Nowadays, everyone emphasizes the importance of taking online courses. But they forget to mention the significant role of reading books.
Books composed by experienced programmers on the captive topic offer some really valuable knowledge.
If you are interested in becoming a proficient Java developer, then there are the top seven must-read Java programming books for you to comprehend the basics and advanced concepts.
7 Best Core Java Books
Here’re some excellent choices for beginners and professionals that encompass a vast variety of topics.
Core Java Volume I – Fundamentals
This 1000-page book is really easy to read as it is divided into chapters; each part is dedicated to a specific topic, making it convenient for individuals to understand the concepts.
It begins with an introduction to the Java language and programming environment and moves on to advanced topics about data structures and objects.
The book offers you detailed examples, enabling you to interpret the subject in a better way. The updated version covers Java 9, 10, and 11.
After reading this book, you will be capable of writing powerful and appropriate codes. The moment you start coding daily, you can use this book as a reference.
Effective Java
Joshua Bloch, the author of this book, has explained all the topics of the Java programming language. It is an amazing complimentary book that offers readers 78 useful programming tasks ranging from static factories, serialization, equals, and hash code to generics, enums, varieties, and reflection.
All the concepts of Java are explained in a very unique manner. It will help you learn more about the background process and get a deeper insight regarding how and why they are arranged in such a manner.
Also, here you will find some very useful advice that can help to enhance your coding skills. Last year, this book was upgraded, comprising the latest features that are introduced in Java Development Kit 7,8, and 9.
Java: A Beginner’s Guide
It is not exactly a beginner’s guide, and this book is more suitable for intermediate learners, written by Schildt. The book will polish your knowledge as it has detailed information about concepts of Java and its relation with other programming languages.
Every code is explained line by line and describes fundamentals and more complex concepts of Java.
Additionally, you will find questions and practice exercises at the end of every chapter to identify the quality of knowledge you have acquired. The latest edition is completely revised including the recent Java 11 SE.
Java – The Complete Reference
If you know the basics then Java – The Complete Reference by Herbert Schildt is a good choice for you. It is a well-structured book with real-world programming examples.
Java 8 APIs are explained very thoroughly. It contains information about fundamental programming principles, Java language syntax, and keywords.
Head First Java
Do diagrams, graphics, or drawings assist in interpreting the context? Then this book is the perfect choice for you. The primary language and OOP theories are illustrated using real-life examples.
Thanks to the user-friendly interface, you will like the book from the first page till the end.
It won’t make you capable of inscribing codes, but you will surely get hold of the logic and its primary theories. The quizzes and practice tasks at the end of every chapter will assist you in memorizing the things you have read.
However, it is a bit outdated as it has no recent features after Java 5.0 but it is still a great choice for a person who has no idea about programming and its languages.
Java Concurrency in Practice
Thanks to Joshua Bloch, Doug Lea, and the entire team for creating such a comprehensive book on concurrency and multi-threading. All the small details are included in a very easy-to-read way.
Here you will find content related to concurrency topics and problems, like deadlock, starvation, thread-safety, race conditions, and existing techniques to solve them.
You won’t be able to point out any meaningless content. Every piece of information is vital; even it also includes incorrect things and their reasons.
The newbie may not be able to comprehend the context, but it is an excellent choice for experienced programmers.
Test-Driven: TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers
Are you interested in writing codes, units, integration, and automation tests? If yes, then this is one of the must-read Java programming books.
It will make you capable of jotting down distinct automation testing programs by offering you examples to test drive the Java codes.
Conclusion
It might seem that there is a lot to learn, but once you enter the field of Java programming, then books along with online resources will help you to understand the basic concepts and master your skills.
The journey to the programming world is not an easy one, but by following an appropriate roadmap and guide, you will be the Java developer that you always desired.