good language reference for an experienced programmer?

M

Mark P

I'm looking for a good, readable, relatively new, language reference for
Java. Either a book or online materials. I've spent the last few years
working in C++ and have a good CS background, so I don't need a lot of
discussion about OOP principles or abstract data structures, but I'm
pretty rusty with syntax, API features, Java-specific best practices,
etc. (I have a copy of Core Java from about 1999, but the language
seems to have changed a fair amount since then, so I'm looking for
something more modern.)
 
J

John W. Kennedy

Mark said:
I'm looking for a good, readable, relatively new, language reference for
Java. Either a book or online materials. I've spent the last few years
working in C++ and have a good CS background, so I don't need a lot of
discussion about OOP principles or abstract data structures, but I'm
pretty rusty with syntax, API features, Java-specific best practices,
etc. (I have a copy of Core Java from about 1999, but the language
seems to have changed a fair amount since then, so I'm looking for
something more modern.)

Well, "Core Java" just keeps rolling along:
<URL:http://horstmann.com/corejava.html>
 
M

Mark Space

Stefan said:


Yikes. All the way back to Java 1.3?

To Mark P.: This is a biased answer, but I think you should just bite
the bullet and pick up a copy of O'Reilly's Learning Java. This has all
the syntax and most of the API's all in one tome. Very handy, and I
still use mine as a reference, even though I no longer regard myself as
a newbie.

Learning Java plus the tutorials on Sun's web site (good for code
examples, mostly) and the JavaDoc will get you 80% - 90% of what you
need, J2EE/J2ME excepted.
 
S

Stefan Ram

Mark Space said:
Yikes. All the way back to Java 1.3?

It was asked »from 1999«:

JDK 1.0 1996
JDK 1.1 1997
J2SE 1.2 (Java 2) 1998
<----------- 1999
J2SE 1.3 2000
J2SE 1.4 2002
Java SE 5.0 (Java 5) 2004
 
M

Mark Space

Stefan said:
It was asked »from 1999«:


I wasn't questioning your answer. Just exclaiming dismay at the task
before the OP.

(Hint: forget "I know some Java." Start over.)
 
R

Roedy Green

Well that actually brings up a good question-- how much has Java changed
from 1999 to now?

Generics, enums, annotations. These are fairly confusing at first.
Make sure you pick a book with lots of examples. For a relaxed, easy
intro, you might try Peter van der Linden's latest book. I helped
edit it, so I am prejudiced.

I am also keen on Marty Hall's works. They seem to answer the
practical questions I have. Most books avoid the messy
practicalities.

Java the language is really pretty simple. All the tough stuff is
understanding the various class libraries, where you need a book for
each one.
 

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