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Java Text Book

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  Java Text Book Steve <tinker123@gmail.com> - 2013-01-09 17:18 -0500
    Re: Java Text Book Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2013-01-09 14:55 -0800
      Re: Java Text Book Steve <tinker123@gmail.com> - 2013-01-11 09:08 -0500
        Re: Java Text Book Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2013-01-11 11:41 -0800
    Re: Java Text Book markspace <markspace@nospam.nospam> - 2013-01-09 15:36 -0800
      Re: Java Text Book Steve <tinker123@gmail.com> - 2013-01-11 09:09 -0500
        Re: Java Text Book Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2013-01-11 08:38 -0800

#2417 — Java Text Book

Hi,

A friend of mine wants to learn Java.

The last full text book I went through was a zillion years ago.  It was 
Bruce Ekels "Thinking In Java".  Excellent book, but it is probably way 
out of date with about 4 major releases of Java happening since.

Can anyone recommend a Java text book that covers OO concepts well, 
collections, a lot of the "new" post Java 5 stuff?

Thanks in advance

Steve

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#2419

Steve wrote:
> A friend of mine wants to learn Java.
> 
> The last full text book I went through was a zillion years ago.  It was 
> Bruce Ekels "Thinking In Java".  Excellent book, but it is probably way 
> out of date with about 4 major releases of Java happening since.
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone recommend a Java text book that covers OO concepts well, 
> collections, a lot of the "new" post Java 5 stuff?

_Thinking in Java_ is a deeply flawed textbook for learning Java.

The Java Tutorials to start, then one of the many books others are sure to 
recommend, supplemented by IBM Developerworks (Java section), and followed 
early in the learning curve with Josh Bloch's _Effective Java_.

I used "Learning Java in 21 Days" back in 1999, but I'd already been programming 
a number of years, had looked at Java before, and was familiar with O-O programming 
and concurrent programming.

It took about seven days.

I used groups of fellow programmers a year or two later to help me learn Java Enterprise.

Mostly just read every damn thing.

If your friend has no prior experience or interest in computer programming, prepare for 
the one out of three odds that they'll never catch on, and the one out of three odds that they'll
only partially catch on.

(Odds assertions based on a paper out of Cambridge University (UK) that I read a while back.)

-- 
Lew

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#2439

On 1/9/2013 5:55 PM, Lew wrote:
> Steve wrote:
>> A friend of mine wants to learn Java.
>>
>> The last full text book I went through was a zillion years ago.  It was
>> Bruce Ekels "Thinking In Java".  Excellent book, but it is probably way
>> out of date with about 4 major releases of Java happening since.
>>
>>
>>
>> Can anyone recommend a Java text book that covers OO concepts well,
>> collections, a lot of the "new" post Java 5 stuff?
>
> _Thinking in Java_ is a deeply flawed textbook for learning Java.

Lew,

I haven't read that book in over a decade.  What do you remember about 
it that made your decide that it is a deeply flawed book ( aside from 
being out of date in 2013 ) ?

Steve

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#2442

Steve wrote:
> Lew wrote:
>> Steve wrote:
>> _Thinking in Java_ is a deeply flawed textbook for learning Java.
> 
> I haven't read that book in over a decade.  What do you remember about 
> it that made your decide that it is a deeply flawed book ( aside from 
> being out of date in 2013 ) ?

I was wrong about "deeply". I remembered it worse, perhaps. I liked it a 
lot when I first read it. I came to think later that it wasn't really a "think 
in Java" book, but more of an overly-detailed exploration of the corners 
of the Java spec. I think I got spoiled by _Effective Java_ by Joshua Bloch and 
became disaffected with Eckel.

The variable names are terse, his Swing examples don't run on the EDT (that 
just might be a function of how out of date the book is, though),  he eschews 
checked exceptions, and he doesn't really discuss how to use the API. It seems 
more like he just wants to illustrate the JLS.

I glanced through it again to answer this question. It isn't really horrid. I did run 
into some questionable attitudes attributed to Eckel, though. He hates checked 
exceptions and he completely excoriates generics erasure. Okay, maybe those 
are controversial areas of Java, but to claim "thinking in" Java one should adopt 
the mindset.

-- 
Lew

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#2421

On 1/9/2013 2:18 PM, Steve wrote:
>
> Can anyone recommend a Java text book that covers OO concepts well,
> collections, a lot of the "new" post Java 5 stuff?

I liked _Learning Java_, by O'Reilly (third edition).  It starts with 
the basics, but includes enough more advanced material to act as a 
reference for a long time.  It has one of the best explanations of 
generics that I have ever seen.

I also understand the Wrox Java books are good, and in general I like 
Apress also.

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#2440

On 1/9/2013 6:36 PM, markspace wrote:
> On 1/9/2013 2:18 PM, Steve wrote:
>>
>> Can anyone recommend a Java text book that covers OO concepts well,
>> collections, a lot of the "new" post Java 5 stuff?
>
> I liked _Learning Java_, by O'Reilly (third edition). It starts with the
> basics, but includes enough more advanced material to act as a reference
> for a long time. It has one of the best explanations of generics that I
> have ever seen.

Thanks!

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#2441

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:09:12 -0500, Steve <tinker123@gmail.com> wrote,
quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :

>> I liked _Learning Java_, 
Unfortunately they have not reissued it since 2005.
-- 
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products http://mindprod.com
Students who hire or con others to do their homework are as foolish 
as couch potatoes who hire others to go to the gym for them. 

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