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I'll start off by listing a few books I've found to be highly useful. Please add additional categories, books, and comments on books.
On-line resources
General Programming
- Design Patterns, Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides; Addison Wesley, 1995 Amazon
- Seminal reference for major design patterns
- Refactoring: Improving the design of existing code, Martin Fowler; Addison Wesley, 1999
- An implementation level complement to the patterns movement. Formalises and provides a vocabulary for the sort of code clean-up that most of us actually spend our working lives carrying out!
- Code Complete: A Practical Handbook Of Software Construction, Steve McConnell
- very practical, down to earth guidance on the mechanics of coding. Even though published first in 1993, much of its content is remarkably relevant, since his discussions center on guiding ideas of lasting value.
- The Pragmatic Programmer, Hunt and Thomas
General Java Programming
- The Elements of Java Style, Allan Vermeulen et. al.; Cambridge/SIGS, 2000 Amazon TechBookReport review
- Short and sweet. Every developer on your team should have this book on the shelf
- Effective Java, Josh Bloch; Addison Wesley, 2001 Amazon
- Excellent general Java techniques. Don't miss Bloch at JavaOne - his sessions are consistently outstanding
- Practical Java, Peter Haggar; Addison Wesley, 2000
- More general Java techniques. Very similar to the above item.
- Concurrent Programming in Java, Design Principles and Patterns, 2nd ed., Doug Lea; Addison-Wesley, 1999
- The authority on threading in Java. Forms the basis of a widely-used library which you might wish to look into.
- The Java Developers Almanac 1.4, Patrick Chan; Addison-Wesley, 2002.
- Provides a reference to most of the standard Java API classes.
- Java in a Nutshell, 4th Edition, David Flanagan; O'Reilly, 2002
- The best way to learn the basics quickly and reference later when you forget.
Introductory Java
- Java: How To Program,Deitel and Deitel;Prentice Hall, 2003 TechBookReport review
- All round introduction to Java and OOP
- Beginning Java 2,Ivor Horton;Wrox Press TechBookReport review
- Gentle introduction to Java - not as technical as Deitel and Deitel
- Thinking in Java (3rd Edition),Bruce Eckel;Prentice Hall TechBookReport review
- I think this is the best introduction to Java book there is
- The Java Programming Language, 3rd ed., Gosling, Arnold, Holmes
- Excellent introduction to the language, and serves as excellent reference for those of any level
- The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition, Volume 1 and Volume 2 plus supplement (a pair of books, the first with a blue cover, and the supplement with a yellow cover)
- Head First Java,Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates;O'ReillyTechBookReport review
- A very different introduction to Java. Fun to read, easy to make you think. Well worth looking at.
Java Performance
- Java Performance and Scalability, Volume 1, Dov Bulka; Addison Wesley, 2000 Amazon
- Overview of general performance techniques, slight focus on server-side
- Java Platform Performance, Strategies and Tactics, Steve Wilson, Jeff Kesselman; Addison Wesley, 2000
- Overview of general performance techniques, contains very specific advice on topics like high-speed I/O.
- Java Performance Tuning, Second Edition, Jack Shirazi; O'Reilly 2003 Amazon
- In depth analysis of performance characteristics of various features of the Java language and the Java API.
- Enterprise Java Performance, Steven L. Halter, Steven J. Munroe; Prentice Hall, 2001 Amazon
- Specifically focused on server-side performance: RMI, EJB, CORBA, Jini?, etc.
Java 2 Enterprise Edition
- Core J2EE Patterns, Best Practices and Design Strategies, Deepak Alur et al.; Prentice Hall PTR, 2001
- Provides a pattern language for web-based, n-tier architectures using the J2EE platform. Essential reading for J2EE project developers.
- EJB Design Patterns, Advanced Patterns, Processes and Idioms, Floyd Martinescu; John Wiley & Sons, 2002
- A thorough discussion of J2EE architectures, with a very broad focus. Essential reading for J2EE project developers.
Java 2 Micro Edition
- J2ME book list - comprehensive list of all J2ME related books
- MMAPI Book covers using JSR135 to work with audio/video/tones and midi in Java enabled phones Amazon
Web Services
- Java Web Services Architecture - This book provides practical advice to systems architects about integrating XML with networks services. Sample chapers available for download.
Discussion about Books
Opinion on best books for those new to Java:
- The Java Programmng Language - Gosling, Arnold, Holmes
- Effective Java - Bloch
- Java Class Libraries, 2nd edition, Volume 1, plus supplement
The libraries are of course available on line. However, the paper editions have extensive discussions which do not appear in the on line versions. As well, the paper versions give one a better sense of the size of the libraries, and are easier for browsing around and getting familiar with core classes.
-- JohnOHanley - 11 Oct 2003
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