How to learn java library from API docs?

[Chereddy Krishna]

I'm a beginner in this Java.
I learnt Library functions in C from the Help file of my compiler
( Turbo C++ 3.0 )
How can I learn Java's library from the API docs?
Is it possible?
I mean ... If I dont know anything about Swing and If I want to
program some Swing application; I just start refering the API docs
instead of reading some book on Swing.
Is it possible to learn some Java library without reading any book and
by just refering to API docs?

 

[Zig]

I'm a beginner in this Java.
I learnt Library functions in C from the Help file of my compiler
( Turbo C++ 3.0 )
How can I learn Java's library from the API docs?
Is it possible?
I mean ... If I dont know anything about Swing and If I want to
program some Swing application; I just start refering the API docs
instead of reading some book on Swing.
Is it possible to learn some Java library without reading any book and
by just refering to API docs?

Possible, but not practical.
Without a book, your best place to start is the Java Tutorial:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

You will also note in the API docs (such as the package javax.swing) once
you scroll past the classes and read the "Package javax.swing Description"
it will refer you to the Java Tutorial. API docs are intended to be a
quick reference once you have a general idea what you are looking for. For
small packages that have a very well defined meaning, then the API docs
may be sufficient, but for more sophisticated packages (such as Swing),
you are better off reading the package tutorial to get a feel for the
terminology and structure.

There are a number of books available though, so it might not hurt to pick
up one for reading.

HTH,

-Zig

 

[Lew]

Possible, but not practical.
Without a book, your best place to start is the Java Tutorial:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

You will also note in the API docs (such as the package javax.swing)
once you scroll past the classes and read the "Package javax.swing
Description" it will refer you to the Java Tutorial. API docs are
intended to be a quick reference once you have a general idea what you
are looking for. For small packages that have a very well defined
meaning, then the API docs may be sufficient, but for more sophisticated
packages (such as Swing), you are better off reading the package
tutorial to get a feel for the terminology and structure.

There are a number of books available though, so it might not hurt to
pick up one for reading.

This is substantially the same information that was provided in the clj.help
version of this thread, joined here with the clj.programmer line for
everyone's convenience.

After you've gotten a gander at the tutorials, Sun also has delightful white
papers. While they might not directly reveal code idioms you want to use
(though many do), they provide much insight into the mindset of the Java
universe and the way things work.

IBM developerWorks
<http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/>
has an entire tree devoted to Java that is priceless.
<http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java>