Books on Java?

You learn too many languages.

Anyway, have you tried Thinking in Java? It''s free, and I used it to get a one-day crash course before I realized that at a syntactical level Java is nearly identical to C++ and I was wasting my time.

This one is supposed to be good. I''ve only gotten a peek at the first few chapters though.

I second Thinking in Java. The HTML format of the book is a little annoying, but its a pretty good resource.

CM

quote:

---

Original post by DukeAtreides076
This one is supposed to be good. I''ve only gotten a peek at the first few chapters though.

---

I learned Java from that book mostly (although I think it was the third edition). Faily GUI-orientated though, not too much on the actual language and standard libraries other than Swing.

Also good is the Core Java books. (Which *do* have nice sections of the standard lib) http://www.horstmann.com/corejava.html

[S-Type] [V-Script]

Hey, thanks a lot guys! I really appreciated it that nobody flamed me (yet) for posting about Java.

Thanks again for the suggestions, I''ll check those out.

---

I really don't think anyone would flame you for using java, but for other reasons...

[edited by - nervo on March 25, 2004 6:20:34 PM]

Learn Python!

By the way, why are you giving up on C++? You're better learning one language at a time and learning it well and then just use other languages when you need to, once you have a deep understanding of C++ it becomes far easier to learn other languages(in my experience).

[edited by - template on March 25, 2004 6:24:55 PM]

I've learned quite a bit of Python and probably will learn the rest of the basics some day soon.

Nervo - and what would that be?

---

[edited by - Drevay on March 25, 2004 6:51:31 PM]

quote:

---

Original post by Drevay
Nervo - and what would that be?

---

Well drevay I''d really only be paraphrasing others when I say that you don''t commit to any language. You''re always hopping from one language to the next it seems. Heck the other day you had this dilemma of whether your should do programming or art. You''re all over the place with no apparent commitment to anything!

I agree with the others that you should be well versed in one language, and with programming concepts and general (construction methods, design patterns, algorithms and data structures, etc.) before you go off and learn a bunch of languages. Afterward, picking up other languages shouldn''t be a ball bustingly difficult task. To answer your question though, check out www.amazon.com for some Java books and read the reviews on there. Going to a local bookstore (or library) is even better because you can evaluate the books hands on to see if they''re what you''re looking for.

I''ve got my problems with Java, but it''s not a bad language for newbie programmers to learn with. I''m personally a fan of C#, but the thing is, you''ve already invested time and money into C++ (which is fine for learning, it''s the first languages I picked up, excluding BASIC), so if I were you I''d at least finish the books that you have, learn a bit about software construction and some other ins and outs of software development, gain some experience using C++ (doesn''t have to be a game... yes, computers are used for other tasks as well ) and once you really feel comfortable with it, then consider learning a new language. Oh, and get used to learning new languages, because as a programmer you will probably end up using several in your lifetime. (As a sidenote, I''d encourage taking some computer science courses at the local community college; you can interface with other people live, including someone who probably holds a pHD in CS, and you might be able to score Visual Studio .NET 2003 on the cheap like I did. I''m 17 btw).

But the real reason you''d want to learn a new language to begin with is if you''re in need of some feature that''s not a part of any of the languages you already know. I''d just like to know, what is it that C++ is not providing for you, and what do you stand to gain by switching to Java? If you can''t answer this question, you probably have no reason to learn a new language now.

Good point Scythe. I should just stick with one language.

Also a good point (and obvious, too), Nervo. I should stick with one hobby.

I need to make some choices, and I guess my problem is I can''t choose.

---

... and Drevay begins to change his mind. Again.