If you are a Java programmer and wondering what to read to improve your knowledge of Java and become a better Java developer, then you have come to the right place. In this article, I am going to share some of the best Java books ever written. In fact, this is my list of all-time great Java books.
My passion for books continued when I became a programmer until then. I really just know about textbooks in college. The first Java book, apart from the textbook I read, was Head First Design Pattern, and it completely changed my knowledge of Java and my understanding of Object-Oriented Programming.
There is a good chance that you have heard or came across these books and must have read also. But If you haven’t, then now is a good time to upskill.
1. Head First Java
How many of you have started learning Java reading this book? Well, I do. I learned a lot of Java concepts by reading this book, and many of my misconceptions are also corrected.
Though many feel this is an out-of-date book now, given it’s released a long back and cover only Java 5, I still think it’s an excellent book for anyone just starting with Java because of unique style and content.
You can quickly learn about changes in other versions once you know Java by reading this book.
2. Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
Another Head First title, in the list of all-time great Java books. Yup, they are simply awesome, well I did find them impressive.
This book forms a trilogy of Head Fist books for Java programmers, like Head First Java, Head First Design Patterns, and Head First OOAD.
It actually complements Head First Design Patterns by explaining techniques of object-oriented programming and design. The most crucial technique which I learn from this book was coding for interfaces and encapsulate what changes. They simply changed how I write Java code.
3. Head First Design Patterns
Good knowledge of OOP and design patterns are essential for writing Java application, and this is the best book to learn that.
As I have said before, this was one of the first books I read on Java, apart from textbooks, and I was very impressed.
You might think it’s another old book, but you don’t need to worry; an updated copy that covers Java SE 8 was released a couple of years ago.
If you are serious about learning design patterns in Java, this is the book you should read.
4. Spring in Action
Sorry, but I have to include one Spring book in this list of classic books for Java programmers. Spring is the most popular Java framework ever, and this is the best book to learn Spring framework, but to be honest, this book is much more than a Spring book.
The books take a topic, like JDBC, and explain where JDK went wrong and how Spring corrects that mistake, e.g. SQLException, a one-size-fits-all exception that says something is wrong but not exactly what is wrong and how to deal with that.
Like Josuha Bloch, Uncle Bob, Craig Walls also is a great author, and you will learn much more than Spring by reading his book.
5. Test-Driven
Automation testing is an important skill, and for developers, it all starts with unit testing. Java has been blessed that it has JUnit from the start, but just knowing the library doesn’t make you a professional programmer who writes tests.
It takes much more than knowing a unit testing library like JUnit or Mockito, and that’s where this book helps.
6. Clean Code
This is another timeless classic book for Java programmers. As the title suggests, it teaches you to write better code, which is so so difficult thing to learn. To be honest, it’s easy to learn Java but challenging to write better Java code, which uses strong OOP principles, and that’s where this book helps.
Similar to Joshua Bloch, Robert C. Martin, or Uncle Bob, is an excellent author and shares a lot of his experience as a software developer to teach you programming techniques and practices, which helps a lot in your day to day job as a programmer.
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you find these classic Java books useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
