. It's also a pretty good reference work in its own right on
> Swing. 

I saw the tutorial on Sun a few years ago and started going through it but I
got the same feeling, that I was learning many odd bits and pieces but not
putting it all together somehow. And just as I got to the interesting bits
I was unable to understand them based on what was in prior sections. 

I'll go and have another look since people do seem to recommend these.

> When you've mastered the basics, and are happy with what you've learned
> and wish to continue, that's the time to bring out the big books. 

Could you recommend one or two good books with broad overall coverage that
are bit more concise and focused (self-contained) at the chapter level?

Markspace said:

> Lots.  Especially for GUIs, Learning Java by O'Reilly is invaluable. The
> book is kind of remedial but it has many, many thoughtful examples which
> are worth far more than the $50 they charge for the book.  It also has one
> of the better explanations of Java generics that I have seen. 

When you say remedial does it mean I must know Java already? Or did you mean
they're too simplistic?

> Also don't overlook the Java tutorial.  While not really a tutorial, once
> you get the hang of Java, it also has many examples and good advice too.
> That goes double for the GUI section. 

Ah that's what I didn't like about it before. It seems for the first few
exercises no programming background is required then suddenly as you get to
the worthwhile parts it assumes you already know Java but don't know /this
specific thing/ in Java. I was lost.

>> The other area of difficulty I have is understanding the Java class
>> library documentation. Even when I see an explanation or example in a
>> book about using a class, when I go to the Java doc I don't
>> understand it enough that I could write the sample code from the
>> class doc alone, and I should be able to. I'm missing something here
>> and haven't seen a book that explains how to use this.
>
>
> Yes, I had this problem too when I first started with Java.  What you
> are missing, I think, is "time."  Java has a much, much larger API than
> say C.  I think many experienced programmers expect Java to be like
> their other three or for languages, and aren't prepared amount of
> material they have to absorb.  Just stick with it.

I am used to very large APIs I don't that's it. I think one of the problems
is the layering of things in Java and OO that I'm not used to. The APIs I'm
using are self contained and don't build on other interfaces. I'm lost with
all the imports and what you need to get this or that class that depends on
zillions of other classes, or why they're needed. In my work all I need to
do is pull in the right API and it doesn't need anything else. This is a big
change in thinking. And I don't think I understand how to read the API
doc. I wish there were a guide to this specific issue.

> If you are really in a jam, www.javapassion.com has high-quality courses 
> that do a good job guiding you through learning process.  Their course
> helped me get out of the "muddle" I was in with Java's huge API and
> focus on just the stuff I needed to know to really learn the language
> and the base API.  After that reading the Java docs was no problem.

If work was paying for this I'd love a site like that but it's for my own
interests, not knowing GUI and I'd like to be able to put a GUI on my code
and Java seems like a good one to learn.

Thanks gents!

Bob

Thread

Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-10-25 14:50 +0000
  Re: Please recommend a book Nigel Wade <nmw@ion.le.ac.uk> - 2012-10-25 17:44 +0100
  Re: Please recommend a book markspace <-@.> - 2012-10-25 09:50 -0700
    Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-10-26 14:54 +0000
      Re: Please recommend a book "Charles Hottel" <chottel@earthlink.net> - 2012-10-26 11:14 -0400
      Re: Please recommend a book Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-10-26 09:32 -0700
        Re: Please recommend a book David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-10-26 17:17 -0400
          Re: Please recommend a book Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-10-26 15:04 -0700
          Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-10-28 22:05 +0000
          Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-10-29 11:07 +0000
            Re: Please recommend a book David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-10-29 10:30 -0400
              Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-10-29 19:09 +0000
                Re: Please recommend a book Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-10-29 12:38 -0700
                Re: Please recommend a book Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-10-29 13:42 -0700
                Re: Please recommend a book markspace <-@.> - 2012-10-29 15:29 -0700
                Re: Please recommend a book Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-10-31 07:28 -0700
                Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-11-03 20:37 +0000
                Re: Please recommend a book Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-11-03 16:22 -0700
                Re: Please recommend a book markspace <-@.> - 2012-11-03 20:42 -0700
                Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-11-04 14:40 +0000
                Re: Please recommend a book Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-11-04 20:27 -0800
  Re: Please recommend a book Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-10-26 09:24 -0700
  Re: Please recommend a book Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-10-26 09:31 -0700
  Re: Please recommend a book Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-10-27 06:19 -0700
    Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-10-28 21:05 +0000
    Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-10-29 12:08 +0000
  Re: Please recommend a book Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-10-28 19:09 -0400
    Re: Please recommend a book bobwhite@mixnym.net - 2012-11-01 14:25 +0000
      Re: Please recommend a book Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-11-01 13:47 -0400

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