Resources
All kinds of resources useful for the course, from physical books to virtual websites. If you find something good out there, please tell us about it so we can add it here!
Required Book
There are lots of useful books for this course, but this required text by two very smart guys over at Princeton is certainly the most important one for you to get:
- Robert Sedgewick, Kevin Wayne: Introduction to Programming in Java: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Addison-Wesley, 2008. [Website] [Buy]
We won't follow the book precisely but it certainly sets the overall tone and will be your number one printed resource for keeping up with the material. And of course the exams assume that you did your readings, so...
Other Books
Some people like funkier books, and this one is certainly way too visually exciting for older folks like your instructor. However, I've heard some good things about it, so I thought I should still list it here as an alternate (not officially endorsed) way of learning Java:
- Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates: Head First Java, 2nd edition, O'Reilly Media, 2005. [Buy]
If you don't mind its excessive formality, the official language specification for Java is a good resource to have around. You can easily access it online, no need to shell out money:
- James Gosling, Bill Joy, Guy L. Steele Jr., Gilad Bracha: The Java Language Specification, Addison-Wesley, 3rd edition, 2005. [Buy]
Speaking of "online" and "no money," the following popular Java text is available for free as well. It's a little outdated of course, but it has a fairly good reputation:
- Bruce Eckel: Thinking in Java, Prentice Hall, 3rd edition, 2003. [Buy]
If you want a concise reference to carry around without building up more muscle (i.e. something that actually fits into the proverbial nutshell) check this one out. (Warning: Sestoft is a little formal as well, but if you stick with it, you'll get an answer to every Java question you have!)
-
Peter Sestoft:
Java Precisely,
MIT Press, 2nd edition, 2005.
[Buy]
- Peter Sestoft: Java Precisely, MIT Press, 2002. [Buy]
I like small books, and in that spirit I'd like to recommend a really small book that can also be very helpful in the course. Only problem with this one is that there are a few bugs, but probably nothing that will affect you too much.
- Robert Liguori, Patricia Liguori: Java Pocket Guide, O'Reilly Media, 2008. [Buy]
Finally, if you are looking for a concise summary of good Java programming style, the following short booklet comes in handy.
- Al Vermeulen et.al.: The Elements of Java Style, Cambridge University Press, 2000. [Buy]
Exams
Here are some old exams for practice. On average I like my questions quite a bit, so I tend to ask them again and again. But every now and then I add a new twist, so be prepared!
