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Ask HN: Good Java books for aspiring Clojurians?

28 points by rbxbx 16y ago

I feel I would be much more effective in Clojure (and consequently, the Java ecosystem) if I spent some time with Java, or were at least more familiar with it. With the wealth of Java books, it is a bit intimidating to choose one... So HN: What would be a good Java book for a Clojurian with a solid OO background, but no Java experience?

gtani 16y ago
I picked these because the big box book resellers stock them (I think you're looking for background on things like primitives/autoboxing, java.util.concurrent, the JVM's startup options, profiling/debug tools, and maybe tips that make rhickey's clojure source easier to read): http://www.amazon.com/Core-Java-TM-I-Fundamentals-8th/dp/0132354764/ http://www.amazon.com/Core-Java-TM-I-Fundamentals-8th/dp/013... http://www.amazon.com/Java-Good-Parts-Jim-Waldo/dp/0596803737/ http://www.amazon.com/Java-Good-Parts-Jim-Waldo/dp/059680373...
acangiano 16y ago
Effective Java (2nd Edition) by Joshua Bloch: http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Java-2nd-Joshua-Bloch/dp/0321356683/ http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Java-2nd-Joshua-Bloch/dp/032... It's not for beginner Java programmers, but if you have experience in other similar programming languages you may get away with it.
- rbxbx 16y ago
  Awesome, there's a copy of this on the bookshelf at work. Will report back with it's friendliness(or lack there of) to beginning Java devs.
- deleted 16y ago
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- fogus 16y ago
  I'm not sure I would agree. "Effective Java" is a great Java book and absolutely recommended reading to know more Java. However, many of the tips provided are meant to address Java-specific foibles -- most, if not all, are addressed by using Clojure in the first place.
  - acangiano 16y ago
    You are probably right. I guess the OP is trying to learn more about the Java ecosystem, rather than simply the language per se. In that sense, your comment about Maven and Classpath is most likely spot on.
fogus 16y ago
#1. "Java Concurrency in Practice" http://www.amazon.com/Java-Concurrency-Practice-Brian-Goetz/dp/0321349601 http://www.amazon.com/Java-Concurrency-Practice-Brian-Goetz/... #2. ... hmm, that might be it.
fogus 16y ago
There are probably more than my recommendation of the Goetz book. Most of the topics that will be relevant from a Clojure perspective boil down to (in no particular order): - Classpath - Classpath - Swing API calls - Classpath - Maven - Exceptions - Interfaces - Primitives - Arrays - Collections framework - and Classpath Did I miss anything?
- deleted 16y ago
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- rbxbx 16y ago
  These are the main issues that have caused me pain in my usage of Clojure, so you're fairly on the mark. Some of the issues lend themselves to google more than others, but it would be nice to have some sort of tome (in preferably less than 800 pages, but perhaps that is asking for too much).
  - fogus 16y ago
    There must be one out there in the sea of Java books, but if there is I have yet to encounter it.
- hdx 16y ago
  You missed Classpath :P
aaw 16y ago
In addition, can anybody suggest something more along the lines of Jeffrey Richter's CLR via C# for the JVM/Java? CLR via C# covers a wide range of topics about how garbage collection, threading, appdomains, etc. work under the CLR using examples from C#, which I think would be more useful for learning what you need to know about Java and the JVM than your typical Java programming book.
- rbxbx 16y ago
  I'd be willing to bet that this book http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Java-TM-Virtual-Machine/dp/0201309726 http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Java-TM-Virtual-Machine/dp... covers that, but I've not personally read it.
JoelPM 16y ago
As a long time Java programmer I recommend these two: http://www.amazon.com/ERLANG-Programming-Francesco-Cesarini/dp/0596518188/ http://www.amazon.com/ERLANG-Programming-Francesco-Cesarini/... http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Erlang-Software-Concurrent-World/dp/193435600X/ http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Erlang-Software-Concurrent... Okay, just kidding. =) On a serious note, Effective Java is one of the best out there.
- markmywords 16y ago
  Both of these are great :)
TrevorBurnham 16y ago
Java Puzzlers. It's a fun book that teaches you to really understand the language by making you deal with its corner cases. Highly recommended.
srnm 16y ago
The Java Tutorials are great for people new to the Java Platform: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17409_01/javase/tutorial/index.html http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17409_01/javase/tutorial... Of course, the focus is the Java language... but there are lots of practical examples.