On the Web

If you don't want to spend money on books, there are some excellent Java resources on the Web. However, please don't use University resources to print out hundreds or thousands of pages!

• The Java Tutorial from Sun has gotten a lot of programmers started in Java. One of the first links on this page is Your First Cup of Java, which has step-by-step instructions for running your first program.
  
• Thinking in Java, by Bruce Eckel, is online in a number of formats. See below for comments about this book.
  
• The best way to program is with an online API reference open all the time. Sun has plenty, but they are a bit hard to find: here's the JavaTM Platform 1.3.1 API Specification. For better performance, download the entire API reference here.
  
• Sun's http://java.sun.com/ has all kinds of resources--the company is really pushing this language and wants to make it as accessible as possible. This site is well worth exploring.
  
• For writing Java applets, you will need to know a tiny amount of HTML. A Beginner's Guide to HTML, by NCSA, is an excellent introductory tutorial, available as a single Web page, three Web pages, or in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) formats.
• See http://freewarejava.com for more suggestions.

Physical books

There are many, many books on Java. Here are some that I know and really like; the links are to more complete descriptions on Amazon.

• Essential Java 2 Fast is very concise, so there is not a lot to read, but everything you need for this course is there. For good programmers only. (Its predecessor, Essential Java Fast, is terrible.) This is the book I would choose for a short course on Java.
  
• I should mention Java 2 Complete because it's readily available, cheap, and looks good. It also has good reviews on the Web. However, my opinion is that it's a waste of money.
  
• I think Java Software Solutions is excellent, and it should be available in the bookstore. It is geared more toward beginning students, so has more basic information than you might want. Not a reference book. This is the book I would choose to teach beginning programmers.
  
• Thinking In Java (also available online, see above) tries to do what the title implies--teach you a new way of thinking about programming--and does it pretty well. This is my favorite book for learning Java from, but it's long--over a thousand pages. Not a reference book. This is the book I would choose for a Java course for experienced programmers.
  
• If you want a long and really complete book, Beginning Java 2 is about as complete and detailed as you can get. It's intended for beginners but goes into plenty of detail for advanced programmers. Very readable; not a reference book.
  
• The three editions of Java In A Nutshell are my favorites. They serve as both tutorials and reference books, but they are better as reference books. The first edition was for Java 1.0 and was pretty complete. Because Java keeps getting bigger, in the second edition (Java 1.1), they moved the examples to a separate book, Java Examples In A Nutshell. But in the third edition, they moved all the information about the AWT (now along with Swing) into yet another book, Java Foundation Classes In A Nutshell. Get either the second edition, or the third edition along with the JFC book
  
• The Java Developers Almanac 2000 is a wonderful reference book for the experienced Java programmer, with lots of useful code snippets, but don't expect to learn Java from it.