Sixth Edition, Java: A Beginner's Guide

Great book for leaning Java. This book backs up concepts introduced with clear and logical examples. Then it takes those examples and expands on them with new concepts and makes the program more and more complicated over time. This approach really works well for learning. Some lazy learners may complain about its aggressiveness in the early chapters because some of the sample programs can hurt your brain if you're new to programming. For example there was a program that output "2 to the power of n is ____". This program consisted of a decrementing while loop nested within an incriminating for loop. The while loop acted as a counter for each iteration of each iteration. (no I didn't just typo, I meant to repeat myself) and to be honest, it took a while to sink in. I even had to resort to writing out the program on paper and marking exactly how each variable changed with each iteration of each loop. That was a tough one for chapter 2 but this made me think like a computer... or should I say, like a programmer. This book is excellent! Bottom line is this, you can't puree every concept into baby food for easy consumption but this book does it's best and handles the challenging material better than most. I don't think you could get an "easier" book that actually taught you everything.

If you already know another programming language, and want to add java to one of the programming languages you have knowledge of, then this book will be right for you.

On the other hand, I don't think this book is for complete beginners.

I have experience in programming in many other languages, but not much OOP. For my level of understanding of programming concepts, this is an excellent book. The approach takes you through the concepts in a well ordered fashion. The example programs are simple to illustrate the concepts as you go. The test exercises at the end of each chapter allow you to judge for yourself if you have absorbed the knowledge contained in each chapter and the answer section will help if you to zero in on things you are just not getting.

The only warming I might give is there are points where I feel some terms and concepts are assumed to be familiar which might lead to confusion for anyone with little or no programming experience. Well written and concise.

A good book covering all of the basics (and more) of the java programming language. Very well explained, sometimes a tad harder to follow but overall very understandable even for someone without previous programming experience. Definitely recommend this book!

A little background:
Started programming as a child on my family's Mac IIGS. I enjoyed freaking my mom out when I would make the computer count forever via an infinate loop.
I self taught myself to program on my TI 83 in middle school, html and adobe photoshop in highschool, css in college, Perl for bioinformatics perposes.
Skip to now... realizing that somewhere along the line I forgot about my love to program so
I self taught myself begginers C++ using TheNewBoston's Youtube tutorial videos.
To sum it all up, I've a sporadic programming background... but nothing substantial in terms of profession/life goals..

Until this book.

This book teaches at the perfect speed, and provides examples in a logical "here is the newbie way that works... but here is a better way...and yet here is an even BETTER way!". So you learn in a very easy step by step way.

Treat this book as you would any math book, and work out EVERY SINGLE example, as well as try to work out what the console output would look like in your head or on paper and check it against the System.out provided (in the text)
And then, after a few chapters, go back and try to do the 'Try This' programs and retake the quizes to keep the info fresh, and see where your streths and weeknesses lie.

Other notes:
I use JavaFX (IntelliJ IDEA) because I plan to eventually make a GUI program.

I believe having a beginners knowledge in c++ has made me understand Java on a deeper level than those without. And this background has enabled me to learn Java faster and more efficiently.
If you have 2 weeks free, I suggest you look up TheNewBoston on youtube and watch his c++ videos at least up until #35 while you wait for this book to arrive, and you will have a better understanding when you start to read this book.

I am also following along with a free "First Course in Java" that is availble online from Berkley College. It's excellent & I highly recomend it!

Where I go from here:
1. Finish the book & Berkley Course homework/quizes
Study for OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I (Exam 1Z0-803) with:
2. (Liguori, Finegan) Oca Java Se 7 Programmer I Study Guide
3. (Sierra, Bates) OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II (Study vol 1 OCA of 2)
4. Take Exam 1Z0-803 to be Certified OCAJP 7
5.? Maybe...(Ganesh, Sharma) Oracle Certified Professional Java SE 7 Programmer Exams 1Z0-804 and 1Z0-805: A Comprehensive OCPJP 7 Certification Guide
6. (Sierra, Bates) OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II (Study vol 2 OCP of 2)
7. Take Exam 1Z0-804 to be Certified OCPJP 7

Hope this helps someone in finding their way, and good luck!

Head First Java, 2nd EditionAs a beginning programming student, I found this text somewhat muddled in its approach to teaching programming as well as frustrating. On the one hand, I think it is a valuable reference for learning the basic principles of java and how it works. On the other hand, I found that the deeper I got into the book, the more difficult it was to understand.

Some of the code wouldn't work for me when I compiled it after copying it out of the book, which frustrated me. I didn't understand that many of the examples are only partial text, and that there are other pieces of code that must be included to make it work. As a beginning student with no formal instructor, that brought my learning to a halt.

I wanted to understand more, so I went to the Java API online, and found that some of the examples in the book are actually the same examples on the Java website, which frustrated me even more. I felt like I was going in circles and none of the text explained how to compile a program successfully from beginning to end, with full text examples. I now know that I didn't understand how to import classes, why and how to do so, and what some of the crucial steps are in planning OOP programs, but that wasn't explained in the beginning chapters of the text, so I felt frustrated.

Several months later, I read a post on reddit that changed everything. I picked up the book "Head First Java" after it was recommended highly, and that book opened my eyes to all of the things I had missed while using "Java: A Beginner's Guide." Not only that, I now understand very difficult concepts much better such as Polymorphism, Inheritance, The Heap, and Garbage Collection. "Head First Java" can be verbose and annoyingly entertaining, but it does a very good job at explaining difficult concepts "like I'm 5," whereas "Java: A Beginners Guide" seemed to be written for adults that already have an understanding how programming works and just want a better understanding of the Java language.

This isn't a bad book, but I don't recommend it for anyone that has never programmed before unless they have a history of being able to fill in the gaps and understand difficult concepts without needing all of the pieces to be represented and explained. If you're looking for someone to "explain it like I'm five," then this isn't the book for you.

Overall, I would recommend someone use this book in conjunction with "Head First Java" for a complete set of learning tools. I think they complement each other well.

I will continue to use this book as a reference for Java.

This book is great for beginners and new graduates that need to brush up on their Java before an interview. My degree was mostly c++ with a couple Java courses. This book covers all I learned in school and more. I feel confident this book has prepared me for my interview!