I need a good book on learning Java

[midnight armadillo]

My new job requires Java, which I have successfully avoided learning for years due to unreasoning prejudice against the language dating back to Sun's initial marketing.

But, it's time to bite the bullet, roll up my sleeves, spend some money at the local booksellers, and learn it relatively quick.

I'm considering the O'Reilly "Learning Java" book, but I figure I'll get 2 or 3. I'm more inclined to get books that focus on the language and its libraries and not on particular development environments since I don't know which IDE I'll wind up with and will try to use XEmacs anyway. I know several languages (C, Matlab, Python, C++, Scheme, Haskell), so books aimed at programmers would be better for me.

Any suggestions from DU?? THANKS! :beer:

[Renew Deal]

1. Wrox is a great company

http://www.wrox.com/books/0764543652.shtml

[DS1]

3. Seconded

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Thinking In Java (freely available online)

http://mindview.net/Books

[Kellanved]

4. Have you checked the Java Tutorials?

They're free and pretty good.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html

It isn't a big step from C++, so you should probably focus on the API.
The best books for that are IMHO O'Reilly's "Java in a Nutshell" by Flanagan and Sun's "Java Developer's Almanach" by Chan.

[BlueEyedSon]

5. I have been considering this one...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596004656/qid=1074281446/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2110047-0684742?v=glance&s=books


BTW, good luck!
--Blue