5 ms·
Ask HN: Resources for learning Java?
After 2 years of coding exclusively in PHP, I'm making the transition to Java and would like your suggestions on what are the best resources for learning the language.
If you are a Java dev, I would like to hear your story. How did you learn the language? What helped you the most? Any advice you can provide is appreciated.
- critke 18y agoStart with Hello World and try stuff: http://www.javacoffeebreak.com/java101/java101.html http://www.javacoffeebreak.com/java101/java101.html
- hello_moto 18y agoOne such ordering is as follow: 1) Head First Java (Edition that covers Java 5) 2) Core Java (optional, latest edition) 3) The Java Programming Language 4th Ed _AND_ Effective Java 2nd Ed The last resources are somewhat related. Some of the stuffs in TJPL can make EJ clearer and vice versa.
- tjr 18y agoI've not done much Java for a while, but my most useful resources have been The Java Programming Language and The Java Developer's Almanac (especially the code samples, which I believe are available somewhere on java.sun.com). Effective Java is also a great read for becoming a "better" Java programmer, but may or may not be useful to you right off the bat.
- ObieJazz 18y agohttp://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/ http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/ This got me through my college Java courses.
- yters 18y agoSeconded. I've found the Collections section to be most helpful. Also, if you want functional programming in your collections, check out Apache's commons collections: http://commons.apache.org/collections/ http://commons.apache.org/collections/
- mechanical_fish 18y agoYears ago, I used Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java: http://mindview.net/Books/TIJ4 http://mindview.net/Books/TIJ4 I liked it a lot at the time. No idea if that's the best thing out there now. I haven't seen the latest edition, as I haven't had to touch Java in several years.
- arockwell 18y agoThat was how I originally learned Java in undergrad. I think that its a pretty good book. I think that its a great introduction to the basics. A good follow up book is Effective Java by Joshua Bloch.
- yan 18y agoIf you already have experience programming (which you do) try the following: First read the wikipedia page on the language. Download a medium-sized open source project, start at main() and try to understand what it does. Then, google for features/syntax you don't understand; read comments; have the api docs open; google for languages gotchas; google for techniques you don't understand. Once you do this enough to be comfortable with the language (Shouldn't take more than a few days), try to write something on your own. Either recreate what you already wrote or try to create something just outside what you feel is within your means. I tend to learn languages a lot faster and in a much more thorough fashion when I approach it this way. edit: this has nothing to do with java per se, but I find it is valuable to me when trying to pick up a new language.
- stanley 18y agoThanks Yan
- bretthoerner 18y agoI'm kinda doing the same thing but from Python. I really liked Java Precisely http://www.itu.dk/~sestoft/javaprecisely/ http://www.itu.dk/~sestoft/javaprecisely/ It doesn't try to teach you programming, it just cuts to this "this is what this is in Java" ... high signal/noise.
- rw 18y agoTry searching any question like this with "X for Y programmers". Example: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22java+for+php%22+programmers http://www.google.com/search?q=%22java+for+php%22+programmer... These results aren't as good as some, such as "Java for Lisp programmers". It's a useful heuristic, anyway.
- zupatol 18y agoI learned a lot from the java tutorial http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/ http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/
- brl 18y agoYou might like dzone.com which is a link/news site for developers that has a huge bias in favor of news about Java.
- johnyzee 18y agoSun's own Java Trails online tutorials are very good. They cover a lot of ground with minimal blabbering (unlike books whose authors are paid by page count). http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/ http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- comster 18y agoJust goto any US university teaching Comp Sci
- Shamiq 18y agoThey started us on Meta (an in-house branch of Scheme, built on the .NET 2 framework), then it's to C++ for the next class in the sequence. The university is called Northwestern.
- stuartk 18y agoTake a look at http://www.javapassion.com/ http://www.javapassion.com/ Some nice tutorials on several aspects of Java.
- krisneuharth 18y agoLearning Java from Oreilly was a good start for me and continues to be a decent reference as time goes on.
- flashgordon 18y agoOn a different note why? no, really... apart from enterprise development why would you want the headache... (by the way, ive done java since 98 up until couple of years ago when i switched to python...)