Re: Books

On the subject of books and things:

I also recommend the Eckel book, partially because it's free, but mostly
because he does some good hands-on stuff.

However, there are some things you might want to consider.  First off, do
you plan on being a class creator or a class consumer?  A class creator is
somewhat akin to being a systems architect - the guy who writes the
security programs or the database access routines or whatnot.  A class
consumer, on the other hand, is more of an application programmer.  It is
VERY important to understand the distinction, because it will determine
what you need to learn.

Class consumers need a basic understanding of Java syntax and a strong
application background.  Understanding the intricacies of object design is
far less of an issue.  In this case, stick with the Eckel book and the
400-based books, do the online tutorials and you should be in good shape.

Class creators, on the other hand, MUST understand the ramifications of
object design decisions.  They have to know the difference between
inheritance and composition, when to use each, and why.  They must
understand the relationships between interface, implementation and
instance.  They need to be VERY attentive to details such as naming
conventions - in Java naming conventions are absolutely essential to
productivity!  Class creators must understand some of the basic tenets of
object design, such as Iterators and Visitors and Factory Classes - and for
this, there are no books better than the Pattern books: Design Patterns
(ISBN 0201633612)  and Pattern Hatching (ISBN 0201432935).  Neither is
Java-specific.  They tend to use pseudo-code and when they do drop into
actual code, it is usually C++.  However, the specific language syntax is
nowhere near as important as the concepts.  If you read Design Patterns and
don't say "Ah HAH!" at least a few times, then you're probably going to be
more successful as a class consumer rather than a class creator.  If Java
is the language for geeks, than class creation is Geekdom Squared.

The next question is to ask what your user interface will be.  I have to
disagree with Don about the use of Swing: if you plan on doing any sort of
real desktop integration (that is, applications that will work in
conjunction with email and word processing and all the rest of the programs
you use on a daily basis), then Swing is a necessity.  On the other hand,
if you're more interested in providing a Web presence for your new and
existing applications, then I suggest learning servlets and JSP (JavaServer
Pages).  Unless you are under severe time constraints, avoid CGI; it is a
complicated and unnecessary kludge.

Finally, you may want to keep track of my website at
http://www.java400.net.  As the summer progresses, I'm going to populate it
with as many decent examples of Java/400 code as I have time to build.  I'm
also going to have a section on basic Java, with a number of examples that
I've developed for my classes.

And I also disagree with Gene - the only reason I CAN teach is because I DO
program... a LOT <smile>.

Joe


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