Definitive Java Books

Java books:

There aren't any great Java books and there are damn few good ones. And I can't see telling someone to spend the money / kill the tree for a book that I consider garbage. For the record, my opinions as to the best out there follow. -- WilliamGrosso

Intro to the Language: BruceEckel's ThinkingInJava ISBN 0136597238 . See Above.

User Interface: Geary's first 2 volumes (of a projected 3) are looking fairly nice. They're way too long and the coverage of complex widgetry is a little more superficial than I'd like (the coverage of JTable in particular is skimpy). But they'll save me a fair amount of time and, more to the point, if I was just learning Java GUI stuff, I'd want these books.

Language reference: Gosling et al. is very good. Venner's Inside the Java Virtual Machine is an okay reference for the JVM, but a little too introductory.

Threads: DougLea's ConcurrentProgrammingInJava was a great book when it came out. It's slightly dated now (and Doug says V2 won't be out until later this year). But it's still very good. (Update: the second edition is out! ISBN 0201310090 -- PaulChisholm)

Databases: None of the books are any good. Period. There's one that's okay for people who don't know anything about databases - McCarthy's SQL Database Programming With Java basically assumes you're on a Wintel box, with Microsoft Access, and uses Access as a tool to teach database fundamentals. A very good intro, for people who don't know very much and are interested in learning the bare rudiments. But almost useless for people who have already touched a database.

Distributed Computing: All the books I've seen (browsing computer literacy, picking them up off coworkers desks, ...) just plain suck. As do all the ones that attempt to cover any of the enterprise APIs.

Some distributed computing books:

-- BillDehora

I'd only add that I've found The Java Developers Almanac to be an excellent resource. I don't like most of the CORE books with the exception of the CORE book on the JFC. For Java/CORBA, read Programming With VisiBroker?. -- JoshuaKerievsky

I used to think that Java in a Nutshell was a good book, but in practice I always use the online documentation. I would absolutely second DougLea ConcurrentProgrammingInJava and add Distributed Computing in Java, which mostly covers RMI, but is still one of the clearest examples out there. Nutshell was greater when the on-line Javadoc was lesser.

I rather liked the 2nd edition of Core Java ISBN 0135657555 as a Java-as-a-second-language book, but didn't do that much with it. The 3rd edition is now two volumes (ISBN 0137669577 and ISBN 0137669658 ). What do people think of Java Examples In A Nutshell ISBN 1565923715 ? -- PaulChisholm

I also like Core Java. I specially appreciate the attitude right up front "As with the previous versions of the book, we still target serious programmers who want to put Java to work on real projects. We still guarantee no nervous text or dancing tooth-shaped characters." The third edition is great and up to date with Java 1.2.

van der Linden, Peter. Just Java and Just Java 2 ISBN 0-13-010534-1 , blurb at http://www.phptr.com/ptrbooks/ptr_0130105341.html Covers all basic Java elements (no Enterprise APIs) with an element of the author's views to make it interesting. -- Steven Newton

I second this recommendation - an excellent book. -- KurtChristensen

Some good non-noddy books, Fowler and Lea are in the great books zone:

-- BillDehora

The Elements of Java Style, Vermeulen et al. ISBN 0521777682

A Programmer's Guide To Java Certification, Mughal and Rasmussen ISBN 0201596148

-- DuncanChild

EffectiveJava Programming Language Guide by Joshua Bloch

-- JimMcFarland

The books that taught me the most useful stuff about day-to-day Java and related topics as a J2EE developer/architect:

-- JamesRadvan?

Disputed

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