Best reference for Java?

JavaTM 2 Platform, Standard Edition, v 1.4.2, API Specification

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Any good references that you guys use often though? (BTW, thought I posted this in general programming, didn''t mean to put it in game programming sorry)

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Original post by Emonious
Any good references that you guys use often though?

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the one that you will use the most if you really start programming with java is the javadocs, which you can search here:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/search.html

those are really only good if you know what youre looking for though. if you quite literally want a reference, look to the api specification linked above. something with a little more substance:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596002831/qid=1075512028//ref=pd_ka_1/102-9972934-8295353?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

and what i learned from:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596002858/qid=1075512311/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-9972934-8295353

good luck! and theres always help in the programming section or in the java development forum (further down the page in the "please come troll here section")

[edited by - justo on January 30, 2004 8:43:19 PM]

The sun java website is about all thats useful.

http://java.sun.com iirc... but in truth, it''s not that useful, and the forums are a joke most of the time.

if you''ve learnt C++, then get as much of a grip on Java as you must... then reject it and go back to C++

Jack

You can get Bruce Eckels book ''thinking in java'' on line at his site (google for it). This is one of the best programming books ever. Its an intro to java book that covers pretty much everything. His style is to compare and contrast with c++ so you should appreciated that. Hell, I learned more about c++ from this book than any other i''d read. He doesn''t dumb stuff down at all. Its awesome.

Look for Ivor Horton''s ''Beginning Java 2''. It''s the best Java book I have ever read (and I''ve read a lot of them). I''ve been using Java for years but I still refer to the Java 1.3 edition of this book sometimes. There''s a 1.4 edition out that I''m going to pick up one of these days when my wife isn''t looking (she doesn''t understand why I would want to buy another copy of the same book).

Yup, I plan to do exactly what you said Jolly. Learn it then ditch it for C++. Anyone have a direct link to the javadocs that you are recomending, maybe just me, but I can't find my way through half the similarly named stuff on this site at all

[edited by - Emonious on January 31, 2004 1:50:34 PM]

You like coding it seems, or I should rather say you like a lot of typing + L/A your complier.
Well sport I have bad news for you. Your C++ knowledge would be largerly untransfferable. In fact it''s easier to learn C++ if you had at least year worth of experience with Java, than do it the other way. It''s true that majority of Java programmers preffer to stay away from C++ as much as they could, words welcome back to the hell often surround people unfortunate enough to do something with JNI, or with C++.

You have a chance to learn better OO programming style, a better code structure, and the multithreading.

It seems that course would be more about teaching OO concepts than about learning Java. If so you''d be unfortunate. You might find that your programming skills are, how to say, too little. Things like class A extends B
class B extends C implements A,G
class C extends D
class E extends B
Add into it packages and protected access and you''d find why are you doomed, if your teacher would do that teaching in real depth. This is, luckily for you, unlikely.



So type.
java.sun.com Look at the upper right side. There is text: "Popular Downloads". Becose you need the documentation to the Java2 SDK 1.4.2 SE, you would click at the link: "J2SE 1.4.2 SDK".
On that page you''d find a lots of links. Scroll down to "J2SE v 1.4.2 Documentation". Click on the link on the right side that is called "download". Wow you are done.
I just hope you have downloaded 1.4.2 SDK. http://javashoplm.sun.com/ECom/docs/Welcome.jsp?StoreId=22&PartDetailId=j2sdk-1.4.2_03-oth-JPR&SiteId=JSC&TransactionId=noreg
You might like to look at white papers and other documentation that is avilable, but not directly usable for programming.

I consider mickerosoft page to be more messy.

Skill called ability to find documentation is necessary for programming. I recommend to work more on this field.

O''Reilly''s "Java in a Nutshell" is a good reference if you want something in hardcopy, but past that, yes, the javadocs.

peace and (trance) out

Mage