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Ask HN: Best Java programming book for the Beginner

8 points by johnrdavisjr 15y ago

I am going to school in the fall and my intro to CS class will be teaching us Java. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good beginners book, but not one of those "for dummies" books as I find them useless. Thanks!

geekytenny 15y ago
Java from the Ground-up
bartonfink 15y ago
Your CS class will likely recommend a book for you, but my wife used Lewis and Loftus when she took an intro to CS course to get a better handle on what the hell I did with my life. She found it relatively easy to learn from.
nextparadigms 15y ago
Check out thenewboston's java tutorials on youtube or go to his site at thenewboston.com You can also try out Head First Java book.
benkant 15y ago
Savitch's Absolute Java is reasonable, if a bit expensive. I found it a tad verbose and slow, but there's many worse. There's a joke in there somewhere.
trollhammeren 15y ago
I started with "Java:Complete reference" but it's definitely not for beginners. It covers a wide array of stuff though
dstein 15y ago
It's unfortunate that colleges and universities collude with textbook publishers to ensure that they use a different textbook/edition each year that can only be bought at the university bookstore. Really you should be able to find out exactly which textbook your course will be using and obtain a copy beforehand.
squidsoup 15y ago
I got the most value from Effective Java by Joshua Bloch when learning Java. It's not specifically for beginners, but teaches best practice that would encourage a beginner in the right direction from the start. I suspect there are many instructional Java books that would teach coding practices that would not be considered best practice today. http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/ http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/
ashconnor 15y ago
Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel.
johnrdavisjr 15y ago
I just checked the book store and they recommend: JAVA PROGRAMMING:FROM PROB.ANAL... By MALIK Edition 5TH 12 Publisher: CENGAGE L ISBN: 9781111530532 I appreciate everyone's recommendations, I am still willing to try out everyone's suggestions.
johnrdavisjr 15y ago
I just checked the book store and they recommend: JAVA PROGRAMMING:FROM PROB.ANAL... By MALIK Edition 5TH 12 Publisher: CENGAGE L ISBN: 9781111530532 I appreciate everyone's recommendations, I am still willing to try out everyone's suggestions.

8 points by johnrdavisjr 15y ago

geekytenny 15y ago

Java from the Ground-up

bartonfink 15y ago

Your CS class will likely recommend a book for you, but my wife used Lewis and Loftus when she took an intro to CS course to get a better handle on what the hell I did with my life. She found it relatively easy to learn from.

nextparadigms 15y ago

Check out thenewboston's java tutorials on youtube or go to his site at thenewboston.com You can also try out Head First Java book.

benkant 15y ago

Savitch's Absolute Java is reasonable, if a bit expensive. I found it a tad verbose and slow, but there's many worse. There's a joke in there somewhere.

trollhammeren 15y ago

I started with "Java:Complete reference" but it's definitely not for beginners. It covers a wide array of stuff though

dstein 15y ago

It's unfortunate that colleges and universities collude with textbook publishers to ensure that they use a different textbook/edition each year that can only be bought at the university bookstore. Really you should be able to find out exactly which textbook your course will be using and obtain a copy beforehand.

squidsoup 15y ago

I got the most value from Effective Java by Joshua Bloch when learning Java. It's not specifically for beginners, but teaches best practice that would encourage a beginner in the right direction from the start. I suspect there are many instructional Java books that would teach coding practices that would not be considered best practice today. http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/ http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/

ashconnor 15y ago

Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel.

johnrdavisjr 15y ago

I just checked the book store and they recommend: JAVA PROGRAMMING:FROM PROB.ANAL... By MALIK Edition 5TH 12 Publisher: CENGAGE L ISBN: 9781111530532 I appreciate everyone's recommendations, I am still willing to try out everyone's suggestions.

johnrdavisjr 15y ago