Reddit mentions of Java 8 Pocket Guide: Instant Help for Java Programmers

These are books I actually own and would recommend. Of course there are other great/better books out there, but I'm going to stick with what I've actually bought and read or "read".

I say "read" because several books are NOT meant to be read cover-to-cover. These typically have about 1/3 that you should read like normal, and then skim the rest and know what's in the rest so that you can quickly reference it. These books are no less important, and often even more important. I've marked these kind of books as #ref for "read for reference". Normal books that should be read cover-to-cover are marked #read


For learning your first language: This is really the hardest part and unfortunately I don't have any books here I can vouch for. I started with "C++ for Dummies" and am not including a link because it's bad. Your best bet is probably "Learning <language>" by Oreily. I also love the Oreily pocket books because you can carry them and skim while on the bus or the john, but you can just do the same with your smartphone. Pocket Python, Pocket Java, Pocket C++

Top Recommendations:

Accelerated C++ #read Made for people who already know another language and want to pickup C++. Also great for people who need a refresher on C++. I really like how it doesn't start with OOP but gets you familiar with the imperative parts of C++ before diving into OOP.

The Algorithm Design Manual #ref This is my new favorite book and the first I would send back in time to myself if I could. Each algorithm & data structure is given a mathematical breakdown, pseudocode, implementation in very readable C, a picture (very helpful), and an interesting war story of how it Saved The Day.


Cracking the Coding Interview #read I originally avoided this book like the plague because it represented everything I hate about coding interviews, but many interviewers pull questions straight from this book so this book can equal getting a job. Put that way, it's ROI is insane.

The Pragmatic Programmer #read Must-have for any profressional software engineer that covers best-practices for code and your growth. You can also find the raw tips list here

Head First Design Patterns #read Many prefer the "GoF/Gang of Four" Design Patterns which is more iconic, but Head First is a modern-version using Java to cover actual design patterns used day-to-day by programmers.

For Intermediates:

Effective Java or Effective C++ and Effective Modern C++ #read When you're ready to go deep into one language, these books will give you a huge boost to writing good Java and C++.

Design Patterns #ref You'll want to get this at some point, but early on it's too much for a beginner and many of the patterns are obsolete.

The Art of Computer Programming #ref The programming "bible" but like Design Patterns you should hold off on this iconic book until you've got your basics covered. It would make for a great purchase with your first paycheck or first promotion :)

If you are already proficient in another language, then picking up a book on learning Java won't do you much in my opinion. It's been said once you learn a language, you can learn any language (something like that). The majority of the concepts are the same for the most part.

I think the best thing to do for learning is to port one of your Python programs to Java. Or quickly write something up, like implementing a BST from scratch then port it to Java. The biggest obstacle would be thinking Java. What may work amazing in Python may work like crap in Java.

If you want a book, then I recommend the Java 8 Pocket Guide. It'll help you out with those moments like "How do I read from a file?"

I started programming in Java few months ago to develop Android applications. These are the resources I used:

• Java 8 Pocket Guide: This book is very short in length and paper size. It is great to learn the syntax of Java 8 really fast with a general overview of the core libraries in Java SE 8.
  
• Effective Java (2nd Edition): After learning the syntax of Java 8, this classic book discusses the best practices of using the Java language in a list of around 78 items. For example, "Item 1" is "Consider static factory methods instead of constructors", and then it explains why.
  
• Java Concurrency in Practice: This book is also another classic which a lot of people use to learn concurrent programming for the Java language. It's a difficult book for me: very technical.
  
  • Introduction to Rx: Netflix has ported the Reactive Extensions library from the .NET platform to the JVM which you can find here: RxJava. It's Wiki with their marble diagrams are amazing. It allows a lot of the new features of Java 8 such as lambdas to utilize functional reactive programming for the Java language. It's all about Observables, and it's main purpose behind its development was to allow the Netflix team to prevent everyone from reading Java Concurrency in Practice as it trivializes concurrency especially for medium to large systems.
    
• Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship: This book is also another classic. It uses Java I believe for the examples. A lot of people love this book as a higher level supplement to Effective Java (I think) because it covers best practices for the Java language in designing code for emerging systems or scale-able systems and other topics like TDD.
  
• Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software: This book is the classic book (emphasis on "the"). It lists a lot of design patterns which you can use for languages like Java or others. The samples are written in C++ so since you have an experience with C, it can help. I loved this book for learning about Factories, Singletons, Decorators, Observers, Adapters, and more. Using design patterns really helped me solve design problems in my Android application so that it can be easily refractorable.
  
• Introduction to Algorithms: The classic standard algorithms and data structures book I suggest if you are not familiar with them. Knowing the concepts can help fine tune your applications performance wise even if you do not implement any algorithms or data structures yourself.
  
• Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach: A kind-of classic book about the software engineering profession. Its five parts are the following: "The Software Process", "Modeling", "Quality Management", "Managing Software Projects", and "Advanced Topics". Along the way through the book you gain a general understanding of how to write requirements, UML diagrams, and the like.
  
  All of these books except for the first are near 400 pages each. However, most of them do not require you to read all of it. It would be great to read them entirely, but you can still make do by reading the sections you need the most. A lot of the books listed as classics are books I found that a lot of universities use as I was browsing some curricula. This list focuses upon general programming as I believe mobile development and web development are just learning how to use frameworks which I consider trivial to learn generally since a lot of people say that if they work a place that uses framework X, their workplace gives them some time to brush up or get up-to-speed with the framework and how to use it over a few days unless you require a niche or complex solution to a problem.
  
  If you are not a huge fan of books, searching these titles will probably provide online tutorials or videos. The Amazon links can provide great reviews and suggestions. I like the books even if they are a bit long because of their professionalism, review, and rigor associated with the publication process of these textbooks that inhibits the rise of bad habits which might be introduced by online sources.
  
  I do not know your background with these topics, so you may already know the, but these are the resources I think which really helps people transition from just knowing syntax as "knowing a language" which they translate to "I'm proficient in X because I can write a program which allows you to save text to a file" to knowing a language regarding software engineering concepts which helps you work properly on projects medium to large projects you would find in a workplace as an intern maybe entry-level employee (but more formal education might be required).
  
  However, I'm pretty much like a high school student (took a year off before starting college to recover from an illness), so take my advice with a lot of salt, but these books which I couldn't apply 100% helped me make a small-medium sized Android application: https://github.com/jparkie/Aizoban which was designed enough to allow me to manage refractoring to introduce new features or fix issues which I believe would have been impossible if I hacked my way through to write around 35,000 lines of code.