Member Avatar for Delnith

I am looking for your opinions on the best site or book in order to learn java. I am currently in school for C.S. learning C and would like to expand my knowledge. Thank you in advance.

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A compact, practical plan works best for someone coming from C: pick one friendly, project-driven beginner book to build intuition, add a concise “how-to-write-good Java” book for style and idioms, and practice daily with small projects and focused exercises. The thread already covers both sides of the documentation debate — warns official docs can feel dense while and point out their value as authoritative references — so treat official docs as reference material rather than a first tutorial. Mentioning other forum suggestions (like and ) shows different entry points are useful depending on learning style.

Good book trio to consider: a visual, example-first introduction for basics; a concise rules-and-best-practices guide for idiomatic code; and a thorough, up-to-date reference for deeper reading. Head First Java is a very approachable, project-driven intro; Effective Java is the go-to for idiomatic, production-quality patterns once basics are covered; Core Java (Horstmann) is a solid, comprehensive reference when deeper detail is needed. (barnesandnoble.com)

Pair those books with hands-on platforms. Exercism offers a free, mentored Java track with progressive exercises; JetBrains Academy supplies project-based Java tracks that integrate IDE experience and real projects. Using both a mentor-style exercise track and project courses accelerates practical fluency. (exercism.org)

Practical starter path (compact):

  • Begin with a project-driven intro book and build 2–3 tiny console apps (parsers, mini games, file I/O).
  • Read Effective Java items selectively after the first month to learn idioms.
  • Use Exercism or similar for daily 15–30 minute exercises; use a project course (JetBrains Academy or equivalent) for portfolio pieces.
  • Learn a modern IDE (IntelliJ), a build tool (Maven/Gradle), unit testing (JUnit), and Git as early habits.

Key notes for C background: Java has automatic memory management (no pointer arithmetic), objects are handled via references (Java is pass-by-value of references), exceptions are checked/unchecked, and the standard library is extensive — rely on it. Treat examples as starting points; reading a few lines of official docs for an API used in a project will pay off.

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Member Avatar for deben.salemme

i think guide of w3school.com are nice for beginning :)

Member Avatar for M.S.

Book: Think Java. it is really a cool book :)

Member Avatar for Ezzaral

i think guide of w3school.com are nice for beginning :)

Well, except for the fact that w3schools does not have a Java section. Don't conflate Javascript with Java.

: Please refer to the sticky thread at the top of the Java forum listing: Starting Java

Edited by Ezzaral
commented: yep, sorry :) +0
Member Avatar for Lucaci Andrew

Well, Java comes with its own tutorials. I find this website really useful: Click Here

Member Avatar for stultuske

the sticky thread on top of this forum is also a good place to look.
Starstreak: the official tutorials are pretty good. a good point of it is, for every change made to the language, or every error in them found, it can easily and quickly be corrected. just try that with a book :)

Member Avatar for Starstreak

From a beginner's point of view it really sucks. It may cover everything and be up-to-date, but the examples look very Laure Lemay'ish and extremely overcomplex. If you want a nice, concise explanation & example of a Java method, it's the last place I would look.

Member Avatar for stultuske

for a beginner, all decent examples look overwhelming. for a beginner, if they look at a decent book, those examples 'll look overwhelming too. that doesn't mean it is a bad guide to go buy.
let's think about those books that only offer "nice 'nd easy" code snippets ... it's a bit the same as teaching your child to wear slide-in shoes, because they're easier to put on.
but in the end, do you want your kid to go to school (or worse, growing up) not knowing how to tie laces?
basically, if you really want to learn java, don't be afraid to learn it good and thoroughly, even though it takes a bit more effort. it does pay off in the long run.

I don't disagree with using a good book, but I would still recommend the official tutorials next to them. (except for the "let's build a Swing application with the netbeans editor")

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