Software Development - Java

Java is a huge subject, so I've organzized this section into:

• Basic Knowledge
• Advanced Java
• Important Library Extensions
• Additional Online Resources

In addition to my architectural design recommendations, here are some suggested texts for developers:

Basic Knowledge

• Don't neglect the basics, read both The Java Language Specification and The Java Programming Language:

• The Effective Java (2nd Edition) by Joshua Bloch
  Not a beginner book, but essential reading for an engineer wanting to grow to be an advanced Java developer.

• Thinking in Java (4th Edition) by Bruce Eckel. Bruce Eckel is an excellent author and a pioneer of online feedback: visit his site.
  

• The Elements of Java Style - an excellent text for standardizing the coding practices of a team of software developers, which all too often is like herding cats.

• Advanced Java

  Java Generics and Collections
  Generics are difficult to master, but worth the challenge. The Java Collections framework has changed substantially in Java 5 and Java 6.

• Java Concurrency In Practice
  Co-authored by Joshua Bloch--you can't go wrong with him.

• Joshua Bloch's Java Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases is an excellent book to learn all about corner cases and potential bugs before they appear in your code.

• Important Library Extensions

  Java Persistence with Hibernate
  This is an excellent book which is a good introduction to Object-Relational Mapping. It explores hibernate in detail.

• Spring in Action is a good introduction to the Spring Framework. Spring is very large and comprehensive, and although consulting the online documentation is helpful, having a hard copy and an author to lead you through the Spring maze is essential.

• Additional Online Resources

  Java developers wanting to take their skill even further will want to read and digest ever issue of the Java Specialists Newsletter. Many of the topics explain things you could do, but probably shouldn't. Still, it's very helpful to know how and why not to do something.

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