Ask HN: Best Java programming book for the Beginner

Your CS class will likely recommend a book for you, but my wife used Lewis and Loftus when she took an intro to CS course to get a better handle on what the hell I did with my life. She found it relatively easy to learn from.

Check out thenewboston's java tutorials on youtube or go to his site at thenewboston.com

You can also try out Head First Java book.

Savitch's Absolute Java is reasonable, if a bit expensive.

I found it a tad verbose and slow, but there's many worse. There's a joke in there somewhere.

I started with "Java:Complete reference" but it's definitely not for beginners. It covers a wide array of stuff though

It's unfortunate that colleges and universities collude with textbook publishers to ensure that they use a different textbook/edition each year that can only be bought at the university bookstore. Really you should be able to find out exactly which textbook your course will be using and obtain a copy beforehand.

I got the most value from Effective Java by Joshua Bloch when learning Java. It's not specifically for beginners, but teaches best practice that would encourage a beginner in the right direction from the start. I suspect there are many instructional Java books that would teach coding practices that would not be considered best practice today.

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/

Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel.

I just checked the book store and they recommend:

JAVA PROGRAMMING:FROM PROB.ANAL... By MALIK Edition 5TH 12 Publisher: CENGAGE L ISBN: 9781111530532

I appreciate everyone's recommendations, I am still willing to try out everyone's suggestions.

I just checked the book store and they recommend:

JAVA PROGRAMMING:FROM PROB.ANAL... By MALIK Edition 5TH 12 Publisher: CENGAGE L ISBN: 9781111530532

I appreciate everyone's recommendations, I am still willing to try out everyone's suggestions.

Java from the Ground-up