Starting with Java...

[fatboyjim]

I went onto Amazon.co.uk to find myself a Teach yourself Java in ** days book

I have been advised to start out with Java to see if I'm a programming kinda person (let's hope so)

I have found these two books. Both Teach Yourself Java 2 in 21 days


There's this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...723823-4989228

and this


http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...723823-4989228

I'd like to get it ASAP but the first one is a Professional Reference Edition and is out now, the other is normal book but doesn't come out for another 2 months. Is the professional edition still suitable for newbs like myself?




Are the 24 hour Java books OK or would it be too oversimplified and more of a typing activity than a learning process?



Thanks,

Jim

[doctorgonzo]

Go to Sun's website and take their Java tutorial if you are itching to get started right away. It's at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/index.html

In addition, if you are looking for a good Java IDE, go to http://www.netbeans.org/. It is very useful, and best of all free!

I started out using Sun's tutorial, and I think it taught me a lot about Java.

[aym]

The Java tutorial is good, but if you want a better book to start in Java, check the one below, I began with it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...642180-8274843

[fatboyjim]

Thank you both for the comments, do you think the Professional Edition will be suited to novices?


Thanks

[piasabird]

There are lots of books on Java. In fact there are so many you can never count them all. Dietel and Dietel wrote some books on Java and other programming languages. Many of their books are aimed at a beginner level. A good thing about Java is the compiler is free. If you want a fancy development tool it can cost a little more. Java is a very complex programming language and it is very powerful.

[fatboyjim]

Thanks for the comments, I think I'll go with the Sam's Teach Yourself book as I've worked with these before

[HackinCowboy]

I've got a few Sam's edition books and IMO they do a very good job at teaching the basics of a language to get you to a point where you can function on your own. Java is a fairly simple language to learn so you shouldn't have a problem catching on.