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@cbadke
Last active December 18, 2015 11:18
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A friend asked for some reading to learn Java...

This probably isn't quite what you're looking for but...

First off I'm not a 'Java Programmer'. But that doesn't matter much. To get into a language, once you have exposure to languages in the 'family' it doesn't take long to gain the ability to bang away at the problem. You won't know the idioms of the language and you probably wont' know the best way to do certain things but you can find your way around.

Java is part of the C family of languages. C/C++/C#/Java and others all come from the same core and have diverged from each other over time.

For Java syntax people seem to like Java - The Good Parts or others. This StackOverflow question seems to have some appropriate discussion.

Beyond that the trick is to learn the underlying principles of programming. That is what will really get you going in the long run (although it takes longer in the short term). Some of my favourite general books are

But the BEST way to learn is to do it. Go build something. It will be frustrating but also rewarding. The search for how to do things will cause you to find discussion on why one thing is better than another and why someone disagrees with that view.

Read other peoples code. Go find a well known open source project and try to read/understand some of it. See keywords you've never heard of? Go look them up.

Find a mentor. Do you know someone with experience that is willing to pair with you on a regular basis? An hour with someone to just play around or ask questions can be more valuable that any book. I don't know Java specifically but I'd be willing to meet up on occasion if that is something you would find useful.

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