Thinking in Java

May come hard to digest for newbies at the beginnings, but bear with it. This book teaches you exactly what it proposes—a way of thinking.

I can't say enough good things about this book. I've been using it to quickly learn Java so as to program in Android. Obviously not everything I need is going to be in the book, but the concepts of Java that the author so clearly explains have been foundational.Having read dozens of programming books over the years, my take is that the majoriy are quickly put out and cover a lot of the same crud that every other book does, and in the same unfilling manner of them all. THIS BOOK however is totally fresh.My two books for the year are "Thinking in Java" and "Nerd Ranch Guide to Android Programming".

I read this book side by side with "Java A Beginner's Guide Sixth Edition" by Herbert Schildt.A lot of the reviews seem to highlight that this is a hard book to get through which I would agree, which is why I purchased both books. The "Java A Beginner's" book outlines the MAIN POINTS to know for each topic but leaves spaces to branch out for further study and research.For example the chapter on generics was only about 40 pages in "Java A Beginner's" vs 120 in "Thinking in Java". What the "Java A Beginner's" book did was start small explaining more in depth of what generics are and starting with a simple generics example. Not taking anything away from the "Thinking in Java" book but it seems to dive deeper much faster which is where I think some of the confusion comes from.All in all, "Thinking in Java" was a well written book and can also be used as a future reference book, it gives plenty of detail and depth to make sure you really understand the concepts thoroughly. That being said, both books are not really for an absolute beginners but perhaps people with a little programming background. This doesn't have to be years of training but maybe knowing the fundamentals. If you are new to programming I would just make sure that you fully understand a topic before moving on or you will be stuck and not absorb much needed information given in later chapters.

I stared reading this book when there was a free version as PDF. I liked it so much that I bought it. It was the best money I ever spent. It goes from concepts to specifics and everything in between. There is enough humor to keep it from being too dry and I have won geek arguments because I knew details of Java from this book that others didn't. It's not for florists or performance artist, but if that is your inclination then maybe programming isn't for you.

I have been a Java developer for 7 years, and my knowledge of Java increased by double, if not more, after reading this book. This book is fantastic to get deep into general Java topics. No kidding, I learned enough that I was able to point out features in Java that even our "gurus" at work did not know. Now I am one of the gurus! Note that the book covers no J2EE and is only an intro to concurrency so suppliment with books specific to those topics if you need.

I just took a position as an iOS developer, however since we build off the Oracle Retail frameworks I needed a Java reference to keep nearby. This is by far worth every penny. Simple to understand, useful code examples, and fair use of the enormous Java library reachable through a simple import. Bruce's examples are clear and he makes intermediate topics easy to grasp. 6 stars.

If you ever wanted to learn Java programming language, i would recommend you this book, but not as first choice. Author is going in details, and it would be smart first to read Head first Java, or learn basics of C. After that, this book is great!I used it for Sun Certified Java Programmer exam! Nice book!Thank you Amazon! Thank you Bruce!

Book i received has obvious liquid damage. Still serves its purpose, but that’s not normal wear and tear…