Mike Murach & Associates, 2015. — 660 p. + Code. — ISBN: 978-1-890774-84-4.
Murach’s Beginning Java with NetBeans designed specifically for beginning programmers and programmers with limited experience who want to learn Java at a professional level. By the time you finish this book, you’ll have all the core Java skills that you need to move on to web or Android programming.Who this book is for:This book is for anyone who wants to learn the core features of the Java language, especially the features that you need to learn web or Android programming. It is especially designed for those:
who have no programming experience at all;
who have limited programming experience with another language;
who have already read 3 or 4 other Java books and still don’t know how to develop a real-world application;
If you want to go into Android programming or Java web development…
This book is perfect for developers who are moving into programming Android apps or Java web applications. The first four sections deliver the core Java skills that you need, whether you’re looking for a refresher or a first course in Java.
Section 1: Get started rightSection 1 presents a 6-chapter Java course that gets you off to a great start. This section works for complete beginners as well as experienced programmers because it lets you set your own pace. If you’re a beginner, you’ll move slowly and do all the exercises. If you have some experience, you’ll move more quickly and do the exercises that you choose.
From the start, you’ll be using the NetBeans IDE because that will help you learn faster. Then, by chapter 3, you’ll be developing applications that use classes from the Java API. By chapter 4, you’ll be developing object-oriented applications that use your own classes. By chapter 5, you’ll be using a 3-tier architecture to structure your object-oriented applications like a professional. And by chapter 6, you’ll be using the best practices for testing and debugging your applications.
Section 2: Expand your core Java skillsIn section 2, you’ll expand upon what you learned in section 1 by mastering more of the core Java skills that you’ll use all the time. That means you’ll learn new skills, like how to work with strings and arrays. But you’ll also learn more about topics that were introduced in section 1, like working with primitive types and operators and coding control statements. These are the essentials that you need for section 3.
Section 3: Object-oriented programming made clearThis book has you creating simple object-oriented programs right from the start in section 1. Then, section 3 cuts through the mystery of inheritance, interfaces, polymorphism, and the factory pattern so you can learn how to create and use sophisticated business and data access classes. When you finish this section, you’ll know how to develop real-world, object-oriented, business applications.
Section 4: Take your core skills to the next levelLike section 2, section 4 lets you expand your core Java skills in new ways. To be specific, it teaches you how to work with collections, generics, lambdas, dates, times, exceptions, file I/O and threads. Because each chapter in this section is independent of the others, you can add these skills to your resume whenever you need them.
Section 5: Real-world GUI and database programmingWhen you complete sections 1-4, you’ll have all the Java skills you need to start learning web and Android programming. But there’s more!
The 4 chapters in section 5 introduce you to the skills that a professional Java programmer uses to develop desktop applications. To start, these chapters show you how to create a MySQL database for an application and how to write the Java code that works with the data in this database. Then, these chapters show how to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) for the application.
These chapters are designed to give you a better appreciation for what real-world Java programming is like, whether that be desktop, web, or Android programming. That, in turn, will help you decide what to learn next to build your Java career.